Relations

Question 1

Kennedy’s impact

Answer 1

When President Kennedy took office tension increased as he was anti-communist. Tension increased also with the Bay of Pigs incident in Cuba in April 1961. Cuba was growing closer to the USSR, and the USA was worried about a Communist state close by. Relations were not positive

Question 2

Cuba

Answer 2

This was when the USA discovered that the USSR was placing nuclear missiles on Cuba rather than the conventional weapons they knew about. This caused tension to increase to almost the point of war between the USA and USSR. There was great relief when the crisis in Cuba ended and tensions were reduced. A hotline telephone link was set up to ensure better communication between the leaders of the two superpowers in the future. They also signed agreements to limit the spread of nuclear weapons and trade between them developed. Relations had improved dramatically

Question 3

Improvement of relations

Answer 3

This move to improve relations between the USA & The USSR and relaxation of the tensions that existed was known as détente. Here both sides agreed to work together. In 1971 President Nixon became the first President to visit the USSR and in 1972 SALT talks then in 1973 Brezhnev visited the USA. In 1975 astronauts from the USA and USSR met in space, a significant event and evidence of improved relations.

Question 4

Afghanistan

Answer 4

Attempts to reduce tensions were damaged however when the USSR became involved in a costly and, ultimately unsuccessful, war in Afghanistan between 1979 and 1988. This led President Carter to withdraw from the SALT 2 talks and boycott the Olympics in Moscow. Relations were low again. Détente had ended.

Question 5

Arms race

Answer 5

However, changes in leadership in the USA and the USSR had led to changes in relations in the 1980s. President Reagan of the USA was a key reason for the changing relations. He initially called the USSR ‘The Evil Empire’. Reagan had also increased the spending on nuclear missiles. However, when the new Russian leader Gorbachev began a policy of Glasnost and Perestroika. This was because by the 1980s the USSR could no longer keep up with the USA in the Arms Race. Gorbachev wanted to reduce the USSR’s role in the nuclear arms race. Gorbachev and Reagan got on well Regan as a result changed his policy towards the USSR from a position of rollback to diplomacy and this helped to improve relations between the USA and USSR. They both negotiated[VA1] the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty

Question 6

Eastern Europe

Answer 6

Gorbachev also realised that the USSR could no longer keep the level of control of Eastern Europe as outlined in the Brezhnev Doctrine and began to reduce the USSR’s military presence. This led to the collapse of communism in the states of Eastern Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall. By 1989 the Arms Race had ended and President Bush and Gorbachev announced that the Cold War was over and relations had drastically changed