Relation of the Arms Race to the End of the Cold War - Essay Example

The Soviet Union was built up in order to justify and keep up the high levels of defense spending in the U.S. The Soviet Union viewed SDI, or Star Wars, as not being attainable or effective, as do most scientists. For instance, the physicist Hans Bethe was briefed on SDI in 1983 and his reaction was doubtful that it would work to defend the U.S. (“Strategic...”). Apparently, Soviet scientists had the same reaction. Compared to the U.S., which still spends 4 billion dollars a year on Star Wars, the Soviet Union spent very little on it.

            The largest cause of the end of the Cold War was Gorbachev, and his dedication to reform. Gorbachev was not afraid to make economic reforms such as glasnost (liberalization), perestroika (reconstruction) and uskoreniye (acceleration of economic reform), even though these reforms were considered radical by apparatchiks (bureaucrats of the Communist Party) in the Soviet government(“Mikhail...”). Eventually, Gorbachev was put under house arrest by hard-line apparatchiks and the Soviet Union collapsed, effectively ending the Cold War.