Reagan and the 'Second Cold War'
- Created by: tuttifruity1206
- Created on: 18-11-18 16:37
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- Reagan and the 'Second Cold War'
- The United States
- Had recovered after its defeat in the Vietnam War, where it had failed to stop the spread of communism
- Was beginning to develop information technology, especially computers
- Was prepared to fund anti-communist forces in Central America and Southern Africa
- Was becoming increasingly determined to stop and even roll back communism
- The Soviet Union
- Was in decline, with poor living standards
- Had an ageing leadership, Brezhnev died in 1982 to be replaced by Adropov and then Chernyenko, all over 70
- Was struggling to deal with anti-communism protest in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland where the trade union 'Solidarity' was demanding reforms
- US-Soviet relations deteriorate
- Between 1979-1984, relations between the US and USSR declined due to:
- The Olympic Boycotts (1980,1984)
- The election of President Reagan
- Increased military expenditure on missiles and the USA's Strategic Defence initiative (SDI), USSR retaliated but couldn't keep up with the US as economy was smaller
- On-going war following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- Breakdown of the SALT 2 arms control negotiations
- The shooting down on KALOO7 in Sept 1983
- Between 1979-1984, relations between the US and USSR declined due to:
- Reagan's Strategic Defence Initiative
- Before, nuclear strategy was based on MAD
- President Reagan wanted to win the Cold War, he launched SDI, (known as 'star wars'), in March 1983, was a plan to have satellites, lasers and mirrors in space that would destroy Soviet intercontinental nuclear missiles before they reached the US
- Badly damaged East-West relations, USSR argued it broke the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and gave the USA a decisive advantage in the arms race
- In Dec 1983, Soviet negotiators walked out of arms control talks in Geneva
- The United States
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