détente and the end of the CW (1962-1991)

Question 1

nuclear arms race

Answer 1

• soviet nuclear weapon
• “missile gap” => US fear
  => Brinkmanship : Cuba missile crisis

Question 2

nuclear arms control

Answer 2

• start of disarmament talks in the UN
• red telephone : limitation of nuclear test to underground only
• nuclear non-proliferation treaty

Question 3

start of disarmament talks in the UN

Answer 3

1959

Question 4

limitation of nuclear test to underground date

Answer 4

1963

Question 5

NPT date + aim

Answer 5

1968
prevent the spread of nuclear weapons
5 off nuclear weapons states

Question 6

Vietnam War : weakening of the US

Answer 6

• US growing support to the south : advisers
• start of US military engagement after Tonkin Bay incident : 500,000 troops + 60,000 casualties
• Vietnamization : new policy
• Paris Accords
• Fall of Saigon + com victory in Laos and Cambodia
• Vietnam syndrome : no more support of military intervention

Question 7

Vietnamization : date + what does it consist of

Answer 7

1969
gradual withdrawal of troops while gradually expanding military aid

Question 8

Paris accords

Answer 8

1973

Question 9

crisis of the bipolar system

Answer 9

• Decolonization/ 3rd World / Non-alignment Mouvement emergence: IR pluralistic + rejection of CW
• US weakened + challenged
• USSR domination challenged in the East

Question 10

US weakened and challenged

Answer 10

• Vietnam War + CW : US trade deficit + USD devaluation
• challenged by : FR pdt De Gaulle ( independent foreign policy, + nuclear weapons) + Ostpolitik + Harmel Report

Question 11

FR nuclear weapon

Answer 11

1960

Question 12

Ostpolitik : date, aim, person under it

Answer 12

1969 onwards
Willy Brandt
aimed at reducing tensions with hope of negotiating a peaceful reunification of G

Question 13

Harmel report

Answer 13

1967
NATO
trying to eliminate unnatural barriers btw E/W Europe

Question 14

USSR challenged

Answer 14

• Tito/Stalin breakup
• sino-soviet split
• Romania
• Prague Spring => Albania withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact

Question 15

Tito / Stalin breakup

Answer 15

1948

Question 16

Sino-soviet split

Answer 16

1960 due to ideological divisions

Question 17

Prague Spring

Answer 17

1968
put down by soviet troops

Question 18

a new multipolar system : a new US leadership

Answer 18

• R. Nixon 1969-1974
• Henry Kissinger : national security councilor of N until 1973 then 1973-1977: secretary of state : same policy as Bismarck and Metternich, realism and negociation by “linkages”

Question 19

a new multipolar system : new pws

Answer 19

• PRC : nuclear power, in the UNO + Security Council, diplomatic relations with US
• India: treaty with USSR, nuclear pw
• JPN: 2nd World Eco pw, politically recognized
• Western Europe : more united after 1970
• Oil crisis : weakening of the west, creation of G7, end of BW system = more multipolarity in monetary and financial relations

Question 20

Chinese and Indian nuclear power

Answer 20

China : 1964
India : 1974

Question 21

treaty with USSR (India) and admission in UNO + Security Council (China)

Answer 21

1971

Question 22

achievements of the Détente

Answer 22

• China in UNO
• Nuclear arms control : SALT I and II : Strategic Arms Limitation treaty, 1972 & 1979
• End of Vietnam War
• Ostpolitik : beginning of the rapprochement
• CSCE
• Israelo-Egyptian peace

Question 23

CSCE

Answer 23

Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
concluded by Helsinki Final Act in 1975
35 countries
promotion of human rights + coop in eco, social and cultural progress

Question 24

Israelo-Egyptian Peace

Answer 24

1978
Camp David

Question 25

new tensions

Answer 25

- arms race despite agreement ( MIRV, euromissiles, anti-ballistic defense) - failure of J. Carter's moral policy => progress of soviets - soviet invasion in Afghanistan - CW in the 'Third World'

Question 26

soviet invasion of Afghanistan : date + military numbers

Answer 26

1979 100,000 troops + 14,000 casualties

Question 27

CW in the 'third World'

Answer 27

Asia : Vietnam Africa : SA, Horn of Africa (strategic position) Latin America (Nicaragua)

Question 28

the weakening of the Soviet Union

Answer 28

- Reagan : policy more assertive, military intervention & Star Wars system - Soviet eco not efficient anymore : Gorbatchev : perestroika (restructuring com system) and glasnost (more transparency about the functioning of the system) but eco already bankrupted

Question 29

star wars system

Answer 29

1983 ballistic missile defense to protect territory, soviets couldn't cope with this nuclear race

Question 30

the end of the CW

Answer 30

- Nuclear Disarmament : Treaty of Washington on Euromissiles (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty) 1987 : now dismantled - Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan 1989 - Uprising in Eastern Europe : Gorbatchev approved democratization and fall of Berlin Wall in 1989 - Reunification of Germany - Gulf war in Iraq 1990-1991 - Disintegration of USSR =>1 unipolar moment for the US