Reagan's Policies And The 'second Cold War' Flashcards
What led to a period of tense and hostile relations known as a ‘second cold war’?
Reagan’s tougher approach
What was Reagan’s mind-set?
Made a speech to a Christian group in 1983 where he described the Soviet Union as an ‘evil empire’ and said the USA represented the forces of ‘good’
What did Reagan persuade the US congress to do?
Boost America’s armed forces by increasing spending on arms. 1982, 13% more spent on arms
What new weapons were developed under Reagan?
Trident submarines and Stealth bombers
What was the Reagan Doctrine?
The USA would not only support anti-communist governments, but also anti-communist groups trying to overthrow communist governments
What was given in line with the Reagan Doctrine?
Support to insurgent groups in Central American countries such as El Salvador and Nicaragua.
When did Reagan call it when US forces invaded the Carribean island of Grenada and toppled the communsit government there?
The first ‘rollback’ of communist influence since WW2
Would could Reagan do as he knew Soviet economy were struggling?
Increasing spending and support for anti-communists would create difficulties for the USSR as they would need to find extra funding to counter the USA
What did Reagan announce in 1983?
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or ‘Star Wars’. SDI would place a series of satellite states in orbit. These satellite would carry powerful lasers that could shoot down Soviet missiles and prevent them from harming USA
What was SDI against?
The terms in the 1967 Outer Space treaty
What did Reagan do to increase the threat of SDI?
Spoke of it as a reality and didn’t admit that the system was years from being ready
How did Moscow react to news of SDI?
Shocked. The USSR had devoted huge resources to catch up with American missile tech. Now their missiles were useless and a new system was needed
What was the point of SDI?
To place the USSR spending under more pressure
How was SDI a significant turning point for the arms race and the Cold War?
Soviet Union leader’s knew they’d have to spend loads to equivilate SDI. Soviet economy not strong enough to catch up so this was an important reason behind the ‘new thinking’ of Gorbachev
When did Mikhail Gorbachev become Soviet leader?
1985
