History Cold War

Cold War: Superpower tensions and rivalries (20th century) (Paper 2)

The Cold War dominated global affairs from the end of WWII to the early 1990s. This topic
focuses on how superpower rivalries did not remain static but changed according to styles of
leadership, strength of ideological beliefs, economic factors and crises involving client states.
The topic aims to promote an international perspective on the Cold War by requiring the study of
Cold War leaders, countries and crises from more than one region of the world.

Rivalry, mistrust and accord

- The breakdown of the grand alliance and the emergence of superpower rivalry in Europe
and Asia (1943-1949): role of ideology; fear and aggression; economic interests; a
comparison of the roles of the US and USSR.
- Causes
- The developments of the atomic bomb - Stalin was not told. US did not
want to share control of Japan
- Germany - defeated in Spring 1946, put under military control, and
divided into zones according to where the allies ended up at the end of
the war
- USSR held the east, British North-West, US South
- Berlin divided into 4 and became the HQ of Allied Control Council, a
temporary measure/government
- Big 3 now forced to work together to agree a final settlement
- Possible settlements
- Denazification program
- High ranking Nazis to be put on trial
- Army to be disbanded
- Possible permanent division considered but not practical
- US considered deindustrialisation and a return to a pastoral
economy for Germany, was not implemented (Morgenthau Plan)
- Final agreement: dismantling of war making industries, economic
production allowed at low level to maintain a basic standard of
living
- Result of settlements/start of tensions between US and USSR
- Stalin wanted reparations from Germany - removed industrial
equipment to the USSR to help its industrial recovery
- US not keen on reparations - ToV proved that it does not work -
more keen on reconciliation than repression, not all agreed
- Deteriorating conditions in Germany began to concern the US.
Food and fuel shortages and increasing numbers of refugees. US
had to import food to keep them alive - proving to be expensive
 - US General Clay keen on allowing interzonal co-operation and
resource allocation
- Fears about Germany/further tensions
- USSR feared revival of Nazi Germany and resisted
- France wanted a weak Germany, so USSR and France resisted
Clay’s idea
- GB also concerned about the costs of keeping Germany alive. Led
to US-GB co-operation in 1946 - Bizonia created in 1947
- US wanted to use Germany as a buffer state against Soviet
expansion (containment)
- Post 1947 - no more reparations from the western sector to
USSR. Soviets accused of looting eastern zone - left peace
conference
- Temporary zones became permanent - France/US/GB became
Trizonia 1949
- The Truman Doctrine
- GB informed the US they would not sustain anti-communist forces
in Greece and Turkey. (Greek Civil War). This might lead to a
Soviet domination in the region
- Truman agreed, but how to win over a hostile US public to the
idea of intervention
- Truman played up the threat to freedom, not mentioning
communism by name, but inferring it
- Told congress that US should ‘support free peoples who are
resisting subjugation by armed forces or violence’ - this is
Truman Doctrine in its essence
- Eastern Europe to be industrialised, collectivised and centralised.
Trade only with their bloc and contact with West discouraged.
Yugoslavia protested and was ejected in 1948
- Molotov Plan 1949 - offered aid to Eastern Europe and Comecon
set up to coordinate Europe - Comecon was the Soviet version of
the Marshall Plan, countries had to become more
Soviet/Communist aligned
- Foreign minister Molotov called Marshall Plan “dollar
imperialism”
- 1947 - within 10 weeks a scheme had been drawn up for
economic recovery in Europe - Marshall Plan
- December 1947 - Truman went to congress for $17 billion dollars
but couldn’t convince congress at first - loss of Czechoslovakia to
USSR convinced congress
- Berlin Blockade
- 1947 - Bizonia was formed from the British and American sectors
- Reason: Scared of costs of running zones, was to become
economies of scale
- Germans were encouraged to play a part and were offered
membership of the economic council there
- 1947 - Germany offered Economic Recovery Plan (ERP) and
becoming politically active again
- USSR not consulted and objected to Bizonia
- Feared revival of Nazi Germany
- USSR fearful of impact on ERP on economic zones of the
Western allies in Germany - they held the most prosperous
- USSR had been excluded from the talks about French inclusion in
the Western allies
- Allied Control Council (ACC) without USSR, announced that
Reichsmark to be replaced by the Deutschmark to help implement
the plan - london agreement 1948
- Soviets withdrew from ACC in 1948 out of protest - violation of
Potsdam treaty
- Soviets decided that the situation was now intolerable - West-
Berlin was island of capitalism deep in the communist zone, now
with a different currency and different rules
- Soviets closed all road, rail and canal links between West-Berlin
and West Germany
- Aim: force out the allies from West-Berlin by starving them out
- Potential war, possibly nuclear
- Solution: Berlin Airlift - Allies supplied Berlin by planes, took 10
months before Soviets ended blockade - embarrassing for USSR
The US, USSR and China - superpower relations (1947-1979): containment; peaceful co-
existance; Sino-Soviet and Sino-US relations; detente

- A summary of changing superpower relations (1947-79)

