foreign policy under Regan 1981-89

Question 1

what approach did Regan take towards the USSR?

Answer 1

• he was anti-communist and advocated a tougher stance towards the USSR.
• referring to the USSR as “the evil empire” and accused the Soviets of being the “focus of evil in the modern world”.

Question 2

how is Reagan’s non-compromising approach to Cold War affairs shown through military?

Answer 2

• During the 1980s, the largest military
  build-up in history took place
• defence spending was increased by 7% per year between 1981 and 1986, with a total of over $2 trillion.
• Spending on defence in 1987, was $456 billion that year alone.
• Improvements were made to existing missile systems and additions, such as the B-1 bomber
• drastically increase the arms race

Question 3

what was the change in direction in foreign policy during Reagan’s administration?

Answer 3

• he refused to accept Détente with the Soviets.
• During the early 1980s, little progress was made with regards to arms limitation.

Question 4

what is an example of Regan being willing to talk about arms reduction with the Soviets when it came to long-range nuclear weapons?

Answer 4

• 1982 he put forward the START I proposal to limit the amount of nuclear warheads to 5,000
  per side.
• However, an agreement could not be reached

Question 5

what made matters more complicated with the USSR during Regans first term?

Answer 5

the Strategic Defence Initiative in March 1983. The SDI was a space based anti-missile programme and was seen as a severe threat by the USSR, those missiles would be rendered useless if the programme was successful.

Question 6

what was Mikhail Gorbachev (soviet leader from 1985) policy approach towards the USA?

Answer 6

Glasnost

Question 7

what was the soviets Glasnost policy?

Answer 7

reforms within the Soviet Union and the easing of tensions abroad by looking inwards at their own domestic problems.

Question 8

when was the INF Treaty signed? (relaxing tesions under regan)

Answer 8

8 th December 1987

Question 9

what was the INF Treaty? (relaxing tesions under regan)

Answer 9

agreed to eliminate all short and medium-
range missiles and provisions were made for an

Question 10

what is the significance of the INF Treaty?

Answer 10

• the Treaty, unlike previous agreements, was actually focused on arms reduction rather than arms control.
• after the Treaty was signed relations continued to improve