End of Cold war

When did Nixon and Brezhnev first usher in detente? + (when the Sino-Soviet split occured) And what was Detente?

January 1969 (the US was still involved in the vietnam war at this time), period of improved soviet-american rs [1972] Nixon visited Moscow (1st US president to do so), USSR was using this to improve their position in the nuclear arms race, [1962 - 1977] they deployed SS-4s & SS-5s targeted at the west& 600 warheads or smth, [1978] placed 414 SS-20s, with 2/3 targeting the west and the remaining at asia, increased to 441 by oct 1980

When was the US economic crisis (where the Vietnam war was increasingly taking its toll on the US)

1970, VW was taking US $25 billion a year

When was the Sino-US Rapprochement + its agenda

1971, Agenda was to diminish soviet power leadership & to end the Vietnam war

When did SALT I start + some of its stats

May 1972, limited antiballistic missiles to 2 per country, froze Intercontinental ballastic missiles & Submarine-launched ballastic missiles at their current numbers

When did detente begin to stall?

1976, when Carter became president (adopted a foreign policy that emphasises human rights, was tense due to Soviet intervention in Afghanistan war in 1979)

What was Thatcher’s role during the end of cold war (British PM since May 1979)

Contributed to the abandonment of Detente (confrontational) ever since coming into power, also contributed to Reagan’s acceptance of Gorbachev

When was SALT II held, what was its purpose and was it ratified?

June 1979, designed to replace Interim agreement and aimed to establish numerical equality between the two nations in terms of nuclear weapon delivery systems and limited the number of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) ballistic missiles, no.

When did the Soviet-Afghan war occur?

Dec 1979, US abandoned SALT II & imposed trade restrictions to USSR

[Feb 1988] announced withdrawal to improve relations with America, negotiations under auspices of UN made it such that all their forces had to be out by Feb 1989 (helped repair soviet western

When did Reagan become American president for the first time? What happened during his doctrine?

1981, doctrine aimed to contain communism in the 3rd world, after the 1980s the leftist guerillas beset El Salvador ( mass increase in military and economic aid), by end of 1981 CIA org & support military forces of Nicaraguan exiles (aka the contra revolucionarios) to counter Sandinistas, in 1983 intervened in Grenada, past 1986 supplied the Mujahdeen with sophisticated weaponry such as the Stinger (effective against soviets, hand held anti-aircraft missile) + aircraft & helicopters which they fought the soviets with for nearly a decade until their withdrawal

What was the arms race like under Reagan?

Reagan: US $2 trillion on building conventional & nuclear forces, accelerated deployment of MX ICBM & Trident SLBM + development of B-1 & B-2 bombers

When was the strategic defence initiative announced? What is it and happened due to it?

March 1983, Reagan Renewed the arms race ($170 -> $370 million, USA spending 6-8% of GNP on defence, USSR spent 2% in 1965 to 15% in 1985 for comparison), 5 year $26 billion programme aiming to provide a protective shield of laser & particle beam weapons in space against incoming ballistic missiles. This broke the 1972 ABM treaty

What were Solidarity’s origins + how did they contribute to the collapse of the USSR in 1991?

[July 1980]: raising of food prices by government led to nationwide strikes, with these various inter-party strikes eventually unifying under Lech Walesa (Solidarity), operated as unofficial opposition party against Wojciech Jaruzelski (who imposed martial law & detained Walesa in Dec 1981 kind of in response to the firing of a popular crane owner which resulted in multiple strikes in Aug 1980), red army was sent against them, June 1989 negotiations were made (Solidarity a political party atp) and negotiated with the govt where they won 99/100 seats in the senate (add info: in 1981 the US placed a grain and tech embargo on the USSR to support Solidarity)

What happened in East Germany that contributed to the End of Cold War?

EG also experienced econ. Stagnation by 1980s (outdated industries, pollution, low lvl of industrial reinvestment), heavily rigged elections in may 1989 (98.85% despite disillusioned crowd) [May 1989] Hungary dismantled its 240 km long border fence with Austria, opening a route through Iron curtain for GDR citizens to migrate to the west, [Sept 1989] >30k escaped, [Oct 1989] GDR closed border to Czechoslovakia (isolate from neighbours fearing collapse of economy/political morale) so 100k pro-dem demonstrations in Leipzig, Gorbachev visited & urged reforms but Honecker opposed reforms and issued a shoot& kill order to military (they refused to open fire on protestors, encourage more to protest), [Nov 1989] Border reopened, citizens travel to WG, Berlin wall open, citizens take advantage ad guards overwhelmed by 1/2 mil EG (fall of berlin wall), reunified germany + combined support of UN against first gulf far and START 1, Dec 1991 leaders of three main soviet republics agree to dissolve USSR

How did popular movements contribute to the end of the cold war?

