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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

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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