ee with Oberdorfer that Gorbachev is an important factor that led to the end of the Cold War because if he wasn’t in charge, things would have most likely carried out in the same manner as before. For example, the Soviet Economy would have fallen drastically even faster than it fell under his leadership, thus the big impact Gorbachev had through managing the economy in a better way than others, creating or enforcing relationships with leaders such as Reagan and being more active than previous members changed the outcome of the Cold War. After the demise of the previous leader, Chernenko, Reagan sent his vice president, Bush to the funeral to meet Gorbachev, the new leader who was going to induce “serious change” to the Soviet Union, and bring it out of “its long time troubles”. This positive perception did not become reality because of the breakup of the Soviet Union and the loss of power and control over the Eastern European countries, hence why we cannot ignore the vast importance of Eastern European countries gaining independence as the main cause of the end of the Cold War. Gorbachev’s leadership was not inadequate but, Levesque argues, when he needed to focus on the Eastern countries, he did the exact opposite and focused on the West. Moreover, he offered no financial support to those who wanted change in the Eastern European countries since the Soviet Union’s economy was rapidly declining as evident in the Soviets increased the price of oil exports. Therefore, it is quite apparent that the Cold War ended as a result of the lack of control the Soviet Union had over Eastern European countries.
Comparison:
Levesque has the most valid interpretation because the breadth of it is larger than Oberdorfer’s and Pemberton’s interpretations. Levesque ultimately argues that the Cold War’s end was a result of the Soviet Union’s sheer lack of control of Eastern European countries. His argument is articulate in exploring the reason of the end of the Cold War as well as exploring other contributing factors such as the Soviet economy and how its status was slowly dissolving the Soviet diplomacy and the impact of the Afghanistan War on them, which is further explored by Reuveny and Prakash. Therefore, Levesque’s interpretation is considered objective as he takes a holistic approach in viewing the majority of the factors that contributed to the end of the Cold War, then pinpoints the most impactful one- the lack of control of Eastern European countries and their attainment of independence. Similarly to Levesque’s interpretation, Pemberton and Oberdorfer touch on the Sov