March 13—Write an identification for the Brezhnev Doctrine.

The Cold War

1968-1979

IB Objectives

Arms race, proliferation, and limitation Sino-Soviet relations Détente Spread of Cold War outside of Europe

Sample Questions

Why did the Cold War spread from Europe to other parts of the world after 1950?

Key Terms

Linkage MAD SALT I Berlin Accord Helsinki Accords SALT II Carter Doctrine

Lecture Outline

I. Sino-Soviet Relations II. Nixon and détente III. Carter and human rights

Linkage

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger believed that a way to get peace in Vietnam was to stop the Soviet Union and China from supplying the North Vietnamese.

Kissinger believed that a cut-off in supplies would force Hanoi to agree to a compromise peace, a policy he called “linkage.”

China v. Soviet Union

In 1964 China detonated its first atomic bomb, and in the spring of 1969 Soviet and Chinese troops clashed over border disputes.

The Nixon administration realized that the tension between the Soviet Union and China could be used to the US’s advantage.

In February 1972 Nixon became the first president ever to visit China and 4 months later he visited Moscow.

China and the US

In December 1978, President Carter announced that the US was establishing full diplomatic relations with China while simultaneously ending its mutual defense treaty with the Nationalist Chinese on Formosa.

Weapons

The US had 1,054 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), 656 submarine-launched missiles, and 540 long-range bombers.

The Soviets had 1,200 ICBMs, 200 submarine-launched missiles, and 200 bombers.

Détente and the Arms Race Both sides’ policy was based on mutually

assured destruction (MAD)—any attack on either homeland would be met by a massive nuclear response that would assure the destruction of the attacker’s civilization.

In 1972 the US and USSR signed the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I).

SALT I made the concept of deterrence through mutual destruction an official policy of the Cold War.

SALT I

US added 3 new warheads per day to the MIRV arsenal.

By 1977 the US had 10,000 warheads to the Soviets 4,000.

Detente

In September 1971 Britain, US, USSR, and France signed the Berlin Accord, which provided for improved communications between sectors of the divided city.

US recognized East Germany in 1974. The 1975 Helsinki Accords recognized the

borders of the various Soviet satellites in East Europe and committed all signatories to the defense of human rights.

SALT II In June 1979 the USSR and the US signed SALT

II. The treaty limited both sides to 2,400 strategic

nuclear launchers. At the time the US had 1,398 ICBMs of which

496 were MIRVed, while the Soviets had 950, of which 128 were MIRVed.

It put no limits at all on the arms race. In December 1979 the US put 500 cruise

missiles with nuclear warheads in Western Europe.

Afghanistan In December 1979, 85,000 Soviet troops

invaded Afghanistan to support a pro-Communist regime that had taken power in April 1978.

In 1973 a coup ended the 200 year old monarchy and replaced it with Marxist-Leninist government.

The opposition to the new government intensified in 1978 and 1979 led mostly by Islamic elements.

March 15—Why do you think the Soviet Union collapsed?

Afghanistan

Soviet tension with China and its increasing interest in the oil-rich Persian Gulf region, the buffer zone to protect the USSR from attack now included Afghanistan.

USSR feared that the unrest could spread to the Muslim-populated Soviet republics including Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.

Afghanistan

Soviets feared that an anti-Soviet Islamist regime could come to power in Afghanistan and become allies with Iran, Pakistan, and/or the US.

USSR justified military action using the Brezhnev doctrine and they thought the détente was over.

Carter Doctrine

In Carter’s 1980 State of the Union Address, he proclaimed the Carter Doctrine, which stated that any attempt to gain control of the Persian Gulf region would be regarded as an attack on US interests, and such an attack would be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.