end of cold war

Question 1

how much did reagan increase the US defence budget in October 1981?

Answer 1

53%

Question 2

How much did US military spending increase between 1980-85?

Answer 2

245 to 345 billion dollars

Question 3

In 1982 how much did defense spending increase? and what was included in this spending?

Answer 3

13% and stealth bombers, trident submarines and SDI

Question 4

What was the Reagan Doctrine?

Answer 4

Funded capitalist/right wing countries such as Grenada, El Salvador and Nicaragua as well as the Mujahadeen

Question 5

criticisms of ‘triumphalist’ view?

Answer 5

• Changed his approach in his second term in office as he began negotiating arms reduction deals with Gorbachev
• Didnt get any concessions from andropov in his first term between 1982-84 when he had his most aggressive foreign policies, so his attitude in that time in fact prolonged the cold war
• his constructive engagement later in the 80s produced more significant results towards the end of the cold war

Question 6

three reasons why the reagan doctrine/funding of the mujahadeen was significant to ending the cold war?

Answer 6

• drained the soviets of their economic resources
• war was unpopular domestically in russia so weakened support for the government
• the war was unpopular internationally, so weakened their position internationally too

Question 7

triumphalist arguements

Answer 7

• Reagan and USA’s hardline approach in the early 1980’s provided the pressure for the USSR to collapse
• USSR unable to match USA’s military spending so had no choice but to end cold war
• alliance with thatcher allowed him to open up nuclear missiles in europe and place more pressure on USSR

Question 8

How much was the annual growth rate for agricultural output in the USSR in 1980?

Answer 8

0.8%

Question 9

In the early 1980’s how many more computers did USA have to the USSR

Answer 9

50,000 in the USSR to the 30 million in the USA

Question 10

By the 1980’s how much did funding communist countries cost the USSR per year?

Answer 10

$40 billion

Question 11

by the mid 1980’s how much of the USSR’s state budget go to military spending?

Answer 11

40%`

Question 12

By 1989, how did USSR’s GDP compare to the USA’s

Answer 12

It was half - 2.6billion to USA’s 5.2 billion

Question 13

What was perestroika?

Answer 13

Restructuring- address economic decline by giving greater economic powers to workers and manages to make economic decisions

Question 14

What is glasnost?

Answer 14

Openness-aimed to reduce fear and loss of support for the communist government

Question 15

What were Gorbachev’s attitudes towards nuclear arms?

Answer 15

believed they did nothing to guarantee the security of the SU so pursued arms reduction deals to ensure security through dialogue rather than MAD

Question 16

What was the significance of the INF treaty and what did it agree?

Answer 16

Reduced 1750 soviet and 850 us missiles and went further than the SALT agreements as reduced rather than limited nuclear arms

Question 17

What did Gorbachev abandon in 1988 and what was it’s significance?

Answer 17

Brezhnev Doctrine as well as removing troops from Afghanistan. Significant as ended ‘old style’ of soviet aggression and expansionism by no longer refusing to put down protests by force.

Question 18

Main argument for ‘people power’ ending the cold war

Answer 18

• Argues that the discontent across eastern europe effectively ended the cold war by removing the satellite regimes that defined the conflict and therefore removed the ideological battle between East and West.
• Popular opposition had secured concessions from the communist regimes for change

Question 19

Causes for popular discontent across eastern europe

Answer 19

• opening trade and technological links to west opened eyes of those in the east to consumer goods/capitalism
• living standards had declined in the 1980’s in eastern europe. Prices and unemployment increased whilst housing, food and consumer goods were limited
• human rights abuses by USSR and political repression still existed

Question 20

weakness of people power arguement

Answer 20

underestimates gorbachevs new approach to the cold war and reagans aggressive attitudes

Question 21

Main argument for ‘moral bankruptcy of communism’ ending the cold war

Answer 21

the illegitimacy of the Eastern Bloc undermined the SU and caused its collapse

Question 22

4 factors that make up the moral bankruptcy of communism

Answer 22

• Privileged and corrupt elite- top bureaucrats took bribes, pocketed government funds and appointed family and friends to state jobs as well as having access to exclusive privileges
• Alienated population- low productivity of work, extensive black market and growing social problems such as alcoholism, mental illness and suicide
• Abuses of human rights- communist leaders ignored Helsinki human rights provisions. dissidents imprisoned
• Reliance on military force in crushing protests/opposition