Détente and the Turning Point in the Arms Race

During the period of détente, the superpowers had evenly matched nuclear capabilities and worked together to limit the growth of nuclear stockpiles. This era of relative cooperation was a crucial phase in Superpower relations and the Cold War.

However, the arms race took a significant turn with Ronald Reagan's presidency. In his famous "Evil Empire" speech on March 23, 1983, Reagan addressed the nation, referring to the Soviet Union as an evil empire.

Quote: Reagan's speech marked a shift in rhetoric, calling the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire" and signaling a more confrontational approach.

Reagan also introduced the Strategic Defensive Initiative (SDI), commonly known as "Star Wars." This program aimed to create a space-based defense system against nuclear missiles, representing a massive turning point in the arms race.

The timeline of key events in the early Cold War includes:

1. 1944: D-Day
2. 1945: Yalta Conference (February), VE Day (May 8), Potsdam Conference (July), Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings (August)
3. 1946: George Kennan's Long Telegram (February 22), Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech

Highlight: George Kennan's Long Telegram, sent on February 22, 1946, was a pivotal document that shaped US Cold War policy.

Kennan reported that Stalin wanted to see the destruction of capitalism and felt the world outside the Soviet Union was hostile and looking to destroy communism. This analysis led to the policy of "containment" to stop the spread of communism.

These events set the stage for the decades-long Cold War between the capitalist West and the communist East.

The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the End of the Cold War

The fall of the Soviet Union in December 1991 marked the definitive end of the rivalry between communism in the East and capitalism in the West, concluding the Cold War GCSE Edexcel era. This momentous event left the United States as the world's sole superpower.

Highlight: In 1989, US President Bush declared at Malta that the Cold War was over, signaling a new era in international relations.

However, the path to this conclusion was complex:

1. Gorbachev's reforms: Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader in 1985, introducing policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring).

2. The August 1991 coup: An armed rebellion attempted to overthrow Gorbachev but was defeated by Boris Yeltsin, then president of the Russian Socialist Republic.

3. Collapse of Soviet control in Eastern Europe: Starting with Poland, then Hungary, and East Germany, countries rejected communism, making the Warsaw Pact obsolete.

Example: The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, symbolized the end of Soviet control in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

4. Independence movements: The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania declared independence in 1990, accepted by Moscow in 1991.

5. Gorbachev's resignation: In December 1991, Gorbachev resigned, and the Soviet Union split into several independent states.

These events collectively led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, ending the bipolar world order that had defined the Cold War era. The dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in July 1991 formally ended military cooperation among former Soviet bloc countries, further solidifying the end of the Cold War.