It is sometimes said that Reagan ended the Cold War. Most scholars would argue against this and claim the factors that resulted in the end of the Cold...

It's a
moot point whether Reagan was personally responsible for ending the Cold War. However, there can
be little doubt that his policies contributed to the downfall of the Soviet Union and by
extension ended the Cold War.

Reagan departed from the approach of his
predecessors in adopting a more aggressive stance toward the Soviet Union. He wouldn't simply
maintain the status quo and continue with the policy of containment that had characterized the
approach of successive US administrations; instead, he would actively seek to weaken the Soviet
Union through a massive increase in defense spending and the provision of more economic and
political assistance to international allies, especially those in Latin America, who could be
relied on to hold back the Communist tide.

Reagan understood that a more
proactive approach would effectively force the Soviets to expand their own defense budget to
match the astonishing sums being spent by his administration. But the chronically inefficient
Soviet command economy proved too weak to provide the necessary resources, and the ensuing
strain generated considerable political tensions within the USSRtensions that in due course
would lead to its full-scale collapse.

Though Reagan himself would be out of
office when this momentous event in world history took place, there can be no doubt that the
policies he pursued during his presidency greatly contributed to the USSR's collapse, and with
it the end of the Cold War.