The End of the Cold War 1970-91: Attempts to Reduce Tension Flashcards
Terms, name and year of SALT 1
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty 1972
* Superpowers agreed to limit number of nuclear weapons
* No further production of strategic ballistic weapons
* No increase of ICBMs (Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles)
* No new nuclear missile launcher, new submarines with launchers allowed as replacements (SLBM)
* Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty limited both sides to 2 ABM deployment areas
Pros and Cons of SALT 1
- Slowed arms race placing limits on bombers, ICBMs, and SLBMs
- Led to further negotiation and SALT 2 1979
- ensured neither side had a decisive advantage
- Did not cover intermediate nuclear weapons which continued to be deployed in the late 1970s in Europe
Helsinki Conference
Who was there
Year
Agreements
1975
Signed in Helsinki by USA, USSR, and all European countries except Albania and Andorra
* East and West Germany accepted each other officially
* disputes to be settled peacefully through UN
* No country to interfere with internal affairs of another country
* US agreed to buy oil from USSR and USSR agreed to buy wheat from US
* Sharing of scientific knowledge
* Respect Human rights including: freedom of speech, religion, movement, and information
Importance of Helsinki Conference
- Helped US and USSR form stable relationship
- High point of Détente
- Coincided with more US-Soviet cooperation like the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (1975) joint space mission, and trade agreements.
Limits of Helsinki agreement
- USSR continued to focus on Easter Bloc countries with Brezhnev doctrine treated dissidents harshly, scientist ALexander Sakharov arrested, hospitalised and force-fed
- US continued to prioritise interests in countries within its influence like Chile and El Salvador
Terms, Name, and Year of SALT 2
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty 1979
* Under negotiation from 1972
* Based on Vladvostok Accords 1974
* Leonid Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter signed agreement Vienna June 1979
* Each superpower limited to 2250 warheads, as opposed to SALT 1 counting bombers
* Imposed limits on new launch systems like multi-warhead missiles
Why SALT 2 failed
- Some West German politicians feared it weakened defence of West Germany. Thought USA would be less likely to use warheads if USSR invaded
- Some US politicians thought it made too many concessions
- US-Soviet relations soured after Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 1979, never ratified by US senate
Extent of success in SALT 1 and SALT 2
- Arms Control only limited warheads rather than reducing them
- It did limit everything but Intermediate nuclear weapons
- Reduced possibility of nuclear war because neither had ability to destroy all missile launchers of the other side before missiles could be fired back
Reagan early in his presidential years
- Made no efforts to restart Détente
- Described USSR as an ‘Evil Empire’- undiplomatic
- Kick-started arms race
- US technology developing fast especially computing
- US poured money into new missile technology
Crisis in Soviet Union
- USSR couldn’t keep up with US
- Economy poor partly due to arms race
- Living standards low in Easter Bloc
- Bogged down in Afghanistan war
- USSR didn’t have US computing expertise
- USSR couldn’t keep pace wih US missile technology
Geneva summit
November 1985
* Gorbachev and Reagan meet at the Geneva summit
* They get on well and agree to more meetings
Reasons for Reagan’s change of heart
- Public opinion against arms race
- Gorbachev was popular with ‘Gorbymania’ in Western Europe and even US
- Reagan liked Gorbachev and prepared to work with him to improve US-Soviet relations.
- Magaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister and close ally of Reagan described Gorbachev as a man she could do business with
Significance of Gorbachev’s and Reagan’s changing attitudes
- Represented easing of Cold War Tensions
- Led to greater cooperation between US and USSR
- Led to arms treaties such as the INF treaty and START 1
Gorbachev as a leader
- Recognised economy was failing and brought in perestroika (restructuring) to combat this
- Recognised Soviet people unhappy and distrustful of government and brought in glasnost (openness) giving them more freedom to speak their mind
- Foreign relations became more open and positive
- Desperate to get USSR out of Afghanistan
- slow to allow democratic elections
- Tried to cover up scale of Chernobyl
- Didn’t want capitalism but a stronger Socialism
- Never planned to cause end of USSR
INF Treaty
December 1987
* Diplomats continued discussions after Reykjavik and came up with this
* INF stands for Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces- Nuclear weapons range 500-5500 km
* INF Teeaty got rid of all of these
* INF treaty largely applied to Europe where most missiles were deployed
