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====Ending the Cold War====

====Ending the Cold War====

What scholars label the "orthodox view" of the end of the Cold War is that "the Soviet Union's capitulation and the Cold War victory for the forces of freedom and democracy were ultimately due to the relentless application of the West's military superiority and the dynamism of its ideas and economic system. These factors revealed communism's moral illegitimacy and highlighted its economic stagnation."<ref>Salla and Summy, p 3</ref> It is broadly endorsed by both Republicans (who emphasize Reagan's role), and by Democrats (who emphasize the containment policies of [[Harry S. Truman]], [[John F. Kennedy]], and [[Lyndon Johnson]]). European leaders of the 1980s give credit to Reagan for winning the Cold War. [[Lech Wałęsa]], leader of the [[Solidarity]] movement in Poland, said in 2004, "When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989."<ref>[http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005204 Quoted in]</ref> Helmut Kohl, chancellor of [[West Germany]], said, "He was a stroke of luck for the world. Two years after Reagan called on [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] to tear down the wall, he noted, it fell and 11 months later Germany was reunified. We Germans have much to thank Ronald Reagan for." Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said, "President Reagan was a determined opponent of Communism and he played an important role in bringing an end to Communism and to the artificial division of Europe imposed after the Second World War." [[Václav Havel]], who became the Czech president in 1989, said, "He was a man of firm principles who was indisputably instrumental in the fall of Communism."<ref>[http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1227784,00.html Quotes at]</ref>

What scholars label the "orthodox view" of the end of the Cold War is that "the Soviet Union's capitulation and the Cold War victory for the forces of freedom and democracy were ultimately due to the relentless application of the West's military superiority and the dynamism of its ideas and economic system. These factors revealed communism's moral illegitimacy and highlighted its economic stagnation."<ref>Salla and Summy, p 3</ref> It is broadly endorsed by both Republicans (who emphasize Reagan's role), and by Democrats (who emphasize the containment policies of [[Harry S. Truman]], [[John F. Kennedy]], and [[Lyndon Johnson]]). European leaders of the 1980s give credit to Reagan for winning the Cold War. [[Lech Wałęsa]], leader of the [[Solidarity]] movement in Poland, said in 2004, "When talking about Ronald Reagan, I have to be personal. We in Poland took him so personally. Why? Because we owe him our liberty. This can't be said often enough by people who lived under oppression for half a century, until communism fell in 1989."<ref>[http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005204 Quoted in]</ref> Helmut Kohl, chancellor of [[West Germany]], said, "He was a stroke of luck for the world. Two years after Reagan called on [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] to tear down the wall, he noted, it fell and 11 months later Germany was reunified. We Germans have much to thank Ronald Reagan for." Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said, "President Reagan was a determined opponent of Communism and he played an important role in bringing an end to Communism and to the artificial division of Europe imposed after the Second World War." [[Václav Havel]], who became the Czech president in 1989, said, "He was a man of firm principles who was indisputably instrumental in the fall of Communism."<ref>[http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1227784,00.html Quotes at]</ref>