ABSTRACT
The end of the cold war was a defining moment in the turbulent history of East-West relations. The prevailing atmosphere within the Socialist bloc at the end of the Brezhnev era region appeared to be rigidly opposed to change. The social unrest throughout Eastern Europe in 1989, which demonstrated the desire of the indigenous majority to seize the initiative from the on-going presence of pervasive social control, was the result of personal choice, economic and political incompetence, and accident. By the early 1980s, the Soviet system stagnated. Within its structures, imbued with lies and incompetence, it continued without either direction or belief. Brezhnev died on November 10, 1982, and controls were immediately implemented to maintain order and security in Moscow. The failings of Gorbachev can be explained by his reliance on a vision and not a deeply thought out strategic project that addressed the embedded structural difficulties.
