end of cold war timeline Flashcards
Leonid Brezhnev succeeds Nikita Khrushchev as Premier of the USSR.
1964
Richard Nixon becomes President of the USA and adopts the policy of détente with the USSR.
1969-1974
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) is signed, limiting and reducing nuclear weapons.
1972
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty limits anti-ballistic missile sites to two each.
1972
Détente begins to face challenges, including the Angolan Civil War, which strains superpower relations.
1975
Jimmy Carter becomes US President and is critical of Soviet human rights violations and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
1979 (1)
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan leads Carter to cancel arms limitation talks, end grain supplies, and ban technology transfers to the USSR.
1979 (2)
Ronald Reagan pursues economic liberalization, renews the arms race, and implements the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
1980s (1)
NATO’s Able Archer 83 exercises lead to heightened tensions and a near nuclear confrontation.
1980s (2)
Soviet economic stagnation, high military expenditure, and increasing resistance from nationalistic movements weaken the USSR.
1980s (3)
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party and introduces Glastnost (Openness) and Perestroika (Restructuring).
1985
End of Soviet control over Eastern Europe, including significant political changes in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania.
1989-1990
Fall of the Berlin Wall, symbolizing the end of Soviet control in Eastern Europe.
1989
Increased superpower cooperation, including the reunification of Germany and the signing of key treaties.
1990-1991
Boris Yeltsin is elected President of Russia; Gorbachev becomes President of the USSR.
1991 (1)