- Truman introduced containment of communism
- Eisenhower (US president elected in 1953) introduced ‘roll back’ of communism
as a tougher stance towards USSR
- Subsequent presidents followed a series of policies which led to ‘proxy wars’ in
Korea, Vietnam and Cuba
- Proxy war is a war that is influenced or started by a major power, but that
power does not necessarily become directly involved in the conflict
- Stalin dies (1953), Cold War entered a ‘thaw’ in superpower relations
- Khrushchev becomes leader, introduced ‘peaceful coexistence’
- Mao Zedong labelled Khrushchev’s condemnation of Stalin as ‘Soviet
revisionism’
- Result: growing divide in relations between USSR and CCP
- Soviet revisionism is a deviation from established Marxist-Leninist views
- Sino-soviet split gave US opportunity to play Khrushchev and Mao against each
other, leading to Sino-American rapprochement
- Rapprochement is an increase in friendliness between countries,
especially if there has been a period of unfriendliness or disagreement
- Brezhnev takes over Khrushchev after Cuban Missile Crisis
- Arms race gained momentum
- Brinkmanship politics of the Cuban Missile Crisis prompted the
Americans to realise that there must be a better way of dealing with
Communism
- Nixon and Kissinger introduced détente
- Arms race: competition between two or more states to have the
best armed forces, more weapons, etc.
- Brinkmanship: diplomacy tactic of pushing a dangerous situation
or confrontation to the limit of safety to force a desired outcome
- Détente: the easing of hostilities or strained relations

- Containment
- Played a significant role in American diplomacy during the Cold War
- Invented by George Kennan: sent the ‘Long Telegram’ in 1946 indicating
the need for US containment of Communism to US secretary of state
- Kennan: “USSR committed fanatically to the belief that with US there can be no
permanent way of coexisting”
- The fields of battle where containment was the objective were the proxy wars in
the impoverished nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America
 - The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan
- Introduced in 1947
- Purpose: Assisting countries threatened by oppressive minorities
to remain free to choose their leaders and form of government
- In reality: Containment of Communism
- US containment policy in action: the Korean War (1950-53)
- Divide between North and South Korea on the 38th parallel
- North Korea: Soviets established communist gov’t under Kim Il-
Sung
- South Korea: American-backed Syngman Rhee elected in the
south
- 1949: Russian and American troops withdrew, increased tensions
between N and S, most Koreans resented the division forced upon their
country by outsiders. Both gov’t claimed to be legit gov’t; both
authoritarian
- North invaded South in June 1950: first open conflict and proxy war of the
Cold War
- Effect: Truman sends troops to Korea and encouraged the UN to
lead effort - shows Truman Doctrine
- China would not accept US control of North-Korea, would intervene
- 38th parallel crossed by US troops in an attempt to ‘roll back’
communism
- Response: China sends 200k to the 150k N Korean army
- Result: Stalemate reached at the 38th parallel
- Consequences of interventions:
- US imposes total trade embargo on CCP
- Stalin’s withdrawal of support and lack of collaboration in Korea
was not forgotten by Mao and Red China

- Peaceful coexistence
- Invented by USSR’s Nikita Khrushchev
- Khrushchev ushered in a period which became known as the ‘thaw’
- Favoured return to party control and de-Stalinisation
- Highly controversial within Communist Party
- De-Stalinisation: a political reform launched by Khrushchev that
condemned the crimes committed by Stalin, destroyed Stalin’s image as
a faultless leader and promised a return to socialism
- Khrushchev: “There are only two ways - either peaceful coexistence or the most
destructive war in history. There is no third way”
- Khrushchev believed global communism would be achieved by recognition of a
superior ideology, not force
- Mao Zedong claimed Khrushchev deviated from Marxist-Leninist
Communism (Soviet revisionism)
- To what extent was there a thaw in the Cold War after 1953?
- Eisenhower (new US President) introduced ‘roll back Communism’ and to
be ‘tougher on the Soviets’
- Eisenhower administration: new foreign policy; ‘New Look’ and supported
‘massive retaliation’
- Involved reliance on and threats of the use of nukes
- Brinkmanship acted as a possible mode of negotiation
- Massive retaliation: military strategy which supports the US
responding with much greater force - nukes - in the case of
an act of aggression
- Kennedy (1961) resulted in a new foreign policy: ‘flexible responses’ that
allowed for a variety of options, not just nukes
- Austrian State Treaty (May 1955)
- Most important development in the thaw
- Austria to be completely independent from USSR, must not join
NATO or EEC and must stay neutral
- Warsaw Pact (1955)
- Response from USSR to NATO, signed by the Soviet Union and
all the satellite states except Yugoslavia
- Extension of Comecon
- Hungarian Uprising (1956)
- Protests in Hungary lead to resignation of leader at the time
(Rakosi) who was followed by Imre Nagy
- Nagy immediately announced Hungary’s withdrawal from Warsaw
Pact
- Response: USSR sends tanks and troops to crush revolt,
Nagy imprisoned and executed
- Significance to US: showed that Eisenhower’s ‘roll back’ of
communism were mere empty words
- Berlin Wall (1961)
- Regardless of thaw, tensions remained in Germany. Still
considered the front line of the Cold War
- Divided Berlin was especially problematic for the Russians:
- West Berlin operated as a capitalist free-market
economy, heavily supported by US, GB, France,
surrounded by the centrally planned economy of East
Germany
- Free-market economy: system in which prices are
determined by unrestricted competition. In other
words, buyers and sellers can make deals based
on supply and demand, without any interference
- Central planning: gov’t owns the means of
production and runs the economy in the interest of
 the workers. Gov’t decides what to produce, how to
produce it and for whom
- Khrushchev proposed uniting Berlin and making it a free city
within East Germany
- Kennedy told Khrushchev US would never give up West Berlin
- Response: Khrushchev approved building a wall
separating East Berlin from West Germany
- Result: Wall prevented skilled East German workers from
leaving West Berlin. Wall prevented East German workers
from leaving for the West where pay and opportunity were
better
- Wall achieved its aim: East Germany stabilised and the threat
posed by West Berlin to the Soviet sphere of influence was
successfully contained
- Sphere of influence: an area in which another country has
the power to affect developments even though it has no
official authority
- Nuclear Arms Race
- Significant cause of tension and hostility between the
superpowers
- Economic resources needed to maintain and develop new military
technologies imposed enormous financial strain on both sides
- 1957 - USSR launches world’s first ICBM

