- the age of actors
- Soviet-US relations were less volatile in the late 1960's and early 1970's- this was a big accomplishment because the risk of escalation was much greater
-détente sought to freeze the Cold War in place, it sought to establish rules it would be conducted
-The foundation of détente was NOT stable, it required support from below
-détente denied equal opportunity, except in annihilation
Part 2:
-centerpiece of the détente was he Soviet-American effort to limit the arms race
-SALT I (signed by Brezhnev and Nixon) signified the US acknowledgment that the USSR was its equal in nuclear capabilities, legitimized the logic of Mutual Assured Destruction, also signified that both countries recognized that a continuing arms race would only make them less secure
-SALT had imbalances, it evaded issues
-SALT II was a round of negotiations that sought to reduce the manufacturing of nuclear weapons, it was a continuation of SALT I. SALT II was less successful (because it was more of an open process than the first)
-Carter wanted to fix things: he called for reductions in the strategic arms and initiated direct correspondence with Sakharov, and by receiving dissidents at the White House (SALT II put on hold)
-Brezhnev in poor health
-New types of missiles (pg 202)
-Carter and Brezhnev signed a complex treaty as a result of SALT II in Vienna
-USSR invades Afghanistan
Section 3:
-Basic Principles--> Nixon and Brezhnev promised that their countries would seek to avoid efforts to obtain unilateral advantage at the expense of the other
-Not followed
-Sadat (Nasser's successor) sought to gain a relationship with the US and loose the one with the USSR
-When Kissinger and Nixon ignored him he attacked across the Suez. US stepped in (pg 204), they would not let someone who had diminished Soviet influence be humiliated.
-this showed that détente was fragile/shaky
-it damaged the trust between the leadership of the two countries
-Somalia ( pg 207)
-1978 Marxist coup in Afghanistan (Moscow shocked), resulted in the overthrow of the pro-American government. Same time as the Iranian Revolution
- At first Russia says they won't intervene..then they change their minds
-However, the leadership in Kabul fell into near civil war
-Amin (who had contacts with the US) is in power
-Soviets ordered a full scale invasion
-SALT II stalled in the US Senate
Section 4:
-Détente had failed to halt the nuclear arms race, or to end superpower rivalries over the "third word"
-January 1980 Carter responded (embargoes, withdrew SALT II treaty, asked for more $ for defense, boycott Moscow Olympics, and denounced the invasion of Afghanistan)
-Carter said the invasion was a threat to peace
- oil falls, protests
-USSR is incapable of efficient and important strategizing=NO STRATEGY
Section 5:
-Deng is taking over for Mao, Margaret Thatcher is the first woman Prime Minister of Britain, Reagan now President (faith, fear, and self confidence), Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa. All important/ influential people.
-Reagan used language. He believed the only way to end the Cold War was to kill détente
-Plot to kill Walesa, Pope John Paul is shot
-Politburo decided not to intervene in Poland
-end of the Brezhnev doctrine, USSR not willing to use force to preserve its sphere of influence in Eastern Europe
-However, they convinced the new polish leader that they were about to intervene
-Because of this the new leader imposed martial law and imprisoned the organizers of solidarity
Section 6:
- Bush Senior is Reagan's VP
-Reagan is shot and almost killed
-Reagan made a bold prediction that the USSR was in its last stages, he then reminded his audience that "regimes planted by bayonets do not take root" (echoed Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech)
-Reagan used religion
-Afghanistan had become a bloody stalemate, oil prices were plummeting
-martial law had clamped a lid on reform in Poland but had fueled resentment there and elsewhere in Eastern Europe
-Brezhnev dies, Andropov new head
-Reagan thought the main problem with détente was the idea that the USSR had earned geopolitical, ideological, economic, and moral legitimacy as an equal to the US and the other western countries in the post WWII international system c
-Reagan's most significant deed=refused to accept the concept of Mutual Assured Destruction
-Stability is important in Soviet-American relations.
-Strategic Defense Initiative questions anti- Ballistic Missile treaty (SALT I)
-Reagan wanted to someday eliminate nuclear weapons
-Able Archer Crisis (pg 227-228)
-Reagan re-elected
Section 7:
-Gorbachev is the new ruler (new type of ruler)
-knows the USSR needs to change
-wants to get rid of nuclear weapons:-USSR and US have a common interest
-has interactions with Reagan, trust is being created
-G and R signed a treaty to dismantle all intermediate range missiles in Europe
-Reagan tried to convince Gorbachev that the USSR was a lost cause
-USSR withdraws troops from Afghanistan
-Gorbachev made a speech to the UN General Assembly in 1988, he stated that the SU would unilaterally cut its ground force commitment to the Warsaw Pact by half a million men
-Gorbachev made it clear that the "door was now open"
