Thuy An Hoang Tran 3rd hour

The Final Phase, 1980-1990 (Chapter 8 Little Green book)

1. America under President Carter viewed Soviets invasion of Afghanistan as part of a bold geopolitical offensive. The Soviets were trying to seize strategic initiative from a weakened U.S, planning to dominate Persian Gulf region and denying its oil to the West. So Carter authorized massive increase in US defense spending, such as $1.2 trillion in military expenditures in 5 years. He ordered grain embargo against Soviet Union, boycott of 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow. He reestablished military draft registration and proclaimed Carter Doctrine that promised to repel effort by outside power to control Persian Gulf by any means necessary. The U.S put extra pressure on the Soviets by strengthening partnership with China through buying their hardware and technology. NATO deployed new intermediate-range Pershing II and Cruise nuclear missiles. The U.S returned to mindset for Cold War. 2. Ronald Reagan was a diehard anti-Communist that he considers the country immoral and untrustworthy. If Russians werent engaged in the game of dominoes, there would be no hot spots in the world. Reagan even accused Moscow of using dtente as a oneway street to pursue its personal aims. He proclaimed the speech to British Parliament that Marxism-Leninism was doomed to history. Then he described the Soviet Union as a focus of evil, emphasizing this was the battle between right and wrong. 3. Reagan decided to boost the military and intelligence strength of the U.S. He planned to expand nuclear and conventional military capabilities. Peace through strength was the new catchphrase, which served to rationalize the administrations initially desultory approach to arms control negotiation. Reagan set 5-year spending target of $1.6 trillion over the project of Carter during his final year in the White House. He revived expensive bomber program, approved development of B-2 bomber, accelerated deployment of MX and (missile Experimental) and submarine missile system and expand the Navy. His actions regained Americas margin of safety and strategic superiority, and appeared to scare the Russian into giving up. He focused deeply on military spending and weapons, and the arms race, therefore less likely to increase spending the American economy. His strong anti-Communist perspectives provided incentives of spending money to prepare conflict against Soviet Union rather than boosting domestic economy. 4. Russias rulers became more alarmed of American arms building up. They worried that the U.S might seek to develop potential for the first strike against Soviet missile silos and industrial centers. Their suspicion increased after the introduction of Strategic Defense Initiative, because this new defensive strategy could allow the U.S to shoot Soviet missiles to explode out of space.

5. SDI can be seen as a way to limit chances of nuclear war and a source of tension that would lead to nuclear war. Strategic Defense Initiative was the new defense technology that can shoot the nuclear missiles and make them explode out of space before they enter the country. From the American perspective, President Reagan preferred this technology and viewed it as a defensive method for the U.S. So if all the countries have this technology, there would be no incentive for shooting missiles, which would lead to the end of nuclear war. However, according to the Soviets, the U.S planned to use this defensive technology to dominate other countries because the U.S will be protected from nuclear weapon. This point of view considered the U.S aggressive and dominating, which could lead to more suspicion, tension and nuclear war. 6. The Soviet air defenses shot down a Korean plane that strayed into Russian airspace, killing many passengers including Americans. Reagan immediately denounced the Korean airline massacre as crime against humanity, disregarding individual rights and human values. The Soviets considered the plane as espionage mission and they failed to show remorse for the tragedy. These combined to increase tension. Then, NATO exercised their military and frightened Soviet intelligence making them think that a full-scale nuclear strike was on them. Therefore, the Soviet Union also ordered military army and put stand-by air crafts on East German bases. Soviet leaders now believed that America was capable to start the nuclear war. So they withdrew from the arms control negotiations at Geneva, and the negotiation broke down. 7. The Reagan Doctrine was the policy in which the U.S vied to roll back Soviet power on the periphery through the use of indigenous, anti-leftist insurgents as proxy warriors, especially in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Angola, and Cambodia. This did not really match Reagans public utterances, because despite of the Presidents desire to roll back Soviet power, he was reluctant to risk the American solider and staff lives or the possibility of a direct clash with the Soviet Union. 8. Reagans policies affected relations with friendly/allied nations: When Soviet-backed government of Genera Jaruzelski imposed martial law on its restive citizens, cracking down the independent and non-communist labor union Solidarity, the European allies resisted Reagans push for broad-based sanctions against Moscow as punishment for using tyranny forces on Poland. Reagan administration considered Europeans as unprincipled appeasers who were unwilling to take action that might jeopardize trade links with the Eastern bloc. Several European countries agreed to help construct the pipeline that could connect Siberias natural gas fields to Western European markets. This would lessen European dependence on energy resources from Middle East while strengthening East-West trade links. Worrying that this project could lead our allies to be more reliant economically on the Soviet Union, Reagan prohibited the sale of US pipeline technology to the Soviet Union

within weeks of Polands martial law. The president also ordered that any European firm utilizing US-licensed technology or equipment as well as our subsidiaries operating in Europe must revoke all contracts for pipeline work. This infuriated European leaders. The French minister said that America declared economic warfare on her allies. Even the British minister was outraged and asked whether one powerful nation can prevent existing contract from being fulfilled. The Allies warned the U.S of ending friendship and partnership.

