Why Did Detente Collapse?

The Arab-Israeli conflict: The October War, 1973
1. On 6th October President Sadat's Egyptian forces invaded the Israeli occupied Sinai, By the 22nd October, The USA and USSR managed to persuade Egypt and Israel to a cease-fire
  1. Shows a cooperative stance taken by both USA and USSR
2. USA backed Israel, the USSR backed Egypt
3. Within Hours of the cease-fire being announced the Israeli's attacked the Egyptians
  1. The Soviet Union wanted to sent both US and Soviet troops into the are to enforce the cease-fire, the US rejected this notion
    1. American;s wanted to look like the sole power behind enforcing the cease-fire, also they wanted to reduce the Soviets influence in the middle east
4. Kissinger convened a National Security council meeting and DEFCON-3 military alert was declared, this included the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and the North America Air Defence command (NORAD)
5. The crises was over when a UN international peacekeeping force was sent in Excluding US and Soviet troops
6. Implications on Detente
  1. Both sides breached the Basic Principles by seeking to gain a unilateral advantage in the area
  2. The USA resumed its own diplomatic efforts among Key Arab states and the Israelis. This became known as 'shuttle diplomacy'
  3. The October War had created new strategies towards the ME by both the USA and the USSR and this put pressure on the validity of detente
Angola, 1974-1976, The Angolan Civil War, 1975-1976
1. In April 1974 a revolution in Portugal led to the creation of a left wing military junta taking power
  1. The New government announced its decision to grant independence to its Southern African colony, Angola, the following year an end to all military action against the Angolan Nationalists was ended in May 1974
    1. There was instantly a power struggle between three Angolan independence groups
      1. MPLA- the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
        Backed by Cuba and The Soviet Union
      2. FNLA- the National Front for the Liberation of Angola
        Backed By the USA, China and South Africa
      3. UNITA- the National Union for the Liberation of Angola
2. The Alvor Accords of January 1975, was a high point in attempts to manage the transition to indepence
  1. This committed all three independence groups to a transitional government
3. Very quickly External powers began to intervene
  1. In June 1974, China sent 120 military advisers to Zaire to aid the FNLA.
  2. In July 1974, America increased its covert funding to the FNLA
  3. The MPLA recieved funding and arms supplies from the Soviet Union from October 1974
  4. By late January 1976 there was about 12,000 Cuban troops supporting the MPLA
    1. This significantly aided the MPLA to reach a final victory by March 1976
      1. The MPLA proclaimed the creation of the People Republic of Angola (PRA) as early as November
4. The USA's Position
  1. By Nov 1975- The USA did not regard Angola as a direct threat to its economic and strategic interests.
  2. In Dec. 1975 William Colby, Director of CIA , when asked why the USA backed the FNLA, he replied, ' Becasue the Soviets are backing the MPLA is the simplest answer'
  3. They saw Soviet intervention in Angola as a direct violation of detente and the principles agreed via the latter.
5. The Soviet Union's position
  1. The Soviet's did not intervene until the USA had begun covertly funding the FNLA in July 1974
  2. The Soviet's priority in 1974 was to ensure that China did not gain at their expense in Angola
    1. They wanted to be the world leading communist state and supporting the establishment of communism in the developing world ensure that this was possible. They wanted to look better than China in that respect.
  3. They saw the backing of the FNLA by China and America as part of a cooperative and Sino-American response to springboard the latter's influence in the developing world
6. The events in Angola '74-'76 show how different the perceptions of detente were by the US and USSR, and how detente was always destined to fail as ideological differences were the main reason for the collapse of detente
Afghanistan, 1979
1. In April 1978 a coup had led to the overthrow of Muhammad Daoud, who was in charge since 1973 with the support of the leftist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA).
  1. It was the same Party who overthrown Daoud
    1. This led to the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, in December 1979
2. The Soviet Union and Afghanistan, 1978-1979
  1. The PDPA regime was an ally of USSR
    1. This fragmented and a faction of the fragmented PDPA, led by Hafizullah Amin, gained control
      1. They began a campaign against the influence of Islam by rejecting the wearing of the Islamic veil and the use of Islamic green in the national flag
        The USSR was concerned that the regime was rapidly alienating many of the Afghans and this could lead to real instability, and might align itself with USA or PRC creating a threat right under the Soviets border
  2. Soviet interests in Afghanistan
    1. There was a shared border stretching 2,500 kilometres adjoining the Muslim Central Asian republics of the USSR
    2. Afghanistan was a socialist state and a regional ally of the USSR. If it aligned with the USA this would strengthen the USA's geo-strategic power in the region, at the expense of the USSR
    3. The only way to ensure that the Soviets security was not threatened, was to undertake military action
  3. The Military intervention was a defensive Afghanistan plunging into chaos and becoming the subject of external interference.
3. The USA's reaction to Afghanistan
  1. In the year following Daoud's removal the USA hardly considered the possibility of Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan in order to change the new regime.
    1. Only when the Shah's pro-American regime in Iran by Islamic fundamentalists. The American's feared that Ayatollah's regime may collapse and leave Iran vulnerable to leftists and communists iinfluences
      1. This could lead to improved Soviet influence in the area
  2. ON Dec 27 1979, the Soviets killed Amin, and increased the amount of troops which had begun on 24 december
    1. the Americans referred to the intervention in Afghanistan as a blatant violation of accepted international rules of behaviour and a grave threat to peace
  3. On 3rd january 1980 Carter formally asked US congress to postpone the signing of the SALT II treaty, because of the invasion.
    1. On the 4th of January Carter introduced a series of measures aimed at the Soviet union these included:
      1. major restriction on Soviet fishing priveleges in american waters
      2. an embargo on sail of grain to the Soviet Union
      3. US military and economic assistance to Pakistan to enhance that state's security
  4. The USA failed to recognise all the possible motives for the Invasion and assumed it was part of a process of regional expansionism, much like in eastern Europe
  5. The Carter Doctrine, January 8 1980
    1. The Carter Doctrine was ultimately a commitment to prevent any further Soviet Advance in the Persian Gulf area and the south west Asia
    2. Carter tried to suspend east west detente over Europe however the west rejected this as detente was working beneficially for NATO and the west
4. As a result of this invasion detente was dead
5. What did this mean for detente?
  1. This was the final blow in detente's existence. As far as the west was concerned, the invasion demanded international condemnation and a policy of containment to prevent further Soviet expansionism

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Why Did Detente Collapse?

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	Created by matthewnr73 almost 11 years ago