Why did the Cold War end?

Détente: the search for Peace –started after the Cuban missiles crisis of October 1962

  1. Hotline 1963- set up between the Whitehouse (America) and the Kremlin (Soviet Union) so that future disputes could be settled quickly.

 2. Test Ban Treaty 1963- America and the Soviet Union agreed not to test nuclear weapons above ground, under water or in outer space.

 3. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 1968- the Superpowers agreed not to sell nuclear technology to other countries.

  4. 1963, America began to sell grain to the Soviet Union.    

SALT 1 1972 (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)

 · Agreed by President Nixon (USA) and Leonid Brezhnev (USSR)

• Attempt to control the number of nuclear weapons being produced e.g ABMs (Anti-Ballistic missiles) only allowed at 2 sites; each site containing 100 missiles.
•  A 5 year freeze on number of ICBMs (Inter-Continental ballistic missiles) and SLBMs (Submarine launched ballistic missiles) produced.

BUT

 No restrictions on MIRVs (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles).

 Superpowers used satellites to check that the other side was not breaking the arms limits

  In secret, ICBMs still being produced.

  IMPORTANT: First time Superpowers agreed to the limitation of nuclear weapons.

Helsinki Agreements 1975

 USA, Soviet Union and 33 other countries signed the Helsinki agreements which;

1.Recognised Europe’s frontiers i.e Soviet Union accepted the existence of West Germany.

2.Call for closer economic, scientific and cultural links.

3.All agreed to respect human rights and basic freedoms eg  thought, speech, religion and freedom

4. Soviets agreed to buy American grain and to export oil to the West.

BUT a talking shop because Soviet Union continued to deny basic freedoms.

 Apollo-Soyuz Mission 1975- A joint space mission in which an American Apollo spacecraft and a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked high above the Earth. There was a symbolic handshake in space between the two sides.

SALT II 1979

·       SALT II talks began in 1974 and the treaty was signed in 1979.

·       A limit of 2,400 ICBM’s, SLBM’s and heavy bombers for each side

·       1320 limit on MIRV systems for each side

  BUT SALT II never ratified because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on Christmas day 1979.

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: Christmas Day 1979-1989

Why did the Soviet Union invade Afghanistan in 1979.

1. April 1978 Kabul revolution took place which brought Communists to power in Afghanistan. Mohammed Taraki became the first Communist President and an ally of the Soviet Union. The new Communist government introduced reforms such as taking land from the rich and dividing amongst the poor and encouraging men and women to have literacy classes. 2. Communist reforms caused anger amongst extremist Muslim clerics called Mullahs and a civil war broke out between the Communists and Muslim guerrilla fighters called the mujahideen. They called for the support of Muslims in neighbouring countries (e.g Pakistan) to launch a jihad (holy war) against the …