- Sino-Soviet relations
- Americans not happy with outcome of Chinese Civil War (1927-50)
- Communist China intensified fear of a global communist conspiracy
- Mao Zedong establishes PRC in 1949, visits Moscow to obtain financial and
military aid ASAP
- Success of Communism (spread of it) would potentially create a ‘domino effect’
in Asia like Eastern Europe
- Russia was seen by the Chinese as an imperialist nation with designs on
Chinese territory
- 1950, Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance was signed
between PRC and USSR
- Response: US imposed trade restrictions on China, used veto power in
UN to block attempts to replace exiled Chiang Kai-shek with Mao Zedong
- Shows US doesn’t recognise communist China
- Sino-Soviet Split
- Rivalry developed between Khrushchev and Mao
- Mao: Khrushchev is a ‘Soviet revisionist’ and strains Marxism-
Leninism. Does not approve of peaceful coexistence either. Also
believes that Khrushchev was too slow to respond to the
Hungarian revolt
- The Great Leap Forward
- 1958, new economic programme, plans to modernise China by increasing
both industrial and agricultural production
- Private property was abolished and farmers and workers were placed into
communes
- Commune: group of people who live together and share
possessions and responsibilities
- August 1958, China wants steel production doubled within the year,
backyard furnaces to produce steel in each commune and urban
neighbourhood
- However, it turned into an economic disaster!!
- Lack of regulation and many oversights led to crops being
neglected as people concentrated on producing steel
- Communes competed for what few resources were available,
leading to widespread starvation
- 61 million died of overwork and starvation during the Great Leap
Forward
- USSR advised PRC that the Great Leap Forward was poor
economic planning and harmful to population - friction intensifies
- Further tensions
- Hostility arose in 1958 between China and Taiwan, Mao bombs islands of
Quemoy and Matsu in the Straits of Taiwan
- Khrushchev angered as he was not consulted
- Zedong and Khrushchev met in Beijing in 1958, Mao determined to show
Khrushchev that he was fit to be the true leader of the communist world
- Used every opportunity to humiliate Khrushchev:
- Mao decided to hold a meeting in a swimming pool,
knowing Khrushchev could not swim
- 1960, China attacked Soviet policy of peaceful coexistence
- Response: USSR withdraws all Soviet expertise out of China
- 1961, USSR did not help China in the famine caused by the Great Leap
Forward
- Result: China is supplied by Australia and Canada for grain, China
asserted more independence from USSR
- 1962, border conflict between China and India became a war, China
quickly won. However, Khrushchev supported India in the conflict
- Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), Mao criticised Khrushchev for his handling
of the Cuban Missile Crisis
- US outmanoeuvred Khrushchev with the result that the Chinese
believed that the Soviet Union was unfit to lead to Communist
Bloc
 - Mao: Soviet Union was willing to compromise the goals of the
revolution in the Third World in order to avoid hostilities with the
US
- The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 was seen as an attempt by
the superpowers to maintain their join nuclear monopoly and to
isolate china
- Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
- Meant to arouse the PRC’s people to recapture the revolutionary
enthusiasm of 1949
- As part of this, they were to hunt down intellectuals and CCP
officials allegedly guilty of ‘revisionist’ attitudes
- Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968)
- New reformist leader of Czechoslovakia, Dubček, sought to bring liberal
change to his country with the concept of ‘socialism with a human face’
- The ‘socialism with a human face’ programme supported:
- Greater participation of the people in local and country
politics under the umbrella of the Communist Party
- More freedom of the press
- Increased freedom of cultural expression
- An emphasis on the need for personal initiative in
economics
- Threat to USSR and other Communist Bloc nations. After attempts at
liberalisation and democratisation, Czechoslovakia was invaded by troops
from all Warsaw Pact countries. Dubček and other members of the
government were arrested and forced to sign a document agreeing to
repeal the 1968 reforms
- Result: the Brezhnev Doctrine shown in action
- Brezhnev Doctrine: Policy promoted by Brezhnev, which
