Consequences of the detente

Question 1

1st consequence

Answer 1

The first effect of detente was that both the USA and Soviet Union could spend less money on defense and building nuclear weapons and start focusing on other issues like social and economic, improving relations as arms race tensions decreased

• the USA had spent $170 billion on the Vietnam War meaning there was a shortage of money spent on social problems, such as racial inequality
• the Soviet Union had spent 30% of the GDP on defense which was significantly higher compared to the 13% spent by the USA.
• This meant that the country’s standard of living was low and they were falling behind on modern technology like computers and microchips.
• This led to improved relations