Maybe history is like a hodgepodge of unexpected WTF moments. Thirty years ago, Gorbachev used a torch to light the bonfire of the Soviet Union, but what about the United States? Their reaction was simply the feeling of laughing until their stomachs hurt and they couldn't help but want to shed tears.
Gorbachev looks like a clown who lost his pants when he left the stage. After he came to power, the Soviet Union was like milk tea that had been knocked over by a blender, stirred up in pieces. The performance of this big man was really unexpected and completely subverted the status of a superpower. He himself became a "murderer" on the stage of history, disbanding a group of countries that were originally "monolithic".
At that time, the reaction of the United States was simply a big question mark. When Mikhail Gorbachev ascended the throne in 1985, the United States probably did not expect this to be the beginning of a farce. It's like two enemies suddenly shaking hands and making peace, but one of them dances an inexplicable and wonderful dance, which catches everyone off guard.
Then, the U.S. and Soviet foreign ministers met in Geneva and nuclear talks resumed, marking the breaking of a more than year-long stalemate. Although the performance on the diplomatic stage began, the dark clouds of the collapse of the Soviet Union were brewing not far away. In November, Gorbachev and Reagan held a summit meeting, a high-level dialogue that had been intermittent for some time.
In fact, the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union has always been in a state of "you love me, but don't go too far." For the United States, the collapse of the Soviet Union is a sinkhole, and if it is not done well, it will become a crack in the ground. At that time, the United States did not have the heart to deal with the complete subversion of the world power structure, which was beyond the scope of acceptance for them.
Back in 1981, Reagan ushered in a second term as president. In order to create more political achievements, he wanted to shake hands with the Soviet Union and make peace and show his image of peace. On the Soviet side, Gorbachev wanted to stop Reagan's arms expansion, especially in the field of space weapons. As a result, the two bigwigs began a diplomatic game of "you say a word, I say a word", but no one thought that the Soviet Union's own internal strife had already laid the bane.
Although it appeared to be relaxed on the outside, in reality the Soviet Union was in constant trouble. In 1986, the 27th Congress of the CPSU set the policy of "accelerating economic and social development", but the result was empty talk. Two years later, the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union adopted a plan for the reform of the political system, but it did not prevent the sharp economic plunge and political chaos.
In 1989, the elder Bush came to power and put forward the policy of "going beyond containment" and welcomed the Soviet Union back to the normal world. The U.S. proposed that the Soviet Union develop a market economy, while opening up immigration, freedom of speech, cultural exchanges, and said it could cooperate in regional conflicts. But these proposals did not seem to have helped the Soviet Union in any way, but rather fueled the domestic opposition.
Economically, the Soviet Union introduced some Western proposals, but the result was like a frying pan, and the original economic foundation collapsed. In general, the United States, although it wanted to help the USSR, it was too late, and the former superpower collapsed in Gorbachev's perestroika.
To this day, there is a lot of commentary on Gorbachev's "democratization" reforms. In Russia, some people consider him a sinner of history, but in the West, he is quite acclaimed, even awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 and the American "Medal of Freedom" in 2008.
It's no wonder that Gorbachev's perestroika eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, which looked like a political farce in the long course of history. Perhaps, history is a boring comedian, and Gorbachev is the unlucky guy who was chosen to take the stage to perform a political farce. However, it also teaches us a vivid lesson in history, and teaches us not to underestimate the drama of history, because history is sometimes a comedian, and every now and then he will give you an unexpected WTF performance.