said that the Soviet Union had the right to use military force
to maintain the strict rule of the Communist Party in nearby
socialist country
- Sino-Soviet border conflict (1969)
- Considered one of the most significant conflicts in the Sino-Soviet
split
- Centred on claims to Zhenbao Island which marked the border between
the PRC and USSR
- March 1969 - two bloody conflicts erupted on the island located on the
PRC side of the river, but occupied by the Russians. Russians regained
the land after Chinese surprise attack, during the next few months further
clashes occurred along the frontier.
- Tensions eased when Soviets and Chinese met in September in Beijing
and agreed to further talks in October, which lead to a truce
- Border conflict had a deep impact on both nations and led to both
China and the Soviet Union seeking improved relations with the US
- Sino-American relations
- Significant public pressure over the Vietnam War led to American leaders and
their policy makers to seek new diplomatic strategies in the 1970s
- Nixon and Kissinger made a change from previous administration by reaching
out for a rapprochement with China
- Rapprochement: an increase in friendliness between two countries,
especially if there has been a period of unfriendliness or disagreement
- Sino-American rapprochement
- Central to Nixon’s campaign platform was the removal of the US from the
war in Vietnam. Outlining the general framework of his plan for this in
what became known as the Nixon Doctrine, but the foundation of his plan
involved détente with both Moscow and Beijing.
- Reason: Nixon recognised the potential power of Red China,
which, if left isolated, could continue to evolve into a threatening
force
- Détente: the easing of hostilities or strained relations
- Due to a struggling Chinese economy and the Sino-Soviet border dispute,
China believed that improved relations with the US would benefit the PRC
by developing trade and technology links
- Ping-pong diplomacy
- April 1971, a small, but significant step toward rapprochement
came when the Chinese invited the US table tennis team to play in
China - became known as ping-pong diplomacy and paved the
way for improved Sino-American relations
- September 1971, one of Mao’s inner circle and biggest opponent
to improved relations with the US, Lin Biao, died in a mysterious
plane crash
- Show of goodwill: US ended its veto on the entry of Communist
China into UN, PRC was formally admitted in October 1971.
- Followed by a secret visit to China by National Security
advisor Kissinger, with the goal of securing an invitation for
Nixon to visit China
- February 1972, Nixon arrives in Beijing, becoming the first US
President to ever visit China
- Talks:
- Mao wanted the Americans to withdraw their
support of CHiang Kai-Shek and the GMD exiled in
Taiwan
- America accepts a ‘One China’ policy and remove
US troops from Taiwan
 - American foreign policy was looking to move the US away from its
ideological hostility toward communist states. The new
relationship with China, they believed would reduce tensions in
Asia and aid them in disentangling the US military from Vietnam
- A Sino-American rapprochement could pressure the Soviet Union
into agreeing to détente and a slowing of the arms race
- Nixon Doctrine
- 1969, Nixon stated in a press conference that the US
would expect its allies to take care of their own military
defence
- Goal: Start the end of US involvement in the
Vietnam War and to train and equip the South
Vietnamese forces combat
- Doctrine argued for the pursuit of peace through
partnerships and the removal of a US military presence
abroad, particularly in Asia
- Key points:
- US would keep all of its treaty commitments
- US would provide a shield if a nuclear power
threatened the freedom of a nation allied with the
US or of a nation whose survival the US considered
vital to their security
- In cases involving other types of aggression, the
US would furnish military and economic assistance
when requested in accordance with their treaty
commitments. But they would look to the nation
directly threatened to assume the primary
responsibility of providing the manpower for its
defence
- Rapprochement with the PRC was a significant change in
US foreign policy. Nixon and Kissinger were celebrated for
their efforts to forge relationships with both communist
superpowers. With the disaster of the policy of
containment in Vietnam, to a certain extent the US had
no choice in ending their aggressive policies towards
the Communist World

