A Day That Shook The World: Cold War officially ends

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On 3 December 1989 the Cold War ‘officially’ ended when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met with US president George Bush aboard a Soviet ship docked at Malta’s Marsaxlokk harbour.

The summit and joint press conference had the appearance of a friendly, diplomatic conclusion to a protracted conflict spanning four decades, nine American presidents, wars in Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Berlin blockade.

Although the war did not actually end for another two years, the meeting between Gorbachev and Bush was a major stepping stone on the journey to peace.

You can view footage from their meeting and reaction from the time in this British Pathe newsreel: