Ronald Reagan

[randolph]

Originally Posted by ila

But was the arms race bankrupting the Soviet Union because Reagan was spending massive amounts on the military or was the Soviet Union going bankrupt trying to get ahead of the US before Reagan's presidency?

I think the Brezhnev Soviet was thoroughly corrupt and ossified. Without the power of the despot Stalin the collapse of it was inevitable. Regan's starwars and rhetoric may have hastened it. however, it was the prosperity of the West and especially West Germany that sealed the fate of a failed communist totalitarian empire. I am sure the Soviets knew full well the massive spending on starwars was nonsense. The failure in Afghanistan demonstrated the weakness of the Soviet empire and also contributed to its demise.