- Détente
- Relations between the USSR and the US entered a period of relaxed tensions
from 1963-79, called détente. This period differed from the short ‘thaw’ during
the Khrushchev administration, as it was a long-term relaxation of tensions. It
began shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis at the end of 1962, and ended with
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979
- Brezhnev hoped to repair the image of the USSR internationally after Sino-Soviet
split, suppression of the Prague Spring - therefore looked towards the US, hoping
to improve relations and as a counterweight to Chinese tension
- Climate in the US also one of reconciliation - popular opinion in the US pressured
Nixon to untangle the country from affairs in Vietnam
- Lesson of Vietnam: containment had its limits, and an alternative
approach to dealing with Communism was needed
- Kissinger supported a ‘deepening’ of American foreign policy motivated by
realpolitik diplomacy - Kissinger says Kennedy and Johnson had focused too
much on specific hotspots and failed to see the ‘big picture’ of superpower
relations
- Realpolitik: politics or diplomacy driven by practical objectives based on
political experience rather than ideological motivations
- Sino-Soviet split reduced pressure on the US, thus opening the door for softened
relations with the Soviet Union
- Nixon’s motivations were very pragmatic - wanted to find a stable balance in
relations with the Soviets
- Aim: to reduce the risk of war, over time socialise Moscow into the
international system that the US had created after WWII
- Nixon not interested in following an aggressive foreign policy with USSR, as long
as USSR did not challenge the global power of the US
- Achievements during detente
- Historians disagree as to the overall significance of agreements
during détente
- However, did signal a willingness on the part of both nations to reduce
previous tensions
- Cuban Missile Crisis and MAD
- Risk of events spiralling out of control highlighted the problems of a
massive retaliation strategy (Eisenhower’s strategy)
- 1963, series of meetings took place that negotiated agreements
concerning nuclear weapons - Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 resulted
- Nuclear Test Ban Treaty banned all nuclear tests except those conducted
underground and the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 provided the first
steps towards reducing the arms race
- Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed by the five nuclear nations
(US, UK, USSR, France, PRC), as well as by 59 non-nuclear
states, placing severe limitations on the transfer from one state to
another of the knowledge or material required to manufacture, test
or deploy nuclear weapons
- Idea of targeting military objectives changed - Secretary of State
McNamara now believed that both sides should aim to target cities with
the objective of causing the maximum number of casualties possible
- Reason: there would be no nuclear war if the reality of total
annihilation on both sides would be the result
 - Result: Both US and USSR came to accept ‘mutually assured
destruction’ (MAD), realising that in the instance of a nuclear
war, neither side would survive it
- The Cuban Missile Crisis motivated the following Agreements
- Test-Ban Treaty (1963) - stopped nuclear weapons testing in the
atmosphere
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968) - required nations
possessing nuclear weapons not to share information or
technology to non-nuclear countries
- Parts of the Strategic Arms Limitation agreement (1972) -
restricted the number of land- and sea-based ballistic missiles
- SALT I
- Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) considered on of the most
significant agreements concerning the arms race which occurred during
détente
- First time during the Cold War that USSR and US had agreed to limit their
nuclear arsenals
- Critics point out: SALT I only to limit spread of nukes, no agreement
towards disarmament
- SALT I paved the way to increased trade between the US and USSR
- After much difficulties to reach a consensus between US and USSR, the
following was agreed upon:
- Anti-ballistic missile system sites were limited to two on each side.
These systems were believed to serve as a means of preventing a
strike
- A freeze for 5 years on offensive weapons such as ICBMs and
SLBMs
- Ban on nuclear weapons launched from the ocean floor
- Nixon became the first sitting US President to visit Moscow (1972) -
during visit, agreements were made that pushed forward the aims of
détente
- Ostpolitik
- 1969 - Willy Brandt, became Chancellor of West-Germany
- Brandt saw border between East and West Germany as the front line of
Cold War, wanted to move the politics away from confrontation
- Central to Brandt’s Ostpolitik (Eastern policy) was to open relations
between the two sides and avoid isolation in the East - Soviets supported
- 1970 - Brandt signs Moscow Treaty recognising the division of Germany
and the loss of former German land to Poland
- 1970, Brandt visits Warsaw, where he signed a nonaggression
treaty with Poland and visited the memorial commemorating the
Warsaw Uprising - this action was significant as it was recognition
of German war guilt
- Helsinki agreement
 - 1975 - Agreement between Warsaw Pact, Nato and Third World
Countries in Europe in Helsinki, Finland. Agreements made at conference
were organised into three baskets:
- Basket one recognised legitimacy of post-war borders of
Europe
- Basket two supported closer cultural and technological
cooperation across the Iron Curtain
- Basket three supported an agreement to respect human rights
on both sides
- Most significant and most controversial was basket one, which in effect
recognised the permanent division of Germany
- Basket three was a push by liberals in the West to encourage a relaxation
on USSR’s grip on satellite states of Eastern Europe and liberalise the
Soviet Union
- Result of Helsinki agreement: greater cooperation between East and
West Europe, non-aligned countries acted as intermediaries, helping to
broker deals between NATO and Warsaw Pact nations
- SALT II
- 1974, US mood changed and many senators saw arms control as a way
for the Soviets to catch up with superior US weaponry
- 1979, US Pres: Jimmy Carter, US in economic recession, SALT II was
signed
- In the end not formally agreed by the Senate as USSR invaded
Afghanistan in end 1979
- Increasing conflicts in the Third World, Iran, Angola and Afghanistan,
threatened détente
- Technical language of SALT II not understood by legislators who were
required to sign it and the treaty failed to pass the Senate
- Assessment of détente
- Different interpretations:
- US: détente was a renegotiation of relations now that they did not
have nuclear equality with USSR and to play USSR against PRC
- USSR: used détente to steer the arms race and improve trade
links with the West, as well as increase their prestige as a
superpower in their struggle with China for supremacy in the
Communist world
- Détente was successful in stabilising superpower relations during the
1960s and 1970s
- However, profound changes in the course of the Cold War remained
elusive (difficult to find)
- Because superpower arsenals had increased during this period
- Many of the agreements signed were ignored (SALT II and
Helsinki)
 - Influence of USSR in proxy wars (Angola, Afghanistan) during the period
of détente proved that lasting peace would not result from détente
- Mid 1970s - renewed suspicion and mistrust came to the fore and, by
1979, breakdown of détente was clear
Confrontation and reconciliation; reasons for the end of the Cold War (1980-1991):
ideological challenges and dissent; economic problems; arms race

