chapter 7

Question 1

reasons for detente

Answer 1

• threat of nuclear war led to improvement in relations
• arab countries drawn towards ussr due to usa supplying military aid to israel in six day war
• vietnam war: war was unpopular in the usa and they wanted to end the war by 1968, in 1969 brezhnev said he would persaude north vietnam to end the war if the usa offered a reduction in arms
• visit to moscow: nixon visited in 1972 and brezhnev did not want to see an alliance between us and china, led to the helsinki agreements, brezhnev played intermediary between usa and vietnam

Question 2

salt 1

Answer 2

• may 1972
• agreements; anti ballistic missile treaty systems only allowed at two sites, each site having 100 missiles, interim agreement on offensive arms - 5 year freeze on total number of icbm and slbm launchers
• limitations: did not limit number of strategic bombers on each side, no restriction on mirvs and each side was allowed to use satellites to check the other

Question 3

yom kippur war

Answer 3

• 1973
• arab-israeli war, syria and egypt (supported by ussr) vs israel (supported by usa)
• brezhnev suggested a joint us-ussr force to save egyptian army from israelis, but nixon refused and put all us forces on alert
• usa suggested a un peacekeeping force intervene, and the war ended with a ceasefire later that year

Question 4

nixon’s second visit to moscow

Answer 4

• 1974
  agreements:
• continue to remove danger of war
• limit and eventually end the arms race
• contribute to elimination of sources of international conflict/tension
• relax tensions throughout the war
• develop broad and mutual beneficial co-operations in various fields to promote understanding

Question 5

space link-up

Answer 5

• july 1975

- 3 us astronauts and 2 soviet cosmonauts met up in space and shook hands

Question 6

helsinki agreements

Answer 6

• 1975
  agreements:
• security: recognition of europes frontiers, ussr accepted existence of west germany
• cooperations: call for closer economic/scientific/cultural links
• human rights: each signatory agreed to respect basic human rights

Question 7

relations after helsinki

Answer 7

1977, president jimmy carter sent a letter to soviet dissident in support

• seen as interference in soviet affairs and helsinki groups were set up to monitor ussrs adherence to the agreements
• carter complained about soviet violations of 1975 agreements (free speech, religious restrictions, lack of freedom of movement)

Question 8

salt ii

Answer 8

• began in 1974, treaty signed june 1979
  terms:
• limit of 2.4k nuclear delivery vehicles on each side
• 1320 limit on mirv systems for each side
• band on construction of new land-based icbm launchers
• limits on deployment of new types of arms
• to last until 1985
• ratification did not take place

Question 9

gorbachev

Answer 9

• appointed in 1985 after deaths of andropov and chernenko
• had no foreign policy experience and viewed relationship with reagan in simplistic terms
• recognised issues with communism in the ussr (quality of life due to economy compared to usa)
• cold war was draining too much of the wealth and the standard of living kept falling so he introduced ‘new thinking’ which included:
• perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness)
• ending the arms race
• abandoning the brezhnev doctrine and stopping soviet interference in eastern europe
• knew he had to win over the people so he visited moscow

Question 10

other developments

Answer 10

• dissidents released from jail, banned books published, people learnt of what happened when stalin was in power
• this led to criticisms of communism
• economy had been damaged by arms race, space race and war in afghanistan
• uskorinye (acceleration) introduced
• won support from the people

Question 11

summit conferences (1985-1986)

Answer 11

• held in geneva
• reagan did not give up on star wars but it led to the leaders meeting to discuss issues on their own
• led them to speed up arms talks, work towards abolition of chemical weapons, be more active on issues of human rights

Question 12

meeting in reykjavik

Answer 12

• 1986
• agreed to reduce nuclear arsenals but reagan did not want to stop sdi
• summit broke down after talks on the sdi and abm treaty

Question 13

INF treaty

Answer 13

• december 1987, third summit
• gorbachev changed his mind because
• he was convinced that nuclear weapons would not guarantee safety
• reagan convinced gorbachev that usa did not intend to invade ussr
• realised that economy would not recover if it was spending on nuclear weapons
• believed disarmament would win him popularity in the west

agreements:

• eliminated ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500-5500km
• 850 weapons destroyed by usa and 1850 by ussr by june 1991
• both nations allowed to inspect each other’s military installations