People seeking independence & self-determination (denied after WW2) + increasing hatred towards communist rule (corrupt governments, out of touch w people, economic stagnation, widening social divide in 1980s) => Revival’ of Iron Curtain, eroded the legitimacy of the communist government , peaceful popular democratic movements with the exception of Romania (+Gorbachev’s rule: allowed EE to set up own system of government, increase in non-communist parties)

Abel Archer 83

November 1983: Training exercise by NATO where they stationed >100 Pershing II missiles in WG + held a 10-day joint military exercise, who were fearful of the Soviets and hence increased defence spending & ICBMs, was so realistic the USSR thought they were getting aggressive and hence increased spending + put airforce units on alert (made Reagan realise he’s pushing them closet to nuclear war)

When did Gorbachev come into power and what is ‘New Thinking’?

March 1985, ‘New Thinking’ was the Soviet Foreign Policy under Gorbachev from Dec 1988 onwards where they aimed to (1) end the nuclear arms race, (2) withdraw from superpower rivalry in the 3rd world and (3) loosen control over the USSR’s informal “empire”, by removing ideology from foreign and security policy-making —> eventually helped repair both sino-soviet ties (Beijing summit 1989 May) & soviet-american ties

What was the Soviet-American relationship like under Gorbachev and Reagan’s second term? (Immediately kinda idk)

Reagan: softened up his stance towards the USSR after re-election (criticisms) and negotiated with Gorbachev early 1985 for nuclear disarmament; Gorbachev: suspended Soviet countermeasure against NATO’s INF arsenal & nuclear tests, [April 1985] they ceased further deploying SS-20s in Europe, [August] announced moratorium on nuclear testing and promised to extend it indefinitely if US followed suit; [Nov]: they met for the first time at Geneva summit, explored prospect for nuclear disarmament but impasse due to Reagan’s dedication to SDI, [Jan 1986} Gorbachev proposed 3-stage plan for complete nuclear disarmament by 2000 (stage 1: reduce INF on both sides), US unprepared & cannot respond to this

What was Glasnost and when was it announced?

[Feb 1986] Glasnost was a domestic reform that paved the way to elections by allowing more open debates on the belief that the creativity of the people was being suppressed by the state (which ended up giving a voice to anti-communists, with the media exposing social issues, questioning of soviet history such as Stalin’s crimes, criticisms of Gorbachev)

What is Perestroika and when was it introduced?

Perestroika involved economic and political restructuring (Introduction of some market forces & address fundamental structural weaknesses of command economy) -> [July 1987] law on state enterprises passed where they could determine output, self-finance quotas still needed to be fulfilled but the surplus could be sold for profit & govt. Won’t resume bankrupt enterprises -> [May 1988] radical law on co-operatives introduced that permitted private ownership & factory manager autonomy -> called for elections of candidates to local party positions, separated party bodies from government bodies @ regional lvl such that other org can run for congress of people’s deputy;impact was similar to Glastnost with its intended objective not met and he economy descending into chaos, economic initiatives seemed ‘confused’, old habit of central planning and new top-down approach made it difficult to implement new initiatives

When was the Reykjavik summit and what happened during it?

[October 1986] Gorbachev once again offered more comprehensive concessions to set nuclear disarmament into motion (prep to remove all SS-20s from euro, cut strat weapons by 50%), little progress due to Reagan’s SDI (again.) so after this Gorbachev discarded mutual agreement on SDI as a prerequisite

When was the INF treaty + what happened before, during and after it?

[INF treaty in Dec 1987]; [Feb 1987] Gorbachev accepted Zero Option from Reagan in 1981 (withdrawal of all intermediate range missiles), [April] Gorbachev proposed further INF cuts (shorter range missiles too); INF treaty @ Washington Summit, abolished entire class of nuclearweapons (first arms control thingy since 1979)

What is START?

Engaged since 1982, it marked a return to negotiations on curtailing strategic arms & aimed for a 50% decrease in ICBMs (recc cut to 850 ICBMs & SLBMs, no more than 5k warheads which only 2500 could be on ICBMs) -> benefit US more (emphasis on SLBMs), Soviets 3/4 of warheads on ICBMs (6k) so Soviets left negotiations in Nov -> [by Sept 1989] Gorbachev remove objections after US laser tests failed & SDI further downgrade + reduce testing in space, [by July 1991] met George H.W Bush (Reagan’s successor) in Moscow to sign (reduce warheads by 35% (US) & 50% (USSR) within seven years so they each only possess 4900 as part of 6k accountable warheads, cutting combined nuclear warheads from about 12k to 9k), sometime after it US ordered nuclear forces to stand down from 24hr strategic alert status

What happened during the INF talks of 1982?