- Reasons for the end of the Cold War (1980-1991)

- Communism in Europe collapsed between 1989 and 1991 - huge impacts on
millions of lives and came as an absolute shock even to political experts
- Collapse of détente
- 1979, détente collapsed with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- Carter responded to the invasion by withdrawing the SALT II treaty from
consideration by the American Senate and boycotting the upcoming
Olympic Games in Moscow
- 1980 - new US pres. Reagan, represented a return to increasingly
aggressive and antagonistic relations between the superpowers, which
some historians have called the ‘Second Cold War’
- How? 1983 speech Reagan called USSR an ‘Evil Empire’ during a
speech
- Protests in Eastern Europe
- Soviet-Afghan War (1979-89) proved to be increasingly difficult for the
USSR to fight, number of reform and protest movements began to grow in
satellite states of Eastern Europe
- First significant challenge to Soviet authority: Solidarity in the shipyards
of Poland, 1980
- Solidarity - an independent labour union led by Wałęsa and not
under the control of the Communists - was banned by the
Communists in 1981
- Solidarity continued to put political pressure on the Soviet-aligned
gov’t of Poland due to movement’s popularity
- 1985, Gorbachev new leader of USSR, protests in Eastern Europe gained
strength and grew to a boiling point by the end of the decade
- Stagnation in the Soviet Union
- Due to Brezhnev’s leadership and until Gorbachev: decades of decline in
industrial growth, lack of tech developments, bureaucracy, agricultural
issues
- Gorbachev called the period an ‘era of Stagnation’ (1964-85)
- Serious reform and modernisation of Communist Party leadership and
Soviet system was required
- Rise of Gorbachev
- Many old Soviet leaders died after Brezhnev, Communist Party saw the
need for a younger generation - elected reformer Mikhail Gorbachev
(1985)
 - Gorbachev’s reputation: a voice of new ideas, policies of glasnost
(openness) and perestroika (restructuring) had revolutionary effects not
only in USSR but also in encouraging reformers in the satellite states
- Arms race
- After abandonment of SALT II in ‘79, a second arms race happened
between US and USSR
- Reagan dramatically accelerated this as he oversaw massive increase in
military spending by the US
- Some of the budget was funnelled to to anti-Communist forces in
Afghanistan (mujahideen and Osama Bin Laden) and to the Contras in
Nicaragua
- Reagan’s ‘baby’ was the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), dubbed ‘Star
Wars’, a missile defence system that could end the era of Mutually
Assured Destruction (MAD)
- Collapse of the Soviet Union
- Collapsed in 1991, many thought it would usher in a period of global
peace and prosperity
- DID NOT! Remnants of Cold War and resentment over the changes of
the 1990s continue to affect international politics today

Ideological challenges and dissent

- Early challenges to Soviet-aligned regimes

- First significant challenge to Soviet authority: Solidarity, 1980s, Poland
- Solidarity began to push for increased autonomy from the Soviet-aligned
Polish gov’t
- Second wave of protests in 1980s pushed to expand Poland’s
independence from Soviet control
- Solidarity argued for increased influence from workers and elements of
democracy in decision-making, including voting rights on contracts and
working conditions
- Initially banned, the popular support for the group and its leader, Wałęsa,
put pressure on Polish leaders throughout the 80s to reform and move
away from Soviet-style gov’t and economy
- Czechoslovakia: growth of protest movement called Charter 77 began to criticise
USSR and its loyalist Czechoslovak gov’t for not respecting human rights
(against Basket 3 of Helsinki Agreement 1975)
- Members of Charter 77 gained international support for their protest movement
by getting influential cultural figures from Czechoslovakia to sign the Charter
- Reforms within the Soviet Union and their impacts
- Problems for Soviet Union:
- Satellite states began to challenge Moscow leadership
- Economic stagnation
- Military spending; Soviet-Afghan War, Arms race
 - Ageing Politburo (the highest policy-making division in USSR)
- Introduction of Gorbachev (1985) with the reputation of reformation
- Most significant change for the satellite states, was his reversal of the
Brezhnev Doctrine
- So no more intervention if Communism was threatened
- Due to high military spending in Afghanistan, Gorbachev began to wind down
Soviet military commitment in Afghanistan
- 1988 - beginning of withdrawal Red Army troops from the war and some
troops stationed in Eastern Europe
- Due to the reversal of Brezhnev Doctrine, satellite states saw the opportunity to
challenge local leadership for significant reform without having to worry about
Red Army troops being sent in to crush protest movements
- Hungarian border opening
- 1989 - group of Hungarian reformers within the Communist Party forced the
leader to resign, in comes Grósz, who immediately set out to implement liberal
reforms:
- Open the border with Austria
- Body of executed leader of uprising in 1956, Nagy, to be reburied
- Free parliamentary elections would begin
- Gorbachev took no action against these changes
- October 1989 - Hungarian National Assembly made three further significant
changes:
- Abolished supremacy of Communist Party in society
- Legalised non-Communist political parties
- Dropped the term ‘People’s Republic’ from the name of the country
- Again, no objections from Gorbachev
- Monday Demonstrations
- Autumn 1989 - dissent of Communism had spread to East Germany
- Inspired by Gorbachev’s reforms, changes to Hungary and increased political
activity within the churches of East Germany, ideological changes to the East
German Socialist Unity (SED) leadership under Honecker Grew
- Honecker one of the most oppressive in the Eastern Bloc
- When Hungary opened border with Austria (1989), thousands of East Germans
fled the Communist regime by travelling to West Germany via Hungary and
Austria
- September 1989 - weekly protests against gov’t of GDR - called Monday
Demonstrations
- Monday Demonstrations grew increasingly bigger in Leipzig, Dresden and even
in East Berlin, 3 largest cities in GDR
- Honecker order to fire upon demonstrators, Deputy Secretary Krenz suppressed
order
- Within a week, Honecker was forced to step down and replaced by Krenz
- November 1989 - Krenz opens East German border with Czechoslovakia,
allowing East Germans to freely cross
 - Turning point in GDR: millions of Germans demanded democracy, prompting the
resignations of the rest of the cabinet and police and security leaders in the Stasi
- Fall of the Berlin Wall
- November 1989
- After East German official Schabowski announced that the country was lifting
restrictions on travel across its border to West Germany, thousands of East
Berliners began gathering at the checkpoints
- Border guards surprised by the amount of people, normally people who get close
to Berlin Wall are shot, guards did not hear announcement from Schabowski yet
- Honecker and leaders of Stasi, arrested
- New coalition gov’t took control and planned free national elections for May
1990
- Protest movements spread
- A week after the fall of the Berlin Wall, protests spread to Czechoslovakia
- November 1989, protesters gathered in Prague to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of a suppressed student protest in German-occupied Prague during
WWII (1939)
- Police suppression then sparked further unrest throughout the nation
- Demonstrations and a general strike were organised by the Civic Forum, led by
dissident and poet, Havel
- Soviet-aligned govt of Czechoslovakia being under pressure from their
population to reform and without the threat (or promise) of Moscow’s military
intervention, the govt abandoned the supremacy of the Communist party and
opened the border with Austria
- December 1989 - Husák resigned and free elections were scheduled before the
end of the year
- In what became known as the ‘Velvet Revolution’, Havel was elected president,
Dubček, leader of the Prague Spring of 1968, became the new speaker of the
parliament
- The toppling of Communist regimes spread and within the year, all of the Soviet
satellite states had crumbled
- Notably, Romania ended in violent riots and the execution of former government
officials (16-27 December 1989)

