The Arms Race

1
The Arms Race

• Weapons, the Thaw, Détente, Ostpolitik, Linkage,
  The New Cold War

2
Nuclear Weapons

• The biggest threat
• Only two bombs ever fired in combat
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Explosion caused by the bringing together of
  atoms of Hydrogen (H. Bomb) and Uranium or
  Plutonium (A Bomb)
• Can either be fitted as warheads to missiles or
  carried by aeroplanes in form of bombs

3
Strategic Bombers

• Long range heavy bombers most famous of which
  is the B52

4
Medium Range bombers

• Small and fast but still able to carry nuclear
  weapons most famous is the Russian Backfire

5
Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

• ICBMS. Long range rockets
• Housed in heavily protected underground chambers
  known as Silos

This is the American Minuteman
6
Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles

• Launched from submarines, therefore can be
  launched from anywhere in the world

7
Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicles

• M.I.R.Vs
• Each missile carries several warheads and can
  release them on to different targets

8
Military experts divide nuclear weapons into
strategic and tactical
Strategic these are for long distance strike at
the enemy heartland
Tactical weapons are for use on the battlefield
Air launched cruise missiles can be used either
way
9
changing balance in strategic weapons 1971 -1983
10
Who Got What When
11
Dates of Test Explosions
Atomic Hydrogen
USA 1945 1952 USSR
1949 1957 UK 1952 1957 France 1960
1968 China 1964 1968
12
Huge sums of money have been spent on nuclear
weapons.
By 1980, the world was spending 450,000,000,000
per year on armed forces and Nuclear Weapons.
13
The Thaw in the Cold War

• The death and destruction after Hiroshima was
  terrible, but as the years went on, the weapons
  became even more powerful
• People were worried about the prospect of Nuclear
  war and protested against it. After Cuba the
  threat was very real.
• Governments pulled back from using their powers
  in the 1960s this is known as

14
DETENTE

• A word coined in the 1970s.
• It means a relaxation of tension

Some people say the fear of Nuclear war has led
to Détente. Others say that having Nuclear
Weapons is a Deterrent
I.e. the fact we have Nuclear Weapons has made
people hesitate to use them
15
Ostpolitik
W. German Chancellor Brandt wanted to establish
better relations with his eastern neighbours
This was welcomed by Brezhnev as a way of
reducing international tension over Berlin and to
persuade the western powers to recognise E Germany
16
Arms Control
Several important agreements were reached to
control the spread of Nuclear weapons and reduce
the likelihood of war

• Hotline 1963 direct telephone line between USA
  and USSR
• Partial test ban treaty - 1963 only tests
  underground were allowed. 100 countries signed
  this
• Strategic Arms Limitations Treaties SALT1 1972,
  SALT 2 in 1979

17
Détente Breaks Down
At the Belgrade conference I took the Russians to
task for their failure to respect Human Rights
and Civil Liberties
Jimmy Carter
18
I cannot understand the insistence on linkage and
I do not like the fact the USA and China are
getting on so well
19
Why were things so bad?
The Iranian and Nicaraguan Revolutions
The Cuban Combat Brigade Crisis
Prominent terrorist brigades responsible for
guerrilla warfare in Cuba
The continuing build up of Warsaw Pact
conventional forces in Europe
Soviet deployment of Mobile SS20 missiles
20
NATO Retaliated by announcing its intention of
deploying Cruise missiles in Europe
Then Russia invaded Afghanistan in Christmas 1979
I placed a temporary ban on grain exports to the
USSR and organised a boycott of the Moscow
Olympics
21
SALT 2

• Not confirmed by the American Senate
• Any chance of confirming was halted by the USSRs
  invasion of Afghanistan in Christmas 1979

Relations between the USA and USSR had
deteriorated significantly by the time this
agreement was signed in June 1979
22
The New Cold War

• Ronald Reagan

23
I was prepared to negotiate a limitation of
nuclear weapons, but I knew this had to be done
from a position of strength
Détente had not curbed the USSRs expansionist
ambitions
24
US Soviet talks on the Limitation of
Intermediate Nuclear Forces began in Geneva in
November 1981
Strategic Arms Reduction Talks STARTed in June
1982
25
The Zero Option
Reagan suggested that the USSR should dismantle
her SS20 missiles
NATO would cancel deployment of Cruise and
Pershