24. Analyse the importance of détente in ending the Cold War
David Walker
Question 24
I. Thesis: The foreign policy known as Détente was a policy that was instituted to help relieve tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. Prior to Détente the world was becoming more hostile and the possibility of a nuclear war was at its highest point. After the Cuban Missile Crisis both the Soviets and the Americans decided that they needed to begin reducing tensions and so they began to create treaties and agreements.
II. Before Détente:
A. Before Détente there were policies such as Brinkmanship, which was pushing nuclear war to the edge to achieve what you wanted, and leaders were using their bombs as leverage for goals they had.
B. All of which led to tension between the Soviets and the Americans. And also frightened the public.
C. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the revelation that the superpowers had that made them rethink their foreign policies which ultimately led to Détente.
III. Treaties and Agreements:
A. After the Cuban Missile Crisis the superpowers began to develop treaties such as the Partial Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. These treaties served as the basis of Détente and were really more symbolic then anything else.
B. It wasn’t until the early 70’s that anything else was done to reduce the arms race. But in ’72 SALT I was created, which froze the number of strategic ballistic missile launchers. SALT II talks were also started in ’72 and sought to curtail the manufacturing of nuclear weapons.
C. The Biological Weapons Convention, which eliminated the production of biological weapons, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which limited the use of anti-ballistic missiles, were both started in ’72.
IV. Importance of the policy:
A. Before the policy was enforced the superpowers; especially the Soviets and Americans were on the brink of nuclear war. Détente is what reduced tensions and helped end the Cold War.
B. The policies instituted reduced arms and helped the two nations be able to have a way of communication that was not always hostile.
V. Conclusion: Restate Thesis
Nic Ginn
Question 24
Analyze the importance of détente in ending the Cold War.
-In the late 50s and early 60s, European alliances began to weaken somewhat
Western Bloc- France began to examine further relations with Eastern Europe and withdrawing from NATO
Romania was the first to escape Soviet Policy
-U.S involvement in the Vietnam War also led to confrontation with European allies and drew its attention away from the Cold War.
-All of these actions and events resulted in a period of détente.
Causes of Détente
-NATO and the Warsaw Pact both had issues and reasons to ease tensions between feuding nations.
-Soviet Leadership felt the economic burden of the arms race was beginning to be overwhelming.
-American economy was also in trouble financially with the Vietnam War going on at the same time.
-Soviets hoped that with Détente, more trade with Western Europe would be possible.
-Also, the Cuban Missile Crisis showed how dangerous the relations between the USSR and the United States had become and both leaders wanted to reduce the risk of a nuclear war occurring.
-Before détente, the Partial Test Ban treaty had been signed which limited countries to what they could do.
-After détente, the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and Outer Space Treaty were signed which put an end to testing nuclear weapons.
-Also, trade relations between the two blocs increased during détente and tensions between nations seemed to decrease significantly.
Whit Bolado
24. Analyse the importance of detente in ending the cold war
Intro.
thesis; Really, you're can't make too many controversial statements here, because Detente happened, it was a time period, not like a singular incident. So, your thesis has to be more like a general statement over the major points you talk about. Modify it to fit what you include, but it should be something like this; "Detente, which stated in the early sixties and marked the reduction in hostility between US and Russian superpowers, was a process that began with some conflicts in Germany and was pressed further by the korean and vietnam wars, finally bringing a bloodless end to the war with the fall of the communist party in 1989."
There's a lot of things you can talk about here. You could write a really long essay, so I'll write down information in organized sets, like paragraphs, and its up to you to decide what you want to include in the essay.
West/East german conflict
*In an attempt to goad Allied forces into conflict, Russia delivers ultimatum to US, Britian to stop defending west germany, berlin or it would allow east germany to invade. Gives three months to decide
*US, Britain both begin negotiations with East germany and russia, but these negotiations go nowhere.
*East german leaders makes silly mistakes in specific public speeches that cause east german populace to increase thier exodus to West Germany, with somewhere around thirty-thousand estimated to immigrate
*east Germany and russia, both reluctant to bring the situation to physical conflict, agree to build the Berlin Wall, controlling international travel, commerce in east germany
*sets precident for future conflicts; escalate, get scared of actual fighting, come to some unhappy agreement that neither country is truly satisfied with
Sino-Soviet Split
*China initially takes Russian move to communism as blueprint for thier own shift
*However, this fall short of Mao's expectations, and instead he designs The Great Leap Forward
*Russia still looks at Chinese revolution from a position of presumed superiority; Russia thinks they're better communists. They attempt to convience china of this, and to modify their plans.
*When Kruscheve takes power, he denounces Stalin in many different ways, dismantling the well of support that Mao had created for Stalins' leadership as a communist. Also, creates idea of peaceful co-existance between capitalism and communism, which mao does not agree with at all.
*Chinease domestic decisions and Kruschevs' decision to not help China build the bomb, as well as a lack of effort on Kruschevs' part in Cuban Missile crisis infuriates Mao, leads to split
*reduces number of Communist powers that would fight along-side one another, further enforcing a reluctance to bring the cold war to direct conflict
*Also, Russia feared US-China alliance against Russia, and so had motivation to try and improve relations with US
Vietnam and Korean wars
*both take money and weapons away from US, splits focus
*thier lack of sucess in either event blows off sense of security about possibility of winning a larger conflict with Russia
*Also, since vietnam was so publically displayed in the media, US citizens less willing to accept the idea of any conflict based on thier shock
*pushes US populace to a more anti-conflict position
Mutually assured Destruction
*Both countries reaced a point where if war was started, then the number of nuclear weapons both sides had would assure the destruction of both
*neither country wanted this
*Cuban missile crisis was key in making this deathly clear
*resulted in the reduction of russian nuclear arms in cuba, as well as reduction in US nukes in earopean holding sites
*overall reducded likelyhood of either side being willing to push the other to that point of conflict
*partial test ban treaty, as well as nuclear proliferation treaty most obvious manifestations of this fear
Nixon's time in office
*there's the AntiBallistic missile treaty
*the helinski accords
*bad weather led to bad harvests in russia, which in turn led to a key turning point in russian-us economic relations, in which the US sent vast shipments of grain to russia, an event which was repeated many times
Eventually write a conclusion