Economic problems
- Failure of Khrushchev’s economic policy
- 1953 - Khrushchev became leader after Stalin’s death
- Embarked on ambitious plan to modernise the economy of the Soviet Bloc
- Meant a departure from Stalin’s focus on heavy industry in a shift towards
light manufacturing of goods
- Production of practical items dramatically increased during his time, Soviet Bloc
never able to produce consumer goods on a scale to compete with the West
- 1954 - Virgin Lands Scheme, second large economic undertaking, use
mechanised farming techniques and fertilisers to expand agricultural production
 - Failed even though massive govt investment in tech and infrastructure
- Led to the beginning of an era of economic troubles for the Soviet Union

- ‘Era of Stagnation’ under Brezhnev

- 1964-85 - Brezhnev leader, this era was later referred to as the ‘era of
stagnation’ by Gorbachev
- With Brezhnev as leader USSR saw an economic decline in the 18 years of
ruling the country
- Brezhnev’s shift to a conservative regime after Khrushchev ‘liberalism’ caused
stifling innovation and reducing worker productivity, led to shortages in consumer
goods and general discontent amongst Russians
- Soviet leadership continued to promise Communist economies would overtake
the West, residents of the Eastern Bloc increasingly realised that this was
unlikely
- 1982 - Brezhnev dies, leadership of USSR had become significantly older
- Critics connect aged leadership to decline of economic innovation and
growth
- Soviet-Afghan War (1979-89)
- Major economic difficulty due to increasingly costly Soviet-Afghan War
- Referred to as ‘USSR’s Vietnam’ due to length, difficulty and hostility of conflict
- Cost of the war drained valuable resources away from the Soviet economy as oil,
coal and manufacturing were diverted to supported the war effort
- Keep in mind: at the same time, USSR spent a lot of their resources and funds to
commit to the arms race
- Rise of Reagan and the second arms race required additional defence spending
- Rise of Gorbachev
- 1985 - Gorbachev took over as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union
- Soviet economy in dire need of reform
- Outspoken voice for change and modernisation
- To fix economy, Gorbachev’s central ideas of glasnost (openness) and
perestroika (restructuring) were largely inspired by need for modernisation and
reform of Soviet economy
- Gorbachev believed fear of KGB and repression prevented the Soviet Union from
identifying inefficiencies in the Soviet economy
- Think of: incompetent managers, obstructive bureaucracy
- Glasnost made it possible to identify problems, perestroika would then enable
economic reforms that could save Soviet system
- Energy crises and natural disaster
- Oil exports important to Soviet economy, income used to fund other industrial
projects, pay for importing grain which Soviets relied heavily upon
- Oil prices crashed mid 1980s, Soviet economy took further hit
- Situation became worse due to Chernobyl explosion, 1986
 - Embarrassing political revelations of lack of safety procedures
- Result: increased criticism of govt management of the energy sector, showed
inefficiencies of the Soviet bureaucracy
- 1988, massive earthquake in Armenia, need to recover and rebuild strained
Soviet economy even more
- Became even more difficult to justify war spendings in Afghanistan and
arms race
- Declining role of intervention
- Besides modernisation and reforms, Gorbachev began working towards reducing
Soviet involvement in the war in Afghanistan
- At the same time as the USSR’s ability to afford military operations in support of
Communist allies was declining, Warsaw Pact govts of Eastern Europe faced
increasing pressure to reform
- The economic difficulties soon became political crises, first in the satellite states,
then in the Soviet Union itself

