Quote:
Originally Posted by smc
Of course, this is only my opinion, but I don't think one can separate out the specific period of Reagan's presidency from the arms race as a whole, which began with the close of World War II. Independent of which side one was on, it seems very clear that the United States was the instigator by dropping bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In a bi-polar world -- especially one in which that bi-polarity was codified in the way Europe was split up by the terms of surrender of Germany -- it became necessary for the Soviets, from the leadership's point of view, to attempt to keep up with the United States, which it believed posed a legitimate threat.
This continued unabated throughout the period of the Cold War, with almost all advances (with the exception of the Soviets winning round 1 of the "space race" with the Sputnik launch) coming from the United States and then followed by catch-up on the Soviet Union's part. During the Reagan presidency, the new threat was the Strategic Defense Initiative (also known as "Star Wars"), proposed by Reagan in March 1983. This idea of using ground-based and space-based systems to protect against nuclear ballistic missiles sent the Soviet Union into a financial tailspin of catch-up spending.
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As with any topic there is more than one view. I think the Soviet Union was more the aggressor in the post WWII world. Stalin's policies of occupying European countries and setting up puppet governments was seen as provocative by the west. The attempt to cut off Berlin was a continuation of Stalin's attempts to dominate Europe.