The United States and the Soviet Union: War Without Battle

In March of 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was named General Secretary of the Soviet Union, who worked with President Reagan to produce the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) of 1987 This treaty allowed for the control and, consequently, the eradication of ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles with ranges between 300 and 3400 miles. Unfortunately for the Soviet Union, the INF Treaty was much more beneficial to the US in that it excluded American navel and cruise missiles, as well as French and British nuclear arsenals. In 1988, following the establishment of the INF Treaty, Soviet troops began withdrawing from Afghanistan and finished doing so in 1989, just after George H. W. Bush’s inauguration. In November of that same year, Eastern Europe was able to launch a revolt against communism based on the state of bankruptcy and reforms in the Soviet Union, which resulted in the demolition of the Berlin Wall.

By 1991, the Soviet Union was forced to give up state control and split up into fifteen separate, independent states – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Six days after Gorbachev’s Christmas Day resignation as General Secretary, the United Soviet Socialist Republic ceased to exist.

The length of the Cold War, considering the lack of serious warfare, shows just how uncomfortable the United States and Russia really are with each other’s existence. For over half a century, “two superpowers chewed on their animosity toward each other but were not able to do much about it,” and it took several presidents and Soviet leaders multiple treaties, summits, and speeches to organize their battles. Thankfully, the last military use of an atomic weapon in the world was in 1945 so, despite the tension and distrust, the two countries did manage to keep their issues verbal. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States and Russia had the chance to start over, but unfortunately, something dark in the shape of a mushroom cloud still hangs over our countries.