What was the significance of President Reagan in ending the Cold War?

The Triumphalist school of historical thought will argue that it was President Reagan's policies that forced the end of the Cold War. His massive increase in defence spending (about a 50% increase in the 1980s!) and 'Evil Empire' rhetoric (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcSm-KAEFFA 28:30) is argued to have forced the USSR to admit defeat. However, this narrative is reductive, as it was Gorbachev's collaboration with Reagan in the spirit of 'glasnost' (openness) and 'perestroika' (structural market reform), that ultimately saw the fall of the USSR. Gorbachev's radical policies, coupled with pressure from Reagan created the political conditions necessary to end the Cold War. The economic conditions necessary to end the Cold War cannot be overlooked. The Soviet economy was less productive and growing slower than the USA's, and with a significant proportion of the Soviet budget being spent on supporting its satellite states, the socialist project was completely unsustainable. Although Reagan was clearly significant, the intersection of favourable political conditions, created by both leaders, and the faltering Soviet economy is a more nuanced and accurate understanding of the end of the Cold War.

RK
Answered by Ruby K. History tutor

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