Détente Flashcards
How successful was the human rights element of the Helsinki Accords?
Initially the Soviets were not worried by the human rights ‘basket’ of the Helsinki Accords: believing that the recognition of post-WW2 borders would give them privacy over their own internal affairs.
They were also not legally binding, however many ‘Helsinki Watch’ groups were set up: Hungarian activist Miklós Haraszti said that “Helsinki gave us a stick we could beat the regime with constantly. It was vital”
When did the space race ‘end’?
With the Appollo-Soyuz linkup in 1975
When did the USA and the USSR achieve nuclear parity?
1969
How could the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939 be linked with detente and rapprochment?
It is another example of how strong ideology can be ignored in favour of geo-political needs
How did Vietnam lead the USA to pursue detente?
There was a popular backlash against Vietnam: Eg The Kent State Shootings in 1969. Over 30,000 GIs had died, and the cost was immense (In 1969 alone it had cost $300 million). It had also exposed the limits to America’s foreign policy and it’s role as ‘The World’s Policeman’
What were the economic concerns driving the USA to detente?
*Global economic crash- Eg: The failure of Bretton Woods (free floating currency) and the 3 day working week in the UK in 1974, as well as inflation rates of 6% in 1970.
It was hoped that by closer cooperation with the USSR, the USA might be able to export goods to improve it’s financial situation, as well as agree arms limitations to lessen the impact of the military industrial complex. Successive Presidents had been unable to reform living standards due to the money this was sucking up (Eg: Johnson cancelling the ‘new society’)
What were the economic concerns driving the USSR to detente?
They desparatley needed US technology- (an extension of things like the deal with Fiat in the 8th 5 Year Plan) - Overall economic growth for the USSR was just 3% during the 1970s. They were also spending vast sums of money on the arms race: 30% of the USSR’s workforce was concentrated on the military industrial sector. They hoped detente would curtail this somewhat.
Why was the Yom Kippur War of 1973 important?
.The OPEC countries increased the price of oil by 70% for countries supporting Israel. The USSR had oil and the USA didn’t, so it forced the two to cooperate.
What was ‘Realpolitik’?
A policy pursued by Kissinger and Nixon, which focused on the USA’s needs and interests pragmatically rather than in terms of ideology
When did China get the atomic bomb?
It tested ‘596’ in 1964
What was Ostpolitik?
A policy pursued by Willy Brandt to normalise relations between the DDR and the GDR by abandoning the Hallestin doctrine with the Basic Treaty of 1971. Brandt went on several state visits: (Eg: The USSR and the site of the Warsaw ghetto in Poland) to emphasize that the GDR was not the old nationalist enemy of WW2.
The USA was initially not on board, so eventually West Germany told them “We are here to inform, not consult”
Identify factors as to why detente occurred?
- Vietnam- it had changed their outlook on the world
- US economic considerations (wanted to lessen the military industrial complex to improve living standards; boost an ailing economy by exploiting the Soviet export market and also access Soviet oil after the Oil Shocks)
- Soviet economic considerations (also wanted to reduce the military industrial complex, access USA consumer goods and technologies and reliance on their grain)
- Instability in Europe drove Ostpolitik
- The new dimension added by China
- Role of individuals (Nixon wanted to be ‘the foreign policy president’)
- Fear of nuclear war after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
What can be defined as the detente period? Give dates.
1969-1979
When did Nixon visit China?
1972
“The world economy was stable during the 1970s” -TRUE or FALSE?
FALSE- The Bretton Woods agreement had collapsed and currencies were floating freely, inflation had reached 6%, unemployment was 5% in most Western countries and Britain was under a 3 day working week in 1974
