How did Mikhail Gorbachev contribute to the end of the "Cold War"?
Well the Cold War is probably the weirdest war the world has ever seen. The Cold war began after WWII and no one is positive when the Cold War ended. I personally think it ended around 1989 when Gorbachev announced that the Berlin Wall would be coming down. Gorbachev made several changes in the Soviet Union ended the Cold war so peacefully that no one really even noticed. Under Gorbachev the nuclear power plant explosion at Trinoble happened. He tried to cover it up for about a week before telling the world that they had a disaster on their hand and were in trouble. The response of the western world was to send help which taught the Russians that we could be trusted. In 1989 Gorbachev used tanks to squash protest rallies in the Balkins. He also disarmed the Berlin wall and opened the Border in 1989. In 1990 he withdrew all Russian troops from eastern European countries. Also in 1990 Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize for allowing Capitalists to invest in Russia and allowing freedom of Religion in the Soviet Union. In 1991 Gorbachev supported the United States when we went into Iraq to fight the Persian Golf War. He allowed the Balkin States to become free countries and had the first free elections in Russia, which Borris Yeltsin (Gorbachev's longtime rival) won. All these changes brought about a rebel attack in 1991. The rebels put him under house arrest and announced to the world that his health was failing him. However Gorbachev found a way to make a video and had his body guard get it in the hands of the US. George Bush the first made a statement saying that we had evidence that Gorbachev was feeling fine and we would not recognize anyone but Gorbachev as the head of the Soviet Union. Borris Yeltsin also saved Gorbachev by convincing the rebels men (who had driven hundreds of tanks into Moscow) to go home unless they were prepared to open fire on their family and friends. The first thing that Gorbachev did when he got back in power was outlaw the existance of communism in the Soviet Union. In December 1991 Yeltsin met with the presidents of the rest of the states within the Soviet Union during which they called a press conference. At this press conference they announced that they were now 15 seperate states. That meant that Gorbachev's job at that point ceased to exist. I hope this helps you out.
Did Reagan's foreign policy win the Cold War?
I need to know if his policy worked or not and how so. Also, I include Reagan's SDI plan(aka Star Wars) as a part of this. It'd be great if you can tell me where I can find more information. Thanks!
Could Gorbachev (or anybody else) have reformed the USSR in a way that preserved the USSR, socialism and the CPSU?
I am not sure what he wanted to achieve, however people who say that he messed up Perestroika forget that he was a general without an army.CPSU and Komsomol were supposed to be his army. They ruined everything. He was trying to reproduce New Economic Policy of early 1920s. Komsomol through their Centers for Innovation were supposed to facilitate creation of new high-tech and consumer services. Instead they engaged in money laundering at scale that sent economy into tailspin. According to Wikipedia, that is where Khodorkovsky and other mega-rich made their first millions. Perhaps the most critical person for Gorbachev's success was Andrei Sakharov. He was a dissident, human rights activist and a person of unmatched decency. What you won't learn from Wikipedia is that he was also pro-Socialism, pro-USSR, and had a theory of convergence of Capitalism and Socialism. That what Gorbachev wanted - to converge with US instead of surrendering, and with Sakharov by his side, he could demand attention.Instead his morons subjected Sakharov to personal attacks that killed the 68yo survivor of KGB torture. Gorbachev's army consisted of stupid old-timers demanding right to give orders and brainwash with Leninism forever, and of looters devout of any consciousness or constraints. If CPSU & Komsomol were as corrupt as Chinese Communists but not more, USSR could still be standing. Gorbachev brought in Yeltsin to the position where the latter was supposed find whatever decent people were in the Moscow Communist hierarchy and reform administration of the country located in Moscow. Instead Yeltsin put together the alliance of looters, wannabe looters in KGB, as well as intelligentsia who could not tolerate Soviet oppression and stupidity any longer, and finished off USSR. Out of the people who signed off USSR and made Gorbachev unemployed, all were top Communist Party apparatchiks. Communists killed USSR for personal gain. Good riddance.