The 'Second Cold War'

Question 1

When did Ronald Reagan become president?

Answer 1

• 1981

Question 2

List 5 ways in which Reagan’s attitude to the Soviet Union was different from Carter’s.

Answer 2

• Fighting communism was the main part of his policy
• He planned to confront the USSR whenever possible, which caused his policy to be known as the ‘Second Cold War’
• He was aware of the USSR’s large arsenal, but did not want to be intimidated by it
• Reagan placed less emphasis on human rights and wanted to increase the defence budget
• He wanted to restore the position of the USA (back to post-WW2) before the loss in Vietnam, the hostage crisis in Iran and the USSR’s gaining of influence in Africa and Central America

Question 3

List 6 things that Reagan changed about the US’s defence policy.

Answer 3

• He announced that between 1981 and 87 their new policy would cost over a trillion dollars
• The development of the neutron bomb (killed people but had little effect on property)
  Construction of:
• A new stealth bomber invisible to radar
• 100 long-range and supersonic bombers
• 6 Trident nuclear submarines
• 100 MX missiles

Question 4

What was NUTS, and 2 of its impacts?

Answer 4

• Nuclear Utilisation Target Selection
• It was the idea of directing weapons at warheads rather than cities to decrease the enemy’s ability to wage war
• It caused an increase in tension, as the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) theory had been believed up to this point- the enemy would not strike as if they did, the other side would strike back before the bombs had landed
• This new theory now meant that Reagan and his advisers felt they could win a limited nuclear war

Question 5

What did Reagan do in November 1981, and why was this controversial?

Answer 5

• He gave Brezhnev the ‘zero option’
• The USSR had previously placed SS20 missiles in the western Soviet Union which threatened all of Western Europe
• Reagan said he would not deploy new intermediate range missiles in return for the dismantling of 600 of the SS20 missiles
• Brezhnev rejected the offer
• It is thought that Reagan did this on purpose to set up more missiles in Europe
• In 1983 he placed cruise missiles (couldn’t be detected by radar) in Western Europe

Question 6

When did the leaders in the USSR change?

Answer 6

• Brezhnev died in 1982
• His replacement, Yuri Andropov, died in 1984
• Chernenko replaced Andropov but died in 1985

Question 7

What happened in 1982, similarly to the beginning of the Cold War?

Answer 7

• Verbal insults
• Reagan called the USSR an ‘evil empire’
• Andropov responded by calling Reagan ‘insane’ and a ‘liar’
• Reagan was also accused of fanning the flames of war, and was compared to Hitler

Question 8

What happened in Poland that complicated relations between the superpowers? (Negotiations to reduce arms were going on, known as START.)

Answer 8

• Solidarnosc (Solidarity) was a Polish trade union
• It was banned and its leaders were imprisoned in 1982
• The USA had been sending them secret support
• The USA criticised Brezhnev and Poland’s government for this, and banned high-tech trade with the USSR
• The Soviet delegation also walked out of START talks in 1983, which also worsened relations

Question 9

What did Reagan announce in 1983?

Answer 9

• The Strategic Defence Initiative in March
• It was nicknamed Star Wars
• It was a plan for a ground, space and laser based anti-ballistic missile system to destroy missiles aimed at the US

Question 10

How did Andropov respond to SDI?

Answer 10

• He accused the USA of preparing a first strike attack, as they would have an advantage in a nuclear war

Question 11

List 3 reasons why the Soviet Union could no longer keep up in the arms race after the announcement of the SDI.

Answer 11

• The existence of SDI meant the USSR would have to spend more money- that they didn’t have- on arms
• The amount of money they needed coupled with the state of the Soviet economy meant that the economy could collapse (part of Reagan’s plan, if it was to collapse)
• Computers were needed to develop high-tech weapons
• In the 1980s the American computer market boomed, while Soviet leaders were suspicious of them as they could be used to undermine their regime

Question 12

How did it become clear that the USSR had also lost the space race, and why did it lose?

Answer 12

• In 1969 the USA had gotten the first man on the moon
• In the 1980s they were developing space shuttles, which was the ‘next generation’ of spacecraft
• The space race was also too expensive for the struggling Soviet economy