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In the United States, President Reagan polled as one of the more popular presidents of the 20th Century. He was already familiar to millions of Americans through his days as an actor and the governor of the nation's most populous state. Despite being the oldest elected President, Reagan remained in office for eight years, projecting an air of stability. Reagan's iconic speech at the Berlin Wall helped to galvanize opposition to Soviet power.
Things could not be more difficult for the Soviets. Longtime dictator Leonid Brezhnev had been in power since 1964 and had been a frequent foil for President Carter. By the time Reagan took office Brezhnev was 74 and in poor health. When Brezhnev died in 1982 we was promptly replaced by 68 year old Yuri Andropov, a former director of the KGB, who also died in February 1984. Andropov was replaced by 72 year old Konstantin Chernenko, who died in March 1985. Facing three successive deaths as the Soviet economy stalled, the Politburo chose 54 year old Mikhail Gorbachev. He was the first, and only leader of the Soviet Union that reached adulthood after the Second World War. Gorbachev's leadership was seen as more conciliatory and fostered new relations with the West. <ref>Gaddis, John Lewis. --''We now know: rethinking Cold War history.-- '' Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. Pages 45-49.</ref>
==Foreign Policy==
Gorbachev recognized much of the rot that threatened to undermine every aspect of Soviet society. He understood that the structure of the Soviet Union could not tolerate rapid, radical change and instead introduced a series of reforms meant to bring more liberty and growth to the U.S.S.R. Gorbachev introduced the glasnost policy, sometimes referred to as 'openness' in the West in 1986. These reforms did not completely open up Soviet society, but did reduce censorship and allow some criticism of the past. As Soviet citizens and intellectuals read a more accurate version of Soviet history, discontent would follow. Residents of the Soviet bloc would also read accurate government statistics and about the true standard of living in the West. Gorbachev also restructured the government of the Soviet Union, creating the position of President assume much of the power given to the General Secretary of the Communist Party. The most profound effects of this new policies would take place in Eastern Europe. The countries under Soviet domination now demanded more liberties.
Much of the pushback against the Soviet system started with Poland. The trade union Solidarity, or Solidarność in Polish, was founded in 1980 under Lech Walesa. This occurred after a series of strikes at the Gdansk shipyard. About a third of the entire working population joined the organization, leading to a sharp crackdown. The Polish Communist regime instituted a state of martial law from 1981 until 1983. The government soon recognized that the organization would not be broken by sheer force, leading to its acceptance by the regime. Polish Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła was elected Pope in 1978. This and the rise of Solidarity helped engender nationalist and religious revivals in the country. The Polish Communists had no choice but to allow elections, which took place in June 1989. While the Communist Party prevented a truly free election, most Polish citizens voted for the opposition. Walesa was elected President in December 1990.<ref>Kaiser, Robert John. --''The Geography of Nationalism in Russia and the USSR.-- '' Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994. Pages 78-88</ref>
The spirit of resistance began to spread across the Eastern Bloc and into the Soviet Union itself. The Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were forcibly added to the U.S.S.R. in 1940 by Josef Stalin. By the mid to late 1980s increasing movements called for increased freedoms and outright independence. By 1991 all three states were independent, starting a precedent that would start breaking the Soviet republics away from Moscow. In Russia itself nationalist leader Boris Yeltsin, the mayor of Moscow, began to assert more authority. Russia within the Soviet Union gained increased authority as powers devolved as the Soviet Union declined. The United States actively supported independence movements across Eastern Europe.
One by one nations of Eastern Europe began to remove themselves from the Soviet sphere of influence. Protests began across Poland, Hungary, and East Germany in the spring of 1989. After a declaration that East German citizens could visit West Germany unimpeded on November 9th the Berlin Wall was opened and travel between the two Germanies began. Germany would be reunited the next year. By the end of 1990 each of the former Soviet satellite states were against independent with democratically elected governments.
With the decline of the Soviet Union and fall of its imperial status in Eastern Europe, Communist Party hardliners determined that something had to be done. Led by Vice President Gennadi Yanayev the ringleaders launched a coup against Gorbachev while he was on vacation in August 1991. Massive public protests led by Yelstin helped to stall the effort. Gorbachev returned to Moscow and assumed control. However, his actual power was severely limited. The power of the Communist Party had essentially collapsed. Gorbachev resigned as Communist Party General Secretary later that month. As the Soviet Union appeared on the brink of collapse and with a multitude of the constituent republics either outright independent or with substantial autonomy, Gorbachev announced his resignation on December 25, 1991, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.<ref>Wohlforth, William C. "Realism and the End of the Cold War." --''International Security-- '' 19, no. 3 (1994): 91-129.</ref>
==Conclusion==
