Ronald Reagan and the 'Second Cold War'

Question 1

Cause 1 - The end of detente under Carter escalates to become a second cold war under Reagan

Answer 1

The end of detente had already happened under president Carter when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan but a new ‘Second Cold War’ became more obvious from 1981 when Reagan took over after he won a landslide election victory. Partly this victory for Reagan was due to his criticism of Carter for being too ‘weak’ on the USSR.

Question 2

Cause 2 - How Reagan started to increase tension with the arms race and his Evil Empire speech

Answer 2

In 1983, Reagan’s opinion was made clear in a speech he gave to a Christian group when he described the USSR as an ‘evil empire’ and said that the USA represented the forces of ‘good’. Reagan also boosted spending on America’s armed forces. In 1982 by 13% and then a further 8% in 1983 and in 1984.

Question 3

Event 1 - The Reagan Doctrine

Answer 3

Reagan announced his ‘Reagan Doctrine’ which was tougher than the Truman Doctrine and included ‘rolling back’ communism by supporting anti-communist groups with money, weapons and training in Angola and El-Salvador (1981), Nicaragua (1982-84) and even a US-troop led invasion of Grenada in 1983.

Question 4

Event 2 - New Weapons

Answer 4

Reagan’s tougher doctrine included developing new weapons that the Soviet Union could not match. For example, new stealth bombers and nuclear Trident submarines, but especially the SDI (Strategic Defence Initiative) programme that was nicknamed ‘Star Wars’ by the media.

Question 5

Consequence 1 - American spending on new weapons and technology forced a Soviet re-think

Answer 5

The news of SDI came as a complete shock to Moscow. The Soviet Union had spent huge amounts of money catching up with American missile technology. Now their missiles would be useless and a new system was needed. The Soviets realised they could not compete with American advances in computer technology and this contributed to Gorbachev’s ‘new thinking’ from 1985.

Question 6

Consequence 2 - The Soviet Union was almost bankrupt and unable to compete with the USA

Answer 6

The USSR suffered from an economic growth rate close to 0%, combined with a sharp fall in export earnings due to the decline of world oil prices in the 1980s, during which petroleum exports made up around 60% of the USSR’s total export earnings. Thus, to institute rapid reform, Gorbachev redirected the country’s resources from costly Cold War commitments to more profitable areas in the civilian sector and offered major concessions to the US on the levels of conventional forces, nuclear weapons, and policy in Eastern Europe.