Camille+H.

=May 10, 2010 - Preliminary research=

Please post the following items:

Camille Howard Period 2 May 26, 2010 U.S. History

The Cold War can be seen as one of the greatest wars in American history. The United States and Soviet Union’s dislike for each other was evident throughout the entire process of the war. Luckily two men, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan wanted to change that. They decided to break the cycle and bridge the gap between the Soviet Union and the United States. By joining forces with Ronald Reagan and cutting the total number of Soviet troops, Mikhail Gorbachev helped to stop the Cold War, the destruction it would have caused if it continued and ultimately end the hatred between the US and the USSR. Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in Stavropol, Russia. He was raised in a poor Ukrainian-Russian family. When Gorbachev was a teenager he operated combine harvesters on collective farms where his father was an agricultural mechanic. He attended Moscow State University and in 1955 he graduated with a degree in law. During his time at Moscow State, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He shortly on became an active member of the group. Gorbachev also met his wife while attending the university. Gorbachev was first involved with the U.S. when he attended the 22nd Party Congress in October 1961. There, Nikita Khrushchev, who was the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, announced a plan to surpass the U.S. in per capita production within twenty years. By participating in enacting this plan, Gorbachev would be able to rise in the Communist hierarchy. In 1971 after becoming Head of the Department of Party Organs in the Stavropol Agricultural Kraikom in 1963, Gorbachev was made a member of the Communist Party Central Committee. ( [] ). These accomplishments helped him to rise to the top of the Communist Party. During the times that Gorbachev was rising to power, the US and the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republicans) were beginning to have some issues. Although there has never been a decided point of when this war started, it has been somewhat agreed to have been started towards the end of World War II. Some attribute that the United States refusal to recognize the Soviet Union and the Soviets suspicion that the British and the Americans had conspired to allow the Soviets to bear the brunt of the fighting against Nazi Germany led to the start of the US and USSR being conflicted. The US also believed that the Soviet Union was trying to spread communism throughout the world. In turn, the Soviets believed the United States was practicing imperialism and with attempting to stop revolutionary activity in other countries. Either way, both the Soviet Union and the United States were not happy with each other. This unfortunately began the Cold War. The Cold War lasted all of 44 years. It was broken up into sections these being the major events. The Berlin Blockade (1948–1949), the Korean War (1950–1953), the Berlin Crisis of 1961, the Vietnam War (1959–1975), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989), and the [|Able Archer 83] NATO in 1983. During this time Gorbachev was working closely with the USSR….. This paragraph is going to tell how Gorbachev got involved with the war. “Corruption did exist under Gorbachev”. ( [] ).

By 1985, Gorbachev had increased his power. He reigned at the top spot of the Politburo which was a very powerful and important position in the political makeup of the USSR. But, later he stepped up his power even more by winning the presidency. This allowed him to put new initiatives in place to help end the war. Gorbachev cut the total Soviet armed forces by ten percent in an effort to show the US that the USSR did not want a full-blown war. This left the Soviet Union with enough troops to fight if necessary, but showed intent to end the war with the US. Gorbachev also withdrew 50,000 troops from Eastern Europe to ease the tension between the USSR and Eastern Europe. The number of soviet tanks in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary were reduced by fifty percent as well. ( []  ). This also eased tension between the countries involved and showed the US that the USSR was trying to end the war. Gorbachev argued in favor of ending the dislike for the US. To try and bring some peace to the war he met up with Ronald Reagan on four different occasions to attempt reform and an end to the war. Gorbachev and Reagan’s first meeting was in Geneva. This encounter was the first Soviet-American interaction in 7 years. This proved that Gorbachev and Reagan were prepared dedicate the time to stop the war. Like all first times, it didn’t go well. He was quoted calling Reagan a dinosaur ( [] ). Luckily for them, this didn’t discourage them from trying to reach their common goal of ending the war. The next day they signed an agreement stating a nuclear war was unheard of. This agreement put the two in business. Over the next few years, Gorbachev and Reagan worked closely together to get their countries to agree that the war was not necessary. They had meeting after meeting to come up with ways to change the ideas of their counterparts. Gorbachev and Reagan worked long hours together racing against the clock to stop the war. Unfortunately for Gorbachev his time of success was seen as failure to his country. They believed that he was becoming a traitor to his own people. He was forced to resign his presidency in 1991. Because of this the Soviet Union began to plummet. The Soviet Union tried to make a coup of the government but from lack of support, organization, and unwillingness to come together, the Soviet Union shortly ended and is non-existent today. Despite the setbacks that Gorbachev had to overcome, his country does recognize his efforts and praise him for ending the Cold War. Truth be told, neither the United States nor the Soviet Union wanted to get involved in a war but because of pressures and believed things the opposing country was saying, they engaged in the idea of it. But, thanks to the combined efforts of Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, the war was able to end before it reached total destruction.

Outline: By joining forces with Ronald Reagan and cutting the total number of Soviet troops, Mikhail Gorbachev helped to stop the Cold War, the destruction it would have caused if it continued and ultimately end the hatred between the US and the USSR.

I. Intro II. Mikhail Gorbachev History a. Where is he from? b. What has he done for his country? III. The Cold War a. What was the conflict that started it? b. Who was involved? c. How long did it last? IV. Mikhail Involvement a. How did he act on the situation? b. Why did he believe it started? c. What was his plan? V. Mikhail and Reagan Team Up a. How did they get together? b. Why did they decide to team up? c. What did they do to try to stop the war? VI. The Effect on the Cold War a. How did their efforts change the war? b. What good did it bring to the war? c. What other things were solved? VII. The Cold War Ends a. How did it finally end? b. What did this signify? VIII. Conclusion


 * Working thesis statement:**

By joining forces with Ronald Reagan and cutting the total number of Soviet troops, Mikhail Gorbachev helped to stop the Cold War, the destruction it would have caused if it continued and ultimately end the hatred between the US and the USSR.

· "The Cold War: Mikhail Gorbachev." //World Politics //. 19 May 2008. Web. []. · The Gorbachev Era." //Russians Abroad //. [] · Kaiser, Robert G. "Gorbachev: 'We All Lost Cold War'" //Washington Post //. The Washington Post Company, 11 June 2004. []. · Kaplan, Fred. "Ron and Mikhail's Excellent Adventure." //Slate //. Washington Post, 29 June 2004. · Matlock, Jack F. //Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended //. New York: Random House, 2004. · Tolstaya, Tatyana. //Time//. Time Inc. Web. . · Zubok, Vladislav M. //A Failed Empire: the Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev //. University of North Carolina, 2007.
 * Working bib****liography:**
 * · "Mikhail Gorbachev: The Nobel Peace Prize 1990." //Nobel Prize//. The Nobel Foundation, 1990. Web. .

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