End Flashcards
1968
Prague spring
Liberal reforms as the leader of Czechoslovakia believed that the communist way is not working → rest of warsaw pact countries led by the soviets invaded and replaced the leader with a more compliant one
1968-1988
Brezhnev doctrine
No country was allowed to leave the pact / threaten the cohesiveness of the soviet bloc → sustaining communist govts in EE by force
To justify the warsaw pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 ,military interventions in Hungary and even used later invasion of Afghanistan 1979)
Jan 1969
Nixon ushered a period of detente (shift of foreign policy from containment)
Peaceful coexistence
Diplomatic relations between USA and China
Engaged in arms control negotiations with Soviet Union
Significance: Reduced tensions
May 1972
SALT talks started; anti ballistic missile treaty signed
Limit number of nuclear weapons that they possess
1973
Nixon ended American involvement in Vietnam War
Nov 1976
Carter became US President , detente started to stall
Carter saw detente as a huge compromise in favour of USSR
Took a tougher stance against communism when he came to power and support for human rights
Carter’s criticism of perceived human rights violation by the USSR increased tensions and stalled detente
Dec 1979
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan → End of detente
To support communist regime in Afghanistan
Soviet aggression
Increased anti-Communist stance with Western governments
On 2 Jan 1980, Carter cancelled ongoing arms limitation talks (SALT II) + imposed grain embargoes +boycotted the 1980 summer Olympics which were held in Moscow + boosted the budget of the US Defence Department + financial aid to the office of Pakistani President, who, in turn, subsidised anti-Soviet radical fighters in Afghanistan → Significance: age of detente and the friendlier diplomatic and economic relations had ended.
23 Jan 1980
Carter’s address to the Union
Carter doctrine: Use of military force if necessary (against the USSR)
Response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan – Marked the end of detente.
1981
Reagan becoming President → marked the close of détente and a return to Cold War tensions
“Make America Great Again” → hawkish,more confrontational policies towards the USSR (1st term) ; some historians terming it as the ‘second cold war’
Abandoned detente and renewed the arms race
Strategy of deterrence: further build up military capacity to discourage aggression
Making USSR struggling to keep up given its alr stretched resources → straining its economy
Reagan doctrine: US provided aid to anti-communist guerrillas and resistance movements in an effort to “roll back” Soviet-backed pro-communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to diminish Soviet influence.
1982
Zero-option
An American proposal for the withdrawal of ALL Soviet and United States intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe. This term was subsequently expanded to describe the vision of eliminating all nuclear weapons everywhere.
Designed to be rejected so that the U.S. could deploy the new missiles without condemnation by critics there and abroad (View by European and American anti-nuclear activists)
“Peace through Strength”
Military power can help preserve peace, weakness invites aggression → Build-up and modernisation of US military forces → hold an upper hand during negotiations with USSR
8 Mar 1983
Evil Empire speech
Reagan explicitly rejected the notion that the US and the Soviet Union were equally responsible for the Cold War and the ongoing nuclear arms race; rather, he asserted that the conflict was a battle between good and evil with Soviet Union as the evil empire → believed that it was America’s responsibility to save the world from Soviet repression.
*announcement of SDI
dramatically increased U.S. defence spending and ramped up the nuclear arms race with the Soviets
To constrain Soviet strategic and global military capabilities
Argued that an increased nuclear inventory as well as progress in science and technology were necessary to prevent global conflict. (International/ political agenda context)
Significance: USSR viewed it as a departure from the relative weapon parity of detente and an escalation of arms race into space → showing diff perspectives
Other than the Evil Empire speech , Reagan made many other speeches in March 1983
To show Reagan’s hardline stance against the Soviets
Purpose: The Reagan administration used these speeches to reshape public knowledge about and attitudes toward nuclear warfare. +justify increase spending on SDI (Domestic context)
Oct 1983
Invasion of Grenada
Part of Rollback → US invasion of Grenada to topple the Socialist government.
Nov 1983
NATO Able Archer 83 → Brink of nuclear war
Simulated war
The increase in realism, combined with tense relations between US and USSR and the anticipated arrival of Pershing II nuclear missiles in WE , led USSR believe that it was a real war → In response, USSR readied their nuclear forces, prepared for war → almost led to nuclear war
*Pershing II nuclear missiles: a counter to Soviet missiles on USSR’ western border → represented a major threat to the USSR
Significance: Further escalation of tensions ; some historians pin Able Archer 83 as the event that made Reagan turn from a policy of confrontation to rapprochement due to the nuclear scare
1983
Formal negotiations of START I. Diplomatic overtures were continued by the succeeding Bush administration up until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991
The period 1983–1991 is sometimes referred to as a second period of détente as the state department under George P. Shultz took a more diplomatic approach beginning in 1983
1985
Reagan re elected in a landslide (2nd term)
Adopted a more accommodative approach → due to pressure from Western popular movements (growing public opposition of the SDI as well as renewed fears of nuclear war (+ subsequently due to a more conciliatory Gorbachev)
Willing to negotiate with the soviets on arms reduction
