Changes

From [[Harry Truman]] to [[Jimmy Carter]], the policy when dealing with the [[Soviet Union]] was containment. Containment failed. The ultimate goal of the Soviet empire was a global [[Communism|communist]] revolution, therefore the Soviets could never have been contained. When [[Ronald Reagan]] came into office, he initiated a policy of confronting the Soviet Union, marking a sharp departure from the "détente" policy of the 1970s.  

From [[Harry Truman]] to [[Jimmy Carter]], the policy when dealing with the [[Soviet Union]] was containment. Containment failed. The ultimate goal of the Soviet empire was a global [[Communism|communist]] revolution, therefore the Soviets could never have been contained. When [[Ronald Reagan]] came into office, he initiated a policy of confronting the Soviet Union, marking a sharp departure from the "détente" policy of the 1970s.  

Reagan advocated a radical agenda: challenge the Soviets everywhere. Economically, politically, militarily, and especially psychologically. Not just coexist with the Soviets, but defeat them. His strategy for an endgame to the [[Cold War]] was that there would be no coexistence with the Soviets. From beginning to end, the goal was the destruction of the Soviet Union.  

Reagan advocated a radical agenda: challenge the Soviets everywhere. Economically, politically, militarily, and especially psychologically. Not just coexist with the Soviets, but defeat them. His strategy for an endgame to the [[Cold War]] was that there would be no coexistence with the Soviets. From beginning to end, the goal was the destruction of the Soviet Union.

Reagan and his team devised a plan. The secret plan was to dismember the Soviet Union brick by brick. It would be coercive. Confront the Soviet head on to fight and win a protracted four part war.  

He realized that a planned economy could not compete against a market economy in a renewed arms race and so he made the Cold War hot in an economic and rhetoricall sense. Reagan and his team devised a plan. The secret plan was to dismember the Soviet Union brick by brick. It would be coercive. Confront the Soviet head on to fight and win a protracted four part war.  

The first part was a war of action. The Reagan administration used paramilitary ops, covert action, small unit combat, and simly taking the torch to the enemy. The instruments were anti-communist [[Nicaragua]]n freedom fighters, anti-communist [[Afghanistan|Afghan]] freedom fighters and anti-communist [[Poland|Polish]] freedom fighters.  

The first part was a war of action. The Reagan administration used paramilitary ops, covert action, small unit combat, and simly taking the torch to the enemy. The instruments were anti-communist [[Nicaragua]]n freedom fighters, anti-communist [[Afghanistan|Afghan]] freedom fighters and anti-communist [[Poland|Polish]] freedom fighters.  

The combined effects on the Soviet economy was costing the Soviet empire billions. The Soviets had increased defense spending by 45 percent, billions were lost in hard currency, billions more was spent on bolstering nervous third world communist dictators and all they had to show for it was dead young Russian and other Soviet citizens shipped home from the battlefields of Afghanistan. Reagan's leverage had worked and the Kremlin was now backed into a corner. After less than five years of Ronald Reagan, the hardliners of the Soviet leadership could no longer hide the economic damage of their rule. This gave the reformers an opening. [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] has elected by a one vote majority in the [[politburo]] because they knew the only way they could compete with the United States and meet the Reagan challenge is by changing. So Gorbachev was brought into power in response to Ronald Reagan. So Reagan was really responsible for bringing Gorbachev into power.

The combined effects on the Soviet economy was costing the Soviet empire billions. The Soviets had increased defense spending by 45 percent, billions were lost in hard currency, billions more was spent on bolstering nervous third world communist dictators and all they had to show for it was dead young Russian and other Soviet citizens shipped home from the battlefields of Afghanistan. Reagan's leverage had worked and the Kremlin was now backed into a corner. After less than five years of Ronald Reagan, the hardliners of the Soviet leadership could no longer hide the economic damage of their rule. This gave the reformers an opening. [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] has elected by a one vote majority in the [[politburo]] because they knew the only way they could compete with the United States and meet the Reagan challenge is by changing. So Gorbachev was brought into power in response to Ronald Reagan. So Reagan was really responsible for bringing Gorbachev into power.

-[[User:AmerICan|AmerICan]] 13:58, 9 March 2008 (EDT)

 

 

 

-[[User:AmerICan|AmerICan]] 15:06, 12 March 2008 (EDT)

[[Category:Ronald Reagan]]

[[Category:Ronald Reagan]]