Very true. IMO, some of that was sheer luck. While Reagan was determined to stand up solidly against their regime, I don't think even he expected it to fold almost overnight.

Is this something that can be duplicated? Or was it a chance historical combination almost impossible to repeat, factoring in leaders like Reagan, who never let the pressure off, or let politics get in the way of principles, and Gorbachev (and others) on the Soviet side who for whatever reason (economics, military, etc.) decided to shed an empire rather than go any further, all the while believing he, unlike any other communist leader, could somehow find that ideal mix between totalitarianism and freedom.

Gorbachev has his Nobel Prize. It'll be a cold day in hell before the Swedish socialists give Reagan one.