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Reagan's Military Buildup
The five year, US$1.5 Trillion Defence Program between 1982 - 1986 which key component is the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) had prompted Gorbachev to acknowledge the impossibility of the Soviets to match the US in military might, forcing the latter to resort to diplomacy to achieve security. -
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Timeline of events
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Reykjyavik Summit
Gorbachev was willing to accept Reagan's "Zero Option' Plan (Where all Soviet IRBM bases in Europe will be dismantled in exchange for the removal of the Pershing IIs and GLCMs that NATO had deployed) and to destroy all Soviet nuclear weapons within 10 years. -
Reagan's Brandenburg Gate Speech
Reagan defined the Cold War is an Arms Race shaped by the Ideaological Conflict - "But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed, but we are armed because we mistrust each other" -
Intermediate-range Nucleur Forces (INF) Treaty
Both parties agreed to a drastic reduction of Nucleur weapons, although unproportional (2051 Soviet Launchers compared to 283 US Launchers). This represents the conscious effort by both parties (mostly Gorbachev's) to end the Arm's Race
[Can be defined as the Cold War] -
Gorbachev's speech at the Untied Nations (UN)
Gorbachev announced that international relations between the USA and USSR will now be free of ideaology.
[End of Cold War defined by an Ideaological Conflict] -
Solidarity wins Polish free elections
This marks the start of the division within Eastern Europe, where Poland was the first country with a non-Communist government to get independence in a Communist predominant environment. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
East and West Germans are finally united after almost three decades. The entering of East and West into each other's territories marks the end of the Cold War as defined by a division of Eurpoe.
