The End of the Cold War Dtente 1970

The End of the Cold War

Détente- 1970 s- Easing of Tensions

Nixon Visits China • Begins the slow process of reestablishing diplomatic relations between the United States and communist China

The SALT Treaty • Limited the number of antiballistic missile sites each country could have to two • Number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles was frozen at existing levels • Nothing about the development of new weapons! • SALT II was a result of issues left over from SALT 1, signed by Carter but does nothing to slow the arms race

Watergate

Setback- USSR Invades Afghanistan (1979) • Soviet Union invades on the pretext of upholding the Soviet Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978 • Massive military airlift into Kabul, within a few days Soviets secured the area • Soviets were met with resistance: guerrilla tactics against using whatever weapons they could grab from Soviets or were given by the US • War will continue until Soviet forces were withdrawn in 1988

“Miracle on Ice”- 1980 Winter Olympics • US hockey team (the underdogs) defeat the four-time defending gold-medal winning Soviet Team a the Olympic Games in Lake Placid, NY

USA Boycotts 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow (Capitol of the Soviet Union) • Carter announces boycott after announcement came that Soviet Union failed to comply with Carter’s February 20, 1980 deadline to withdraw troops

Reagan 1980 Electoral Map Electoral Votes Reagan (R): 489 Carter (D): 49

1980 s Reagan and “Star Wars” (Strategic Defense Initiative program) • Safeguard against the most terrifying Cold War outcome– nuclear annihilation • Wanted US scientists to “give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete” • Government spent up to $30 billion on developing the concept but was formally scrapped by Bill Clinton in 1993

Controversial Action in Latin America • Nicaragua • Iran-Contra Scandal • Secret US arms deal that traded missiles and other arms to free some Americans held hostage by terrorists in Lebanon • Used funds from the arms deal to support armed conflict in Nicaragua

Mikhail Gorbachev- USSR Leader 1980 s

Gorbachev’s Reforms to Soviet Union Glasnost- open discussion of political and social issues Perestroika- political movement for reform within the Communist Party

INF Treaty Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces • Leaders sign “without delay” a treaty designed to elimate US and Soviet medium range nuclear missiles from Europe.

Reagan- “Tear down this wall!” Speech

1989 - Fall of the Berlin Wall