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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Analyse the factors leading to the end of the Cold War and account for the U.S. ascendancy in the world.

  • UPSC 2003
  • Disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Rise of the Unipolar World

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The end of the Cold War around 1989–91 and the subsequent ascendancy of the United States as sole superpower are related but analytically distinct outcomes — one explains why the bipolar contest ended, the other explains why the resulting order was unambiguously American-led rather than a return to fluid multipolarity.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • Part I — Why the Cold War Ended
  • Soviet Economic and Strategic Exhaustion
  • Gorbachev's "New Thinking" and Reform
  • Arms Control and Superpower Diplomacy
  • Collapse of the Eastern Bloc and German Reunification
  • Part II — Accounting for U.S. Ascendancy
  • …and 6 more sections, with a conclusion
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