Cold War - D (first half - Brezhnev, Gorbachev, summits)

Question 1

cause of soviet invation of afghanistan 1979

Answer 1

• inteference to prop up a pro soviet regime installed in 1978 -> pro soviet policies led to relgious fundamentalist opposition
• fear that Amin was contacting US intelligence
• fear of spread of fundamentalism into the USSR - Iranian revolution, 16% USSR population were muslim by 1979

Question 2

course of soviet invation of afghanistan

Answer 2

• 100,000 soviet conscpipts sent by 1980
• experienced difficulty fighting gurilla warfare of mujahadeen in mountains

Question 3

internal// domestic consequences of soviet invation of afghanistan

Answer 3

• 2000 USSR troops killed per year + lied to citizens about nature of war = delegimization of regime
• cost 8.2 billion per year to sustain invation - decline in economic growth across the USSR and eastern bloc
• dissolution of population, especially muslim population
• contributed to dissatisfaction and eventual dissent

Question 4

external consequences of invation of afghanistan

Answer 4

• international embargo - US stopped sending technology and grain as per the 1975 helsinki accords - enhanced the economic issues
• end of period of detente
• 65 countries boycotted the 1980 moscow olympics

Question 5

US response to invation of afghanistan

Answer 5

• giving aid to pakistan to boost military resistance against USSR, sent mujahedin ground to air missilses

carter
- suspended arms limitation talks eg 1979 vienna summit
- congress didnt ratify salt 2
- imposition of economic sanctions
- increased defense spending
- carter doctrine = US resistance to USSR expansion over their interests in persian gulf

reagan
- increased arms expenditure - 30% of all gov spending between 81-85
- anti soviet rhetoric

Question 6

features of reagan’s militarised counter revolution

Answer 6

• increased spending on nuclear arms -> deployment of USSR SS20s in eastern europe prompted the development of SDI project in 1983
• undermining of MAD and nuclear parity which detente strived for (outer space treaty violated)
• funding anti communist insurgents in south america/ africa - commutment to militarised counter revolution and renewal of proxy wars

Question 7

evidence of economic division between DDR and FDR 70s + 80s

Answer 7

• by 1979, GDP of FDR was double that of DDR
• DDR produced more basic goods, but lacked access to desireable consumer goods
• FDR - 1 hours wages to buy 1kg coffee, compared to 10 hours in DDR

Question 8

causes of economic division between the east and west

Answer 8

• focus on heavy indsutry in EE over production of consumer goods
• planned economies didnt stimulate innovation, employers were incentivised just to meet quotas rather than improve systems = stagnation
• normalization policies re-instated planned and centeralized economies = not conducive to economic reform and improvement

Question 9

consequences of economic failure of EE

Answer 9

• dissatisfaction with regime = dissent, then more enforced surpression - stasi had files on 5.5 million
• attitude of resignation created a vicious circle
• promted dissent against regimes - emergence of solidarity union who protested against arbitrary economic policies, charter 77 in czecholsovakia called for reform

Question 10

examples of failure to bring about economic reform in EE

Answer 10

• czechoslovakia -> trade deficite with west at 1.4 billion by 1976
• poland -> planned economy = infestment didnt lead to increased production of consumer goods
• romania -> external debt + arbitrary and unpopular reform, distruction of entire villages for agriculture
• yugoslavia -> debt rose by 8 billion in 4 years
• hungary -> bancrupt by 1978

Question 11

features of stagnation under Brezhnev

Answer 11

• gerintocracy
• corruption (stability of cadres = aging leadership)
• less ideoloically motivated leadership and more focus on maintaining stability
• alchoholism - mortality rate rose to 28/100,000 by end of period, from just 9 at the begining

Question 12

significance of abel archer crisis 1983

Answer 12

• apathy and decline in the USSR - failed and arbitrary leadership
• extent of new cold war, Reagans anti communist
• facilitated the development of SDI

Question 13

how gorbachev differed from previous leadership

Answer 13

• understood the frustrations of the people
• desire from reform - movement away from kosygin of brezhnev and stagnation era

Question 14

perestroika aims and stages

Answer 14

economic reform - introduction of free market
- rationalisation 85-86 -> initial stimulation of economic growth
- reform 87-90 -> introduction of market forces
- transformation 90-91 -> abandonment of single party rule

Question 15

perestroika actual impact

Answer 15

• weakened party rather than streanghened it
• rationalisation led to decline in economic growth - lack of impact led to loss of faith in regime
• reform weakened faith in communism as a whole

Question 16

glasnost aims

Answer 16

• gorbachev aimed to gain support from intellectuals otuside of the party - support for his reforms from citizens
• ‘power exercided for the people and by the people’ 1986

Question 17

impacts of glasnost

Answer 17

• liberalised media - intellectuals began critiquing not just stalin, but als communism itself (yakolev)
• permission of foreign newspapers and radio = dissatisfaction with economic reforms slowness
• revelation of stalins terror = destabalisation of communist regimge, rise of nationalism in USSR

Question 18

sinatra doctrine

Answer 18

1989
- encouraged EE to refform economically and politically
- led to revolutions against soviet regimes
- effective end of the brezhnev doctrine - no more limited soverignty

Question 19

geneva convention

achievements and failures

Answer 19

1985
achievements
- planned to meet again
- talks about arms reductions were initiated
- intellectual breakthrough
failures
- reagan refused to stop SDI programme
- failure to reach any solid agreements

Question 20

reykjavik summit

achievements and failures

Answer 20

1986
achievements
- concessions over eliminating all nuclear weapons by 2000 if USA stopped SDI

limitation
- reagan not prepared to concede SDI
- no actual agreement reached about arms

Question 21

washington/ INF treaty

failures and achievements

Answer 21

1987
achievements
- signed intermediate nuclear force agreement -> scrapping all intermediate range bolistic missisles, deadlock broken
- reduction of 1750 soviet and 850 US missisles

limitations
- only a 3% decrease in number of warheads world wide

Question 22

moscow summit

achievements and failures

Answer 22

1988
achievements
- signed complex detail on INF
- led to furtehr meeting later that year between Gorb and Bush

Question 23

malta

failures and achievements

Answer 23

1989
achievements
- declared cold war over

failures
- no new agreements made