Technological backwardness Flashcards
What was the technological position of the SU?
It lagged far behind the USA in most respects
What did the West impose on the Soviet Bloc?
A co-ordinated technology embargo in 1950, which was not lifted during the détente years
What did the USA ban in 1974?
The sale of advanced computers to the USSR and its allies
Why did the Soviet police limit the use of photocopiers and PCs?
Due to the threat they posed to the state’s absolute control
How many PCs were there in the USSR and USA by the early 1980s?
USSR - 50,000 PCs
USA - 30 million PCs
What were computers like in the USSR?
Years behind American models. Even the Soviet government’s mainframe computers were outdated in comparison to the USA
What placed the USSR at a significant military disadvantage by the 1980s?
Technological inferiority in key areas (such as computers, microelectronics and telecommunications)
What did the CW place?
Huge economic strains on both superpowers, but particularly the SU
By the 1980s, why did the USSR face mounting economic problems? 3
Due to the inefficiency of centralised state economic planning
Due to the financial burden of maintaining the Soviet empire
Due to the escalating costs of the nuclear arms race
What did the SU’s serious economic problems prompt and compel?
Prompted - Gorbachev’s New Thinking
Compelled - the SU to opt out of an unsustainable CW
Which historians have emphasised the economic factors viewpoint?
Jeremy Isaacs
Taylor Downing
David S. Painter
