The Cold War Ends
Four ways of asserting opposition
- Reagan asserted U.S. opposition to communism through speeches, diplomatic efforts, limited military interventions, and a buildup of nuclear and conventional weapons.
- Four instruments, and speeches is listed first — rhetoric is treated as a tool of policy, not decoration.
- Limited military interventions keeps the scale accurate: this is not Korea or Vietnam.
Select all four instruments the CED names.
Speeches first — rhetoric as a tool of policy.
Three causes of the end, two of them foreign
- Increased U.S. military spending, Reagan's diplomatic initiatives, and political changes and economic problems in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union were all important in ending the Cold War.
- All important distributes the credit, and political changes and economic problems in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union are not American actions.
- So an answer crediting only American policy contradicts a sentence that names three causes and gives two of them to the other side.
Select all three causes of the Cold War's end.
'All important' distributes the credit.
What the end produced
- The end of the Cold War led to new diplomatic relationships but also new U.S. military and peacekeeping interventions, as well as continued debates over the appropriate use of American power in the world.
- But also — the end of a rivalry did not reduce American military involvement, and the CED says so directly.
- Continued debates connects to 7.1's promise of renewed domestic debates over the nation's proper role.
An instrument, a cause of the end, or a consequence?
Sort each element of the Cold War's conclusion.
The end of the Cold War led to new diplomatic relationships but also...
The end of a rivalry did not reduce military involvement.
Two of the CED's three causes are not American actions. Increased U.S. military spending, Reagan's diplomatic initiatives, and political changes and economic problems in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union were all important — an answer crediting only American policy contradicts the sentence.
The debate reopened because containment's criterion...
Each intervention now has to be justified on its own.
Why the debate had to reopen
- 8.2's containment supplied a criterion: an action was justified if it limited Communist power or built the security system.
- With the rival gone, that criterion no longer decides anything, and each intervention has to be justified on its own.
- So the continued debates are not indecision; they are what happens when an organising principle expires.
The continued debates are what happens when an organising ____ expires.
Not indecision.
Causes, effects, legacy
- The objective is the causes and effects of the end of the Cold War and its legacy.
- Causes: American spending and diplomacy, plus political change and economic problems in the Soviet bloc.
- Effects and legacy: new diplomatic relationships, new interventions, and a permanent argument about how to use American power.
When a long contest ends, the winner's actions and the loser's difficulties are both part of the explanation. Choosing only one is a preference about who deserves credit, not a finding about what happened.
Reagan asserted U.S. opposition to communism through speeches, diplomatic efforts, limited military interventions, and a buildup of nuclear and conventional weapons. Increased U.S. military spending, Reagan's diplomatic initiatives, and political changes and economic problems in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union were all important in ending the Cold War. The end of the Cold War led to new diplomatic relationships but also new U.S. military and peacekeeping interventions, as well as continued debates over the appropriate use of American power in the world.