cold war unit three

• Détente


  Attempts by the USA and USSR to improve the Cold War situation in the 1970s
• The World had come close to destruction during the Cuban Missile Crisis
• Reason for USA and USSR wanting to improve relations in the 1970s

  Both were spending too much on the arms race and wanted to reduce spending
• SALT 1 agreement, 1972


  1. The USA and USSR would not make any more ballistic missiles for five years

  2. Each side was only allowed two bases for anti-ballistic missiles
• SALT 1 was the first time the two superpowers had agreed to limit their nuclear weapons
• Helsinki Agreements, 1975


  1. Europe's borders accepted

  2. America would sell more goods to the USSR

  3. The two superpowers would cooperate more in science, technology and culture

  4. The USA and USSR would respect freedoms such as free speech and freedom of religion
• SALT 2 agreement, 1979

  1. Each side could only have 2,400 vehicles for delivering nuclear weapons

  2. No new land based missile launchers would be created
• The USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, ending the period of détente
• Reason for USSR invading Afghanistan

  Concern about the growth of Islamic ideas that could inspire rebellion against Communism in the USSR
• USSR invaded Afghanistan


  US President Carter took a tough approach, ending the improvement in relations
• Carter announced the Carter Doctrine, America would support any country bordering Afghanistan threatened by Communism
• America refused to ratify the SALT 2 agreement
• The US Olympic team refused to participate in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, leading to the USSR boycotting the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
• The invasion of Afghanistan showed that détente was over, and the relationship between the superpowers quickly got worse
• Ronald Reagan


  Defeated Carter in the 1980 Presidential election, wanted to take a tougher stance with the USSR, described it as the 'evil empire'
• Strategic Defence Initiative (Star Wars)

  1. The USA claimed to have developed technology to shoot down nuclear missiles using powerful lasers from satellites

  2. This made the Soviet nuclear missiles useless, as they could be shot down
• Reagan's spending on more nuclear weapons and 'Star Wars' meant that America had won the arms race
• Mikhail Gorbachev


  Became leader of the USSR in 1985, introduced policies of Perestroika (changing the economy to introduce more capitalism) and Glasnost (being more open and giving the Soviet people more freedoms)
• Gorbachev ended the arms race as the USSR could not keep up with the USA
• Gorbachev announced the USSR would no longer use its army to keep control of the satellite states
• Meetings between Gorbachev and Reagan

  1. Geneva 1985 - agreed to continue discussing reducing nuclear weapons

  2. Reykjavik 1986 - reached no agreement

  3. Washington 1987 - agreed the Intermediate Nuclear Weapons Treaty (INF)

  4. Washington 1990 - agreed to reduce nuclear weapons further over 7 years
• As Gorbachev promised, the east European satellite states began to gain freedom from 1988
• Events in Eastern Europe, 1988-1989

  1. Hungary and Poland allowed other political parties besides Communists

  2. Poland's 'Solidarity' group won elections

  3. Hungary opened its border with the West

  4. Protests in East Germany led to the Berlin Wall being opened and destroyed

  5. Czechoslovakia had a non-Communist leader by the end of 1990
• The events in Eastern Europe led to demands for the end of Communism inside the USSR
• Collapse of the Soviet Union

  1. Communist Party panicked and removed Gorbachev in an attempted coup in August 1991, but this was defeated by Boris Yeltsin

  2. Gorbachev eventually resigned in December 1991, announcing the end of Communism

  3. Boris Yeltsin took power and ended Communism in the Soviet Union, which broke up into 15 different countries
• The rivalry with the USA also came to an end as capitalism replaced communism in Russia and the former countries of the USSR, ending the Cold War