The End of the CW, 1970-91

• When was SALT I?

  1972
• What did SALT I agree?

  • limited number of ABMs each country could have
  • temporary limit on the numbers of ICBMs on both sides
• Why was SALT I important?

  • slowed down arms race
  • ABMs were designed to intercept incoming missiles, with limited numbers, there was less potential to upset the delicate nuclear balance between the superpowers
• When was the Helenski agreement?

  1975
• What was agreed in the Helenski agreement?

  • usa, ussr, canada, most of europe
  • all countries agreed to recognise existing European borders
  • uphold human rights
  • accepted division of Germany
• What did not work out with the Helenski agreement?

  The USSR didn't stick to its word to uphold human rights and grant freedom of speech or movement to its citizens. This caused distrust between the US and USSR
• When was SALT 2?

  1979
• What was agreed in SALT 2?

  • banned USA and USSR from launching new missile programmes
  • limited number of MIRVs each country could have
• What was the problem with SALT 2?

  It was never approved by the US Senate, so it didn't come into affect.
• When did a civil war break out in Afghanistan? Why?

  • 1978
  • rebels were protesting at new radical reforms brought in my there Afghan communist government, which had close ties to the Soviet Union
• The Afghan government requested help from the USSR, which invaded Afghanistan in December 1979.
• How did the USSR justify the invasion of Afghanistan?

  using the Brezhnev doctrine
• 1 million Afghan citizens were killed and more than 6 million became refugees
• What was the problem with the Afghanistan invasion?

  • USSR found itself in an unwinnable conflict
  • difficult mountainous terrain
  • Afghanistan supplied with weapons from USA
• How was the Afghanistan war disastrous for the USSR?

  • 15,000 Soviet troops killed
  • government spent huge amounts and still didn't win
  • loss of public support for the communist regime
  • soviet people angry at falling living standards, which had worsened as a result of high spending in Afghanistan
• How did the Afghanistan war look for Brezhnev?

  • an embarassment
  • undermined the USSR's strong military reputation which was needed to keep satellite states under control
• The UN condemned the invasion in January 1980.
• How did the invasion cause an outcry in the international commuity?

  In 1980, the USA and over 50 other countries boycotted the Moscow Olympic Games in protest
• How did the war's tension begin to move the superpowers away from détente?

  • The soviet intervention was seen as communist expansionism. In 1979, Jimmy Carter stopped the SALT 2 treaty from being debated by the US Senate, meaning it could not come into effect. Instead he asked for an increase in the defence budget.
  • Also worried the US that the USSR was trying to gain influence in the Persian Gulf, which was oil-rich and had close economic ties with the West
  • Carter Doctrine
• What was the Carter Doctrine?

  • First threat of aggression between the superpowers since detente
  • USA would use force to prevent the USSR from gaining control of the Gulf region
• Who became president in January 1981?

  Ronald Reagan
• What did Reagan call the USSR?

  an evil empire
• What did Reagan not believe in?

  the policy of detente. he was willing to negotiate with the USSR, but only from a point of strength.
• How did Reagan start the biggest arms build-up in American history?

  • spent $500 billion a year or conventional and nuclear weapons
  • re-authorised some weapons programmes that had been abandoned
  • began developing the neutron bomb
• What was Reagan's SDI?

  • Strategic Defence Initiative (Star Wars)
  • March 1983
  • Weapons that could destroy nuclear missiles after they'd been launched
• How did attitudes change after 1985?

  • Gorbachev became leader of USSR in March 1985
  • he proposed radical reforms
  • he was much more open towards the West
  • Reagan recognised the USSR was changing
  • leaders got on well, better relationship between superpowers
• Why were Soviet citizens becoming discontent by the 1980s?

  • soviet goods were poor quality
  • soviet farming was inefficient
  • not enough food
  • millions of tonnes of grain had to be imported from the USA
  • government becoming more corrupt
• Who introduced 'perestroika' and 'glasnost'?

  Mikhail Gorbachev
• What was perestroika?

  • restructuring
  • moved away from centralisation of industry
  • allowed private business ownership
  • allowed soviet businesses to trade with western powers
• What was glasnost?

  • new rights
  • thousands of political prisoners were released
  • free speech was allowed
  • censorship was relaxed
• In 1989, Gorbachev created the USSR's first elected parliament - Communist party officials were chosen by the public for the first time.
• Gorbachev didn't want to end communism, he wanted to modernise it. He hoped that reform would revive the USSR's struggling economy.
• How did Gorbachev change foreign policy?

  • met with Reagan a few times, e.g. Geneva Summit 1985
  • disarmament treaty signed in 1987
  • first missiles demented in 1988
  • 1988, announced all Soviet troops would withdraw from Afghanistan
  • immediate reduction of the USSR's weapons stockpile and the number of troops in the Soviet armed forces
• When did Gorbachev decide to abandon the Brezhnev Doctrine?

  1988
• When did the Berlin Wall fall?

  November 1989
• • May 1989: Hungary opens border with Austria, allowed East Germans travel through Hungary to Austria, and then into West Germany
  • August-September 1989: Thousands left East Germany to West
  • October 1989: Mass protests against communist regime
  • November 1989: Free elections promised and wall torn down
• Free elections were held in Poland in June 1989. In 1990, a non-communist government came to power, the USSR didn't intervene.
• In December 1989, communist governments collapsed in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romani.
• When did East and West Germany rejoin to form a single state again?

  October 1990
• When did Lithuania declare itself independent?

  March 1990