who was the main responsible for the cold war to end?

Answer 1

Reagan, Gorbachev and Pope John Paul II.

Reagan had a degree in economics and a long history of anti-communist beliefs. He took the basic principle of "guns and butter" and turned it into a way to bring down the USSR. How? By escalating American military spending to ridiculous levels and forcing the USSR to try to keep up. They never were able to balance their budget and were propping up satellite states around the world. Tripling the amount of military spending they had to do to try to keep up with the US caused their entire economy to fail.

Gorbachev is never given enough credit. Unlike his 4 predecessors, he was not a monster who would create a war just to cover things up. He let the house of cards fall and allowed the dismal state of the economy to be seen around the world. It's because of him alone that the end of the Cold War was a very peaceful one.

John Paul II was the independent variable (and stronger ally to the West than anyone will ever admit) who kept the international pressure on the Warsaw Pact countries (especially Poland) to allow reforms that would have been squelched years before. He couldn't be stopped from visiting Poland. So when he went, he could make statements supporting Solidarnosc and Lech Walesa. He could insist on meeting Walesa and ensuring Walesa's safety. He could cooperation from people inside the Warsaw Pact countries to keep the pressure on and get the truth disseminated. That's why the USSR tried having him assasinated.

In the end, the good guys won a fairly bloodless war. Yes, we had the skirmishes of Korea and VietNam. But we didn't have invasions of either superpower, didn't have atomic bombs landing in Trafalgar Square, and no president of any country was killed in bringing about peace.

Answer 2

Cold war didn't end because of one person or one country. Many Warsaw pact countries opened up their borders for trade and other benefits-which forced East Germany to either face isolation from Europe or open its borders as well. During this transition, the economy of eastern Europe, particularly, East German an Soviet economy was in ruins. People wanted to more from their lives an decided to brake through the Berlin Wall. Soviet party leader, Mikhail Gorbachev also decided to give up the socialist way and let the people take control of the government. Combined with the economic promises from US and western Europe, and crumbling economy of Soviet block countries, it looked like a good idea to call the Cold War off. Please keep in mind, the war is not over. Russia and recently liberated countries still own enough nuclear weapons to destroy the earth ten times over, when once is surely enough.

Answer 3

Mikhail Gorbachev, but any other leader of the Soviet Union of his generation would probably have done the same. For the previous generation, memories of WW II were the dominant motivation in Soviet Foreign policy, and they were determined to maintain their buffer states and stay as close as possible to military parity with the west. While the cost of this was a huge drain on the economy, it was seen as preferable to risking another invasion. Gorbachev was the first leader who could look at the international situation from a fresh perspective, because his thinking was less dominated by fear of invasion, and it was fear of invasion (however irrational) that drove Soviet policy in the Cold War.

Answer 4

Ronald Reagan.

Answer 5

Pres. Regan.

Answer 6

russia ran out of money/fuel is the simplest explanation