Blog Post

Did Regan Regan keep America one step ahead in the cold war?

BLOG POST

The cold war was unlike any other war that had ever taken place on the grounds of this world. In nature it was very different and indeed very complex when compared with some of the other wars that had taken place in history. To start off with, the cold war was the name given to describe the complex relationship between the United States and the USSR right after the Second World War had ended. I believe that the cold war was more than anything a clash of very different ideologies and beliefs. In addition to these there were many other differences between the two nations which inflicted the formation of a power struggle between two sides.  Ronald Regan was the 40^th president of the United States of America from 1981-1989. When Reagan took over the white house, it most definitely seemed as if the UUSR was winning the cold war and not the West. The Soviets at this period had just captured Afghanistan and were progressing towards spreading their communist ideology in the nation. Afghanistan was a strategic location both the USSR and the USA wanted to have control of. The Soviet Union had its support from its allies in Central America and Southern Africa. America during this period didn't really get its support from its allies in Europe. Regan called this period a "period of neglect" and mentioned that the prospects are less likely to be positive.  In spite of this, Reagan was optimistic and believed that the United States should challenge its enemies. Reagan strongly believed that the West would win against the Soviets in the end and decided to abandon the containment or the Détente which the USA had with the Soviet union.  Regan implemented aggressive policies against the Soviet Union which put the communist system under pressure. Regan strongly felt that the USSR did not represent the wave of the future. In addition Regan also cited Karl Marx in his favor as he said that there was a crisis unfolding in the world, but not in the Capitalist west but in the Communist east. Regan believed that the United states had not only a foreign-policy duty to compete with the soviet union, but also had a moral responsibility to compete with the "Evil empire" as he called it. The United States did compete with the Soviet Union rigorously. Regan immediately introduced the  Strategic defense initiative (SDI) whereby he increased spending on military by 30%. Regan made the USSR spend itself into bankruptcy. Later in this period was born the Regan doctrine, which was basically a form of proxy war fought by the United States using local forces to increase soviet problems globally. Examples of such proxy wars would include Afghanistan and Nicaragua. Regan had combined a serious analysis of Soviet systemic weaknesses. The USA put a lot of economic pressure on the USSR by implementing trade embargos and investment freezes. But in this period Soviet economy was not too dependent on the West, America however an even more destructive weapon had in its Arsenal. This was Saudi Arabia which at the time dominated the world's supply for oil which was at 25%. With the help of the Saudi Arabians the Americans were able to influence the Russian oil prices globally.  This took a hard toll on the soviet economy as it heavily depended heavily on the export of oil. Regan left America as one of the world's strongest economies after the end of the cold war, he was also successful at destabilizing the soviet economy and finally the soviet union as a whole. So it can be concluded that Regan, at least towards the end did keep America one step ahead of the Soviet Union.