Cold War: Unit 3 Flashcards
What was “Detente”
The move to improve relations and relax tensions between USA and USSR. This was a result of the near-catastrophic Cuban missile crisis. The crisis could have resulted in nuclear war so relaxing tensions and bettering communications between USA and USSR was very important
What new things were introduced as a part of detente?
A hotline was introduced between the USA and the USSR to improve communications as this was a reason the Cuban missile crisis escalated. New leaders were elected (Brezhnev-USSR, Nixon-USA) which introduced new ideas and policies to hopefully mitigate tensions. Money was used to develop other things than weapons, which would hopefully end the arms race.
Examples of treaties, conferences and missions during detente to lower tensions
1967 - Outer space treaty - prevented nukes in space
1968 - Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty - prevented spread of nukes and how to make them
1972 - Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) - no more production of ballistic missiles
1975 - Apollo-Soyuz mission - joint space mission in which Apollo (USA) and Soyuz (USSR) spacecraft docked together essentially ending the space race
1979 - SALT II - limit nuclear delivery vehicles, limited MIRV systems (warheads aimed at a specific location which could be launched quickly) and ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles)
1975 - Helsinki Conference - 33 nations met and agreed that both sides must agree to recognise European borders, respect human rights and that both sides should help each other economically and technologically
How successful was detente?
Not entirely successful as the treaties lowering weapon production and banning weapons did not stop both the USA and the USSR from creating weapons
What events led to the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR?
-Iran’s Islamic revolution - fear of Islam spreading into Afghanistan the eventually into the USSR
- Afghanistan’s government overthrown by a pro communist group which Muslim leaders disliked and assassinated Taraki (leader of pro communist group)
- new leader Amin appointed but Muslim leaders once again dislike him so the USSR send in troops to put in a pro communist government
Consequences of the Afghanistan invasion
-Very expensive - this is bad for USA but not awful. However, this is awful for the USSR as communism is not good for gaining money so they became a lot poorer as a result of the invasion
-The USA-backed Islamic fighters fighting the USSR (Mujahideen) later formed the Taliban which has caused a lot of problems for the USA recently
- USSR ultimately lost and the rebels took control back
- Detente ended
What was Gorbachev’s “new thinking”?
Gorbachev wanted communism and the USSR to become more popular and make its reputation better. He did this by introducing Perestroika and Glasnost and then ending the Brezhnev doctrine
-Perestroika - restructuring - this was Gorbachev reforming the USSR’s economy after Afghanistan by encouraging businesses to be self-financing and not controlled by the USSR
-Glasnost - transparency - allowed freedom of speech in the USSR to allow citizens to criticise the government and new policies
- ending the Brezhnev doctrine - the doctrine didn’t allow Warsaw pact countries to leave without major consequences. the end of this now meant many countries could leave the Warsaw pact
How did the USSR collapse?
Many countries had left the Warsaw pact and the Baltic states began rebelling against the USSR for freedom. The USSR’’s power was decreasing and this was not helped by a coup against Gorbachev by communists hardliners who disliked his new changes. The coup was stopped by Boris Yeltsin, Gorbachev’s rival which only damaged Gorbachev’s reputation. Then, 12 soviet republics formed commonwealth of independent states further decreasing the USSR’s power. As a result of all this, Gorbachev resigned, signalling the end of the USSR