Reagan wanted the removal of all Soviet IRBMs (SS-20s) to cancel the deployment of US Cruise & Pershing II missiles (which they eventually sent in nov 1983)

What was the ‘gorbachev doctrine’?

[1989] termination of USSR’s support for many Soviet clients across 3rd world, also pressured withdrawal of Vietnamese forces from Cambodia in 1988 to enhance relationship with China, withdrew societ support for vietnam + their forces in 1979. Later in 1989 they helped the US mediate a settlement for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Angola by mid-1991 + cut back their aid to Ethiopia and took their advisors back by 1990 (also reduced aid to Sandinista regime in Nicaragua)

When was the Sinatra doctrine and what happened?

Coined in Oct 1989 & offered in July 1989, where they allowed Warsaw Pact nations to determine their own internal affairs. (EE alr having strikes, protests and pro dem movements due to skeptism, they came forth after going underground due to Brezhnev Doctrine)

Quick overview of the popular movements at the time:

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Charter 77 — informal civic initiative (1976 - 1992) criticised govt for failing to implement human rights provisions of a number of documents signed (1960 constitution, final act of 1975 conference on security & coop in europe (3rd basket of helsinki accords) + 1996 UN covenants on political, civil,e con and cultural rights), emphasised it was not an org but its three leaders (Vaclav Havel, Ludvik Vaculik & Pavel Landovsky) arrested, movement went underground until 1989 w Velvet revolution (non-violent, Nov 17 - Dec 29 1989 w popular demo against govt, ended 41 year rule of one party state)

HUNGARY: by late 1988 activists within the party & bureau. + intellectualls increasing pressure for change (some reformist social democrats, others movements which dev into parties), young liberals from Fidesz from SZDSZ + national opp established MDF, national unity forged june 1989 as country reburied victims of the 1956 revolution, multiple grps met in late summer of 1989 to discuss major changes to hungarian constitution to prep for free elections, oct 16-20 1989 parliament adopted legislation for elections, Gorbachev informed by PM Miklos Nemeth and while he didn’t agree he didn’t do anything either

BULGARIA: Communists & leader Todor Zhivkov; Liberal outcry @ breakup of environmental demo in Sofia (Oct 1989) broaden into general campaign for political reform, Zhivkov replaced by Peter Mladenov Nov 10 1989, promise to open up regime, Dec 11 announce govt cede its monopoly over political system, Jan 15 1990 national assembly amended legal code to abolish comm leading role, multi-party elections in June 1990

ROMANIA: executed Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife on 25 dec 1989, first signs in anti-comm march [15 nov 1987], 1989 demos in city triggered by government sponsored attempt to evict Laszlo Tokes (ethnic hungarian pastor accused of inciting ethnic hatred), military forces & Securitate fired on demonstrators on 17 dec 1989 (demonstrators included children and students), majority of romanian population dk abt Timisoara events from national media but learned through word of mouth and other radio stations, to address concerns Ceausescu staged mass meeting 21 dec (spoke of achievements of socialist revolution, blamed riots on fascist agitators wanting to destroy socialism), crowd angry and he tried to placate by announcing social benefit reforms (raise min wage) but had to retreat into the communist central committee building, sent in his mil forces but ppl continue, Securitate did little to help Ceausescu escape

When was the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe signed?

1990

What was happening to the soviet economy by 1991?

Soviet GDP declined by 17% @ accelerating rate, over hyperinflation, reforms reduced state revenue which combined w rising expenditures ended up increasing budget deficits & inlfationary pressures. Ironically, Gorbachev’s economic reform programme turned to mere stagnation into total economic failure.

What are some key things from the space race? [1957 - 1975]

Sputnik (1st artifical satellite in world, 3 Nov 1957) scared US into spending more on space exploration esp w Sputnik seeming like it could carry nuclear warheads, Eisenhower launched more satellites and formed NASA in 1958, Kennedy also keep urging to explore space more (Neil armstronggggggg)

What are some key parts of the arms race occurring after 1949?

[1949] 1st Soviet atomic bomb test, Truman developed hydrogen bomb; [1950s] Soviet economy improving faster than the US, heavily invested in industry and arms ; [1960s beginning] positive deterrence with MAD theory, [1961] US 6:1 lead over USSR in nuclear warheads (3267:500) & missile gap in US favour; Soviets lagged behind in nuclear weapons (<50 ICBM), 4 employed the same year

What are some key parts of arms control?