End of Cold War:
The Cold War which lasted for 50 years was on the brink of a nuclear war. Had Joseph Stalin continued to lead USSR this might have happened. His death in 1953 brought in a little improvement in the relationship between the two major powers. In 1960s came the next dangerous point when USSR stationed a missile base in Cuba. The crisis which lasted for two week was resolved without further destruction. The next arena of Cold War was Vietnam. Communist expanded into South Vietnam and US was trying to stop. Yet during this period talks were on between the two states and the first nuclear arms control agreement was made in 1972. The communist world was also taking a beating. Many new states which were under the influence of USSR, were slowly moving away from it. China and USSR which were the major communist powers developed a feud which kept deepening. So the communist world was divided.
When the leaders are progressive even the greatest hostility can come to an end. The Cold War was kept aflame by Joseph Stalin and his death brought the severity down. In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader; he wanted to end this cold war. He found a willing partner in the president of US, Ronald Reagan. In 1987 both the leaders met and the first treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons was signed. In 1989 the allies of the Soviet Union saw rise o discontent and dissent and soon USSR was broken down to many republics. The Berlin Wall, which was the most powerful symbol of the cold war, was brought down. In 1990, in a meeting in Paris, George Bush announced that “The Cold War is over.” From 1991, the super power USSR ceased to exist.
Borders were opened, wall came down in Berlin and elections were held in many new states indicating that the new states were rejecting communism. USSR which stood as mighty power came down in 1991, it was dissolved into various republics with complete freedom to choose their style of governance. With no USSR there could be no Cold War; with great speed the Iron Curtain came down marking an end of an era which would have wiped out the world. The League of Nations which was formed after the First World War was not able to contain the second world war. However the United Nations which was a refined version of the League of Nations managed to curtail the Cold War and it never became another world war. The fall in popularity of communism within USSR is also another reason for the end of the cold war.
