question_answer

Describe any three reasons for the superpower to have military alliances with smaller countries during the Cold War Period.

Or

Describe the role of Gorbachev to reform the Soviet System and the effects of these reforms on the U.S.S.R.

Answer:

Reasons for the super powers to have military alliances with smaller countries during the Cold War period.

(i) For the procurement of vital resources such as oil and mineral.

(ii) Availability of territory from where the superpowers could launch their weapons and troops.

(iii) To use location from where they could spy on each other.

(iv) Economic support which many small allies together could help pay for military expenses.

They were also important for ideological reasons. The loyalty of allies suggested that the super-powers were winning the war of ideas as well, that liberal democracy and capitalism were better than socialism and communism or vice.

Or

Role of Gorbachev to reform the Soviet system.

Gorbachev initiated

(i) The policies of economic and political reforms - Perestroika (restructuring)

(ii) Glasnost-(Openness)

(iii) To stop the arms race with the US

(iv) The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and Eastern Europe.

Effects of the Reforms on the USSR:

(i) Gorbachev promised to reform the economy -catch-up with the West-yet Soviet Union collapsed.

(ii) The communist party members felt that their power and privileges were eroding.

(iii) His reforms gave rise to nationalism and the desire for sovereignty within various republics including (Russia and Baltic Republics - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)

(iv) Even the ordinary people felt alienated from the central Asians and from each other and felt they were paying too high a price to stay within the Soviet Union.