The Arms Race

- Military agreements under détente

- One of the most important signs of improving Soviet-American relations came in
a series of military agreements
- The first significant breakthrough: Nuclear Test Ban of 1963
- Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970 - aimed at limiting the spread of
nuclear weapons
- SALT I Treaty 1972, limiting nuclear weapons and ABMs which limited
each country to two sites of up to 100 defensive ABMs
- Collapse of détente
- 1979, Carter signed SALT II with Brezhnev
- 1979, Soviet-Afghan War started, Carter withdrew treaty from Senate
deliberations
- 1980 - even more aggressive response against Soviet Union as Reagan
becomes president
- Reagan’s interventions
- Reagan one of the most fiercely outspoken critics of Communism
- Promised to confront the Soviets during presidential campaign 1980
- Reagan comes to power - began providing weapons and arms to anti-Communist
forces in Afghanistan (mujahideen, Osama Bin Laden)
- Raegan also advocated a roll back of communism - Reagan Doctrine
- Also looked to go against those he saw as Soviet allies
- Led him to support the Contras in Nicaragua, anti-Communists in Angola and
even go so far as to invade the tiny island nation of Grenada in 1983
- Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
 - A project that hoped to develop a series of satellites that could effectively shield
the US from ICBMs through a series of lasers and particle beams that would
deactivate and disarm fire nukes
- Although most scientists agreed that it was impossible, Reagan invested billions
of dollars of American defence funds in attempts to develop the project
- Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty
- 1986, Iceland - attempted talks from Gorbachev with Reagan, Reagan refused to
give up on SDI
- 1987 - Gorbachev visits US, renews negotiations with Reagan
- Eventually agreed to the INF Treaty
- INF Treaty: eliminated stocks of nuclear and conventional missiles with a
range of about 500-5500 km
- Impact of military spending
- Although USSR signed INF, begun winding down its presence in Afghanistan in
1986, financial burden of defence budget continued to cause significant problems
- After decades of economic stagnation and immense military spending USSR was
in debt
- $50 billion in external debt
- Struggling to stay afloat

The Collapse of the Soviet Union

- The fall of the Berlin Wall

- November 1989 - disastrous press conference given by East German official
Schabowski led to the announcement on state media that East Germans would
be allowed to cross into West Berlin for the first time since 1961
- 9 November 1989 - Berlin Wall came down
- Following months East German SED leadership began negotiations for a
reunification with the West
- Spreading collapse of Communism
- Protests spread like wildfire across satellite states after no action was taken from
Moscow in Poland, Hungary and East Germany
- In the last few months of 1989 and into 1990, Soviet-aligned regimes in the
satellite states were toppled by popular protests
- Anti-Communist revolutions in the satellite states then spread to parts of USSR,
as nationalists in the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) declared their
independence, and Azerbaijan
- All these countries had been Soviet Republics, unified as part of the
Soviet Union
- Questions over the Soviet response
- Gorbachev’s response to the spreading rebellion was to attempt to create the
Union of Sovereign States Plan
- Idea was to salvage some authority for Moscow by creating a more
decentralised union of the different republics of the Soviet Union
 - Gorbachev attempted to build popular support for the New Union Treaty, as it
was called, and pushed for a referendum to gain legitimacy by demonstrating
popular support
- New Union Treaty referendum won a large majority of the vote in nike republics
- Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan
- Shows that those republics were either still loyal to the Communist Party
or believed that Gorbachev could successfully reform the Soviet Union
- Rejected or boycotted by: Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Georgia, Armenia
and Moldova, who declared their independence shortly after
- The 6 republics leaving USSR was seen as a sign of weakness by the Politburo
- Blamed Gorbachev for allowing the Union to crumble, began to develop a
plan to oust Gorbachev and attempt to retain authority before the Treaty
could be signed 20th of August
- Coup attempt against Gorbachev
- Gorbachev took a holiday shortly before the scheduled signing
- Opponents sprung a coup attempt into action on 18 August 1991, stating
Gorbachev relieved of his post as General Secretary on the grounds of ill-health
- However, many leaders in the Soviet govt opposed the coup
- Crowds demonstrated in Moscow, surrounding the Russian parliament
- Gained support of newly elected President Yeltsin
- End of the Soviet Union
- As the coup attempt collapsed, the Soviet Union fell apart
- Leaders of the coup arrested, Gorbachev returned to Moscow to help oversee
the transition from the Soviet Union to a federation of republics along with Boris
Yeltsin and the other remaining members of the Politburo
- Late August - Moscow recognised the independence of the six republics who
rejected the New Union Treaty and started to remove Red Army troops from
those republics
- Christmas Day 1991 - Gorbachev announces resignation, Communist flag of the
Soviet Union was lowered from the capital to be replaced by the Russian tricolour
- Russia inherited UN Sec Council seat
- Yeltsin took over as the presidents of the new Russian Federation
Historians:
- Post-revisionist:
- John Lewis Gaddis: “Kennan’s Long Telegram was essential to the containment
policy of the US, without its warning, millions of people would fall behind the iron
curtain”
- McCauley: “Kennan overestimated USSR’s ability to dominate and manipulate
foreign communist parties, as these countries lacked a Red Army presence.
- John Lewis Gaddis: “With MAD, superpowers ‘exchanged destruction for
duration’, this understanding - the fact that nuclear weapons could not be used -
that helped to keep the Cold War going for so long”
- John Lewis Gaddis: “Détente was not an end to Cold War tensions but rather a
temporary relaxation, it was a failure of American strategy”

- Orthodox:
- Steve Philips: “Khrushchev’s tactic of boasting about their nuclear capability,
helped fuel US concerns that they needed to keep ahead of the USSR”
- Robert Service: “Brezhnev’s shift to a conservative regime after Khrushchev
liberalism caused stifling innovation and reducing worker productivity