The cold war came to an end in 1989 because of several reasons. The cold war had lasted almost four decades and its effects had been felt worldwide, most notably the alignment of many world countries to either the capitalists or the socialist blocks. The main rivals in the cold war, the United States and the Soviet Union had engaged in this war of ideology for so long that many world countries in Europe had been divided between these two blocks. The worst affected nation was Germany, which had ended up being split into two nations because of the cold war. In the late 1980s, the cold war eased and finally came to an end after a series of several activities by the major rivals in the cold war.
The cold war came to an end when the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States relaxed in 1989. This came after a series of actions, political, social and economic led to the beginning of a mutually friendly relationship between United States and Soviet Union. Credit has been attributed to Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the new leadership in the Soviet Union block and Ronald Reagan, the then United States president. The two leaders seemed to have a different view of the cold war from their predecessors. They held a string of meetings in the late 1980s, culminating into the end of the cold war in 1989.
The prevailing situations in the world affairs at that time also played a major role towards ending the cold war. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 seemed to be a factor too because the Soviet Union had lost its dominance in world affairs. This was felt most in Eastern Europe when several members of the Soviet Union started to warm towards capitalism. The death of the powerful Soviet Union leader, Stalin was taking its toll. The soviet bloc also became weak because of financial problems arising due to the socialist ideology they favored. Countries like Ukraine, Poland and other Balkan nations then broke away from the union, leaving Russia as the only standing member of the Soviet Bloc. The cold war had been all about showing who between the United States and the Soviet Union was the stronger and influential super power; however, the Soviet Union had lost its dominance. This left the United States as the undisputed super power hence; marking the end of the cold war.
The cold war came to an end because of the roles played by soft power and hard power. Soft power was the persuasive power of the leaders of the two blocs using diplomatic and ideological values to convince each other to end the cold war. Ronald Reagan is credited for his clever diplomatic ideology in engaging his Soviet Bloc counterpart, Mikhail Gorbachev in dialogue to end the cold war. Reagan had found the right formula to use more soft power than the hard power to bring down the Soviet bloc.
Gorbachev also used so much soft power in trying to help the Soviet bloc gain its freedom and discipline to overcome the economic stagnation at the time. He used soft power to instill discipline among the Soviet countries. When this failed, he a restructuring approach, which also failed because the bureaucrats ignored his orders. Gorbachev resorted to his most effective soft power approach, discussion and democratization. With this approach, people had more freedom to express their views. This resulted in most Soviet members wanting to quit the bloc hence; the disintegration of the bloc which led to the end of the cold war. Gorbachev had a foreign policy where he preferred cooperation rather than building nuclear weapons to enhance security. He used soft power to enhance the security systems, promote foreign relations with their rivals and create a good environment for economic growth. Gorbachev had used soft power to reform communism, however, he ended up replacing it. All in all, soft power played a key role in ending the cold war.
Hard power involves the use of coercive approaches by militaries and economic strength to signify dominance and strength. During the cold war, hard power was used by both countries. They used their economic strength to convince other countries to be their allies. The Soviet bloc managed to hold onto the Eastern Europe nations while America had Western Europe. These rivals applied their military strength by showing off their prowess in making the newest weapons and space exploration activities. Hard power only played a role in ending the cold war after the Soviet Union was experiencing financial problems due to economic stagnation. This allowed America to use it economic might combined with soft power to bring the Soviet Union to its knees hence; ending the cold war in 1989. Therefore, hard and soft power played significant roles in ending the cold war after four decades of ideological differences between the United States and the Soviet Union.