1. The protest movements affected the direction of the Cold War: Almost half a million West German jobs were tied to trade with the East; the pipeline deal seemed a god-send to energy-dependent Western Europeans. They said why they would renounced lucrative commercial transactions with the Soviet Bloc, just to placate an Ally that recently resumed grain sales to the Soviet Union to honor Reagan promise to American farmers. They did not see Soviet as a threat in the same way as America. At first, Carter planned to counter Soviet new deployment of SS-20s missiles with neutron bomb, but changed decision later and angered Chancellor Schmidt for American unreliability in NATO. Reagan vowed to move forward with nuclear force deployments and his disdain for arm control agreements meant that negotiating task between 2 superpowers didnt go anywhere. The idea of U.S nuclear weapons in Europe prompted public concern about arms race and triggered broad-based peace movement throughout Western Europe. Krefeld Appeal in West Germany and other joined mass protests rallies were against US and Soviet missile deployments. The protesting group gathered to defy the ban against resistance demonstrations during Reagan visits and touched off major riot. Political parties in Britain and West Germany even went against the missile deployment, as well as trade union, church, student groups in Europe. At home, there was growing public consciousness about danger of nuclear war gave rise to peace coalition. The church, medical and scientific voices joined the debate, emphasizing human consequences of nuclear war, death, further effects, animals extinguished The television, newspapers and even writers dramatized aftermath of nuclear attack. Therefore, House of Representatives approved nuclear freeze resolution. Reagan also softened his anti-Communist rhetoric. He called for the new year of peace opportunities and showed willingness to negotiate. He sketched portrait of two ordinary American and Soviet couples longing for peace between their countries. He proposed to discuss about intermediate nuclear forces, strategic arms limitation and anti-satellite weapons. Once Reagan was reelected, Moscow agreed to participate in negotiation. 1. Mikhail Gorbachev was the turning point leading to the end of Cold War:

New ideas about security, nuclear weapons, relationship brought his priorities of domestic reform and revitalization of socialism. He injected new thinking into Kremlin leadership. He truly determined to end arms race that drained the countrys economy and more. He considered that national security had been changed due to structural and shifts in human civilization, as a result of growing science and technology, and interdependence of the world. All people could climb or fall together on the mountain. Their goal was to encourage joint nuclear and conventional arms build-down with the U.S. Gorbachevs domestic push for restructuring and openness was linked to his determination to end arms race and hostility between two superpowers since detente. He convinced Reagan to attend meeting at Iceland. They came close to decision to eliminate all ballistic missiles. In the end, Reagans insistence on continuing with his SDI made Gorbachev withdraw his proposals. Then he dropped his insistence that Americans abandonment of SDI must be prerequisite for progress on all arms control matters, and moved to accept zero solution put forward by US negotiators in 1981. His concessions led to conclusion of Intermediate Nuclear forces Treaty (INF) signed in Washington. This led to destruction of 1846 Soviet nuclear weapons and 846 US weapons in 3 years, allowing close inspection of each others nuclear site. For the first time, actual nuclear weapons were eliminated and not just limited. Reagans trip to Moscow confirmed two superpowers friendly relationship and his changing attitude towards Russia. In 1988, Gorbachev visited U.S to meet Reagan and conduct discussions with upcoming President George Bush. He revealed his intention to reduce unilaterally Soviet military forces by 500000 troops, which led to significant reduction of Soviet military presence in Eastern Europe. The Kremlin leadership was discarding Brezhnev Doctrine that Soviet Union would use force if necessary to maintain rigid control of Warsaw Pact allies. The old-line communist apparatchiks quaked. There were following popular democratic revolutions that swept out communist regime in Eastern Europe, beginning with Poland forming new government. The Berlin Wall that signifies division of Germany and Europe as a whole finally opened. Gorbachevs actions simply triggered, initiated and let further peaceful and compromising events take its course. The demolition of Berlin Wall and concomitant implosion of the entire Warsaw Pact meant the end of Cold War or ideological contest. Neither communism nor Soviet state posed a serious threat to U.S security and its allies. West Germany government pressed for reunification, but a divided Germany had formed a core element of Soviet security policy since Stalin. Gorbachev accepted reunification and didnt use force to push what seemed irresistible momentum towards unity. He took Bushs assurances that Germany would remain in Western security system. He only feared of newly empowered Germany becoming danger of Russian security. But records of 4 decades of German democracy diluted those fears. America insisted that Germany stayed locked

into NATO, and the record of peace and democracy assuaged Gorbachevs anxieties. Cold War worries of unified, pro-Soviet Germany disappeared. 1990 truly marked the end of Cold War.