Détente and the end of the Cold War

After the terrifying near-miss of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), both superpowers moved — gradually and fitfully — towards managing their rivalry rather than risking nuclear annihilation. This period of reduced tension is called détente (French for "relaxation"). It eventually gave way to a renewed confrontation in the late 1970s before the dramatic collapse of the Soviet system in 1989-91.

Détente in the 1970s

Nixon and Kissinger's realpolitik: US President Richard Nixon and his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger pursued a pragmatic foreign policy that prioritised stability over ideology. Key moves:

• Nixon visited China (February 1972) — dramatic opening of US-China relations, exploiting the Sino-Soviet split to put pressure on the USSR.
• Nixon visited the Soviet Union (May 1972) — met Brezhnev; signed SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty): the first agreement to limit nuclear weapons (1,054 US ICBMs vs 1,618 Soviet ICBMs).

Helsinki Accords (1975): Signed by 35 nations including the USA and USSR. Accepted the post-WWII borders of Europe (a Soviet goal) and also included human rights clauses (a Western goal). The human rights clauses gave Soviet dissidents a legal framework to challenge their government — significant for the long-term erosion of communist legitimacy.

SALT II (1979): A more ambitious arms control agreement. Never ratified by the US Senate after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (December 1979), which ended the détente period.

The Second Cold War 1979-1985

The invasion of Afghanistan (1979) and the Reagan administration's aggressive stance (1981-85) marked a return to tension:

• Reagan called the USSR an "evil empire" and proposed the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI / Star Wars) — a missile defence system that, if it worked, would eliminate the Soviet nuclear deterrent.
• US supported the Afghan Mujahideen against Soviet forces.
• New US Pershing II missiles deployed in Western Europe; Soviet walkout from arms talks.

The USSR was under severe strain: a stagnating economy, the unwinnable Afghan war (the "Soviet Vietnam"), and the costs of matching US military spending.

Gorbachev and reform

Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet General Secretary in March 1985. He recognised that the USSR's systemic problems required radical reform:

• Glasnost (openness): greater freedom of speech and press; exposure of historical crimes; free debate on Soviet failures.
• Perestroika (restructuring): economic reforms to introduce market mechanisms into the Soviet command economy.
• New thinking in foreign policy: Gorbachev signalled willingness to reduce nuclear weapons and end the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe.

Gorbachev and Reagan: The two leaders met at summits in Geneva (1985), Reykjavik (1986 — where they came startlingly close to agreeing to abolish all nuclear weapons), Washington (1987) and Moscow (1988). The INF Treaty (1987) eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons (intermediate-range missiles) for the first time.

The fall of the Berlin Wall (9 November 1989)

By 1989, it was clear Gorbachev would not use Soviet force to prop up Eastern European communist governments (he announced this explicitly — abandoning the Brezhnev Doctrine). This triggered a cascade of revolutions:

• Poland: Solidarity won the first free elections (June 1989).
• Hungary opened its border with Austria (allowing East Germans to flee West).
• Mass demonstrations in East Germany ("We are the people!"); the East German government collapsed.

On 9 November 1989, the East German authorities announced (in confusion) that citizens could cross the Berlin Wall freely. Crowds gathered; guards stood aside; people began physically demolishing the Wall with hammers and picks. The moment was broadcast live worldwide — one of the most euphoric images of the twentieth century.

German reunification and the USSR's collapse

Germany was formally reunified on 3 October 1990 — less than a year after the Wall fell, with remarkable speed. The Soviet Union itself collapsed on 25 December 1991: Gorbachev resigned; the USSR was replaced by fifteen independent states, the largest of which was the Russian Federation.

Who ended the Cold War? A classic CCEA exam debate:

• Reagan's role: military pressure, SDI, "evil empire" rhetoric, and support for Solidarity bankrupted the Soviet system.
• Gorbachev's role: only Gorbachev's willingness to reform, and his refusal to use force to maintain the empire, made the peaceful end possible.
• Structural factors: the Soviet command economy was failing regardless of individual leaders; the information revolution made propaganda harder to sustain; the Afghan war was unwinnable.
• Best answers assess all three and reach a reasoned judgement.