So you discount Reagan(or Carter) because the USSR was already done by then, but 2 of your top 3 people credited with the Soviets demise began in 1978 Pope John Paul II and 1979 was the first time Charlie Wilson really had much impact. You can't have it both ways.
I will address all the history class shortages here :
John Paul as Karol Józef Wojtyła first fought the injustices of the Nazi's in Poland, became a priest, often disguised his identity to exist as a Roman Catholic priest ministering to the people in Poland and moved his resistance and support of labor rights which resulted twenty years later in Solidarity. The man was a one man wrecking crew. He ministered and preached against communism. He moved politically against communism. He wrote articles, often under assumed names decrying communism, and he served as a backbone of the Church in Poland. Every other block country was less successful at keeping its church in tact. John Paul was a big reason for the Polish Churches' successes. He helped create the environment that Lech Wałęsa and Solidarity thrived in decades later.
Of note, some have wondered why I didn't rate Walensa higher. It was because his influence was felt in Poland (mostly) at the end as you pointed out. John Paul after decades of fighting the Soviets was seen and respected by the whole
world!
So John Paul II's influence was felt over a thirty plus year period.
Charlie Wilson made the list because he was such a big hammer in exactly the right place at the right time. They were on the way out but he put them down! His influence "blew up earlier in the seventies" and resulted in Israeli, French, German, Swiss, Scandinavian, Egyptian and other countries, their militaries and their financial sectors. The amount of money that was raised and moved without alerting anyone was mind boggling. The fact that multiple countries allowed our forces to examine and tear apart the most up to date Soviet weaponry is a fact lost to history. It was such a good secret, well kept, that people today still aren't aware of it. The US military that trained the Afghan fighters knew the Soviet weapons better than the Soviets did. Can you imagine what the Soviets would have thought if they knew there were Soviet weapon manuals available to their opponents translated into English, and Farsi?
This would have never happened in the Reagan Administration. The war hawk jingoists that controlled his administration were way too arrogant to put together an inclusive program like the one that tore the heart out of the Soviet military. But the way, no one will ever know how many Soviet soldiers were killed in a little over nine years, but it was probably closer to the 900,000 than the 300,000 thrown out as a high guess. To give an idea between 5 and 15 times as many Soviets died as Americans were lost in Viet Nam in over fifteen years. So 15 times the men in 2/3 the time.
In fact, I will stand by the fact that the hatred today in the middle east goes back to American Imperial support (Iran) and the Reagan Bush mishandling of everything in the Middle East, with everything else. From the Kurds to the Afghanis.
Gorby recognized early on that he could not keep up with the US in the Arms race. Guns or butter... they chose butter.
The guns and butter decision was made out of necessity. "Gorby" was not a leader. He was the "last guy." The one that turns off the light and shuts the door.
