Edexcel History A The Cold War - Detente and the End of the Cold War

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The final section of Edexcel History A's Cold War unit. From detente to Afghanistan to the dissolution of the USSR
Natalia  Cliff
Flashcards by Natalia Cliff, updated more than 1 year ago
Natalia  Cliff
Created by Natalia Cliff over 7 years ago
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Detente Treaties -1967 Outer Space treaty said no nuclear weapons were to be placed in space -1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty wouldn't help other states to develop nuclear missiles -1972 SALT 1 limited the nuclear capabilities of USA and USSR -1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission was a joint space mission -1975 Helsinki Agreements discussed security, co-operation and human rights -1979 SALT 2 agreed to further limitations of nuclear capabilities
SALT 1 -Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty -No further production of strategic ballistic missiles -Submarines carrying nuclear weapons would only be introduced when existing stocks of intercontinental ballistic missiles became obsolete -ABM (anti-ballistic missile) if developed could shoot down incoming missiles, each super power was limited to 2
SALT 2 Negotiations were difficult because: -West German government was worried that further arms reductions would leave them undefended -Right-wing American Congressmen thought detente had gone too far
Helsinki -Representatives from 35 different countries -All of Europe bar Albania and Andorra -Representatives from the USSR, USA and Canada
Helsinki: Security -All countries boundaries accepted -Disputes to be settled peacefully, not by force -No country would interfere in the international relations of another country -Countries would inform each other of any big military manoeuvres and would accept representatives from other countries to observe them
Helsinki: Co-operation -Economic cooperation through trade -Industrial cooperation through having the same standards and running joint projects -Scientific cooperation by sharing information for research -Educational cooperation (e.g. learning languages and exchange students)
Helsinki: Human Rights -Freedom of speech -Freedom of movement -Freedom of religion -Freedom of information
Kabul Revolution April 1978 -New Government was communist, president Taraki soon became a Soviet ally -Muslim leaders across the country didn't like the socialist reforms -Civil War broke out -Taraki forced to take the head of the army Amin as prime minister but they hated each other -October Amin assassinates Taraki and assumed the presidency
Soviet Invasion -Didn't trust Amin, thought he was an American spy -Amin was unpopular with Muslim leaders and Brezhnev feared that Muslim groups would try to take over -Concerned that if Afghanistan became an Islamic state nearby communist states would do the same -Karmal, an Afghani communist argued that he had enough support -Believed America would ignore an invasion like in the Prague Spring -Invasion was a disaster that lasted 10 years -1.5 million people died, including 15 000 Soviet soldiers
Carter Doctrine USA would not allow USSR to gain control of territory in the oil-rich middle east
Carter's Response -Alliance with China and Israel so support Afghan rebels, CIA provided weapons and funds for the Mujahideen -Economic sanctions -Ended diplomatic relations with the USSR -SALT 2 was never ratified in the USA -Increased defence spending's by 5% -These actions caused the end of detente
Olympic Boycott: Moscow Olympics -1980 boycott of Moscow Olympics -60 countries joined the boycott -Set up alternative Olympics -Press ridiculed Moscow Olympics, called the Russian Mascot Misha Bear Gulag Bear
Olympic Boycott: LA Olympics -USSR and 14 other communist countries boycotted -Organised an alternative friendship games
Reagan -Reagan became president in 1981 -Evil Empire speech -Said he could imagine a limited nuclear war in Europe -Said the Cold War was a fight between good and evil -He genuinely wanted to win the Cold War -Focused on SDI
SDI Strategic Defence Initiative -Also called Star Wars -Proposed a nuclear umbrella that would stop Soviet Missiles and destroy the, -Believed it would make Soviet nuclear missiles useless, forcing them to disarm -SDI broke the Outer Space treaty of 1967
SDI: Soviet Response -USSR couldn't compete with SDI -America won the race to the moon -USA had developed a new spacecraft the space shuttle in 1980s -USSR was behind USA with technology as in the 1980s the American computer market boomed, whereas USSR was concerned computers may be used to undermine their regime -Essentially, the USSR could no longer compete with the arms race
Gorbachev -Last leader of the Soviet Union, from 1985 to 1991 -Wanted to be communism's saviour -At first had a tenuous relationship with the West -Lied about the Chernobyl crisis in 1986
Gorbachev: New Thinking -Realised that communism faced many problems -Soviet economy was not nearly as efficient as the US economy -Americans had an excellent standard of living whereas Russian life was dominated by shortages -Soviet people had lost faith in the communist party -Perestroika - economic reforms designed to make the economy more efficient -Glasnost - censorship of the press was to be relaxed
Geneva Summit 1985 -Reagan was in the stronger position -Reagan wanted to persuade Gorbachev that he wanted peace -Gorbachev was hoping on dissuading the continuation of SDI -Gorbachev also wanted a working relationship -Sacked foreign minister Gromyko before the meeting to indicate an end of the aggressive foreign policy -Significant because they talked face to face, even though no agreements were reached
Reykjavik Summit 1986 -Reagan proposed scrapping all ballistic nuclear missiles -Gorbachev didn't agree as Reagan refused to drop SDI
Reagan's change of Mind -Public opinion was against another arms race -Didn't want America to seem like a big bully -Widespread approval of Gorbachev and his reforms -Got along with Gorbachev and believed that he genuinely wanted reforms and an end to the cold war
INF Treaty 1987 -Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces -Eliminated all nuclear missiles with a range of 500-5500 km -Important because it was the first treaty to reduce the number of nuclear missiles -SALT 1 merely limited the production of new missiles -Strict procedures and task inspectors set into place to ensure the treaty was followed
INF Treaty: Gorbachev's Change of Mind Refused the deal at Reykjavik but signed it a year later -Nuclear weapons were expensive to maintain but did nothing for security -Reagan persuaded him that he had no intention of invading -Economy could never recover spending that much on nuclear missiles -Disarmament would gain him popularity with the West to make trade deals -Political and economic measures would be more effective in protecting the USSR than military power
Moscow Summit 1988 -Agreed to work toward disarmament of nuclear and conventional arms -No specific targets but eased tensions caused by Afghanistan
Malta Summit 1989 -President Bush and Gorbachev -Laid the groundwork for CFE and START 1
CFE Agreement 1990 -Set limits to non-nuclear forces the Warsaw Pact and NATO could have -Process complicated by the fact that the USSR was falling apart, e.g. Hungary was part of the Warsaw Pact when agreements started but had left before the end
START 1 1991 -Signed with pens made from scrapped nuclear missiles -Both sides agreed to reduce their nuclear warheads by about a third -Covered most kinds of nuclear weapons
Eastern Europe: Gorbachev's Attitude -December 1988 declared that ideology would play a smaller role in soviet affairs, essentially USSR would no longer favour trade with communist states -Keen to allow Eastern European states enjoy Glasnost and Perestroika -Withdrew Soviet troops from Eastern bases to save bases -This unwittingly lead to the break up of the Eastern Bloc as the soviet army was no longer there to prop up pro-Moscow governments -Once reform had started he couldn't control it
Poland Communist government defeated in free elections held in 1989
Czech Republic/Slovakia Popular protests overthrew the communist regime in the "Velvet revolution"
Hungary Communist government promised democratic constitution in summer 1989 and free elections are held spring 1989
Germany -East Germans leave for West Germany through Hungary -Communist party declares free elections -Berlin Wall falls November 1989 -Communists defeated in free elections of 1990
Fall of the Berlin Wall -East Germany slow to accept Glasnost and Perestroika, even banned some Soviet publications -Once Hungary had free elections mass movement of East Germans travelling to the West through Hungary -Forced to allow freedom of travel -9th November announced that East Germans could cross the Wall -People started dismantling and chipping away at bits of the wall
Warsaw Pact -Once the Eastern Bloc disintegrated it was clear the Warsaw Pact wouldn't survive -Military cooperation ceased in 1990 -Formally dissolved in 1991
Soviet Coup -Gorbachev was popular in the West but mistrusted at home -Leading party members believed he had weaned communism -19th August 1991 group of senior officials organised a coup -Initially it was successful -Gorbachev was prevented from returning to Moscow -New government declared a state of emergency which allowed them to overturn glasnost and perestroika -New government lasted 3 days -Boris Yeltsin (Russian president) declared it illegal and called people of Moscow to resist the regime
Fall of the Soviet Union -21st August Gorbachev returned to Moscow -Still wanted to save communism -Coup had damaged his authority whilst making Yeltsin popular -Introduced a new constitution to give Soviet republics like Latvia and the Ukraine more power but they wanted independence -December 25th 1991 Gorbachev announced the dissolution of the Soviet Union -The Cold War was over
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