why did the cold war end

Page 1

Afghanistan

1979 the USSR sent troops into Afghanistan, a country with communist government, to take control after the president was assassinated. this time the USA reacted very strongly.

SALT 1

( Strategic arms limitations treaty 1972) no further production of strategic ballistic weapons (short-range) no increase in number of intercontinental ballistic weapons, but new can replace old. no new nuclear missile launcher, new nuclear weapons in submarines only to replace old launchers. anti- ballistic missiles (ABM) treaty limited both sides of two ABM deployment areas.

SALT 11

In negations since 1972, planned to reduce stocks to 2250 warheads per superpower, imposed limits on new launcher systems

HELSINKI

representatives from 35 countries, including the USSR and the USA agreed on security issues co-operation, human rights and borders. agreements on borders east and west Germany accepted each other officially, all disputes to be settled peacefully through the UN if necessary, no country to interfere in the internal affairs of another country. trade co-operation the USA agreed to buy oil from the USSR & the USST agreed to buy wheat from the USA. sharing of scientific knowledge . countries to respect human rights , including freedom of speech , religion, movement and information.

CARTER DOCTRINE ( JANUARY 1980)

Jimmy carter threated to use force if USSR attempt to take control of Persian Gulf.

economic sanctions- no trade with USSR

set up alliance with china & Israel to back Afghanistan rebels.

USA broke off diplomatic relations with the USSR and refused to sign SALT 11

USA boycott 1980 Olympic games in Moscow, which lead to USSSR boycotting 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles.

REGAN CHANGE OF APPROCH

USSR= Evil empire, as well as SDI which was never built as planned which kick started the arms race. US technology was developed fast in the 1980s especially computing. the USA poured many into developing new missiles technology.

STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE ( SDI)

Regan launched SDI was a plan to have satellites in space that would destroy soviet intercontinental nuclear missiles before they reached the USA.

INF TREATY

Diplomats continued the discussions from Reyjavik and came up with the INF treaty. INF stood for international range nuclear Forces- nuclear weapons with a 500-5500km range. the INF treaty got rid of all 500-55000km nuclear missiles each superpower had better than SATL 1 the INF treaty was signed in DECEMBER 1987.

SUMMETS

Geneva= November 1985 gorbachev and Regan met at the Geneva summit. the 2 men got on well and agreed to more meetings.

Reykjavik = Regan & Gorbachev said they would work to cut down the number of nuclear weapons they had. Gorbachev wanted to end to SDI in return, which Regan didn't agree to.

CONTROL EASES

Gorbechev scrapped the Brezhnev Doctrine because; he belived openness would make all eastern bloc countries better. the eastern bloc communist governments were only planning a little reform. the USSSR had to improve trade relations with the west to rebuild its economy. cost of troops and military hardware was crippling the USSR's economy. the west would only improve trade if repression was reduced.

CHANGES AFTER 1985

Gorbachev:

recognised that economy was failing. recognised that the soviets people where unhappy and distrustful of government. brought in " perestroika" restructuring if meant new ways of doing things. brought in " glasnost" openness. it meant more freedom for people to say what they really thought. foreign relations changed more open & positive. desperate to get the USSR out of the war in Afghanistan.

was very slow to allow democratic elections in USSR tried to cover up the scale of the massive nuclear accident at Chernobyl. did not want capitalism just a stronger socialism. never planned to cause end of the USSR.

FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

Straight after Hungarian revolution, people started leaving East Germany through Hungary. forced east German government to announce East Germans could cross the Berlin border ( 9th November 1989) east germens flooded into west berlin and so the berlin wall feel.

COLLAPSE OF SOVIET UNITION

coup was defeated in a few days gorbachev returned to power,

but he looked weal while Yeltsin looked strong- the hero who had defended freedom.

gorbachev tried to fix the USSR republicans could have more freedom.

most republicans wanted full independence .

on 25th December Gorbachev dissolved the USSR and resigned.

ENDO OF THE WARSAW PACT

After 36 years in existence, the Warsaw Pact—the military alliance between the Soviet Union and its eastern European satellites—comes to an end. The action was yet another sign that the Soviet Union was losing control over its former allies and that the Cold War was falling apart. By the late-1980s, however, anti-Soviet and anticommunist movements throughout Eastern Europe began to crack the Warsaw Pact. In 1990, East Germany left the Warsaw Pact in preparation for its reunification with West Germany. Poland and Czechoslovakia also indicated their strong desire to withdraw. Faced with these protests—and suffering from a faltering economy and unstable political situation—the Soviet Union bowed to the inevitable. In March 1991, Soviet military commanders relinquished their control of Warsaw Pact forces. A few months later, the pact’s Political Consultative Committee met for one final time and formally recognized what had already effectively occurred—the Warsaw Pact was no more.