Give assistance to the Mujahideen (guerrillas) who fought against USSR
Later gave rise to terrorist groups
The US will give assistance to any who oppose the Soviet Union
Creation of Cater Doctrine
USA would use military force to protect their assets in the Persian Gulf
US would give military aid to countries bordering Afghanistan
Why?
Iran
Hostage Crisis in Iran had not been solved and it made Carter look weak
Wanted to use the invasion to strengthen his position
Refused to go to Moscow Olympics
Held separate games made up of 61 countries
Carter delays the passing of SALT 2
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
Impact of Regan
Next president after Carter
1980 elections
Tougher with the Soviet Union
Less emphasis on Human Rights
More emphasis on fighting Communism
Increase in US defence spending
Introduction of SDI (star wars)
First to ignore MAD
Wanted to fix the embarrassment of Iran and the Vietnam War
Star Wars
SDI
Strategic Defence Initiative
START
Strategic Arms Reduction Talks
Negotiations to reduce arms race
Ends badly - Soviet delegation walks out
Leads to Regan forming SDI
Early warning Ground and Space laser based Anti-ballistic system
Gave USA an advantage in any nuclear attack
Soviet Union had arms defence spending problems
Couldn't keep up with US's spending
Arms Race could destroy their economy
Soviet Leaders
Brezhnev - dies 1982
Andropov - dies 1984
Chernenko - ousted from power March 1985
Gorbachev
Ends Cold War
General Relations
Carter - anti-communist
Focus on human rights
Ends detente
Regan - very anti-communist
Wants to increase US's power
Increases defence spending
Wants to continue Cold War and have an advantage over Soviet Union in a nuclear war
Wants to use arms race to cripple Soviet Unions economy
Very few talks (START), which end badly
Andropov and Regan insult each other
Regan's 'evil empire' speech
Gorbachev
Better relations
'Gorbymania'
USA
Reduces arms race
End's Cold War
Less hard-line Communist
Key changes
Reforms to the Communist Party
He did not want to leave Communism completely
However he was a fresher and younger face to Communism
Many people felt that these changes were not enough, they wanted to leave communism completely
Eventually lost him power
Ends the Arms Race with the USA and signed arms reduction treaties
Annotations:
Treaties:
Summit meeting in Rekjavik - 1986
The Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) - 1987
The Conventional Armed Forces in Europe treaty (CFE)
START Talks
Arms race, space race and Afghanistan had lost the USSR a lot of money
He stopped Soviet interference in Eastern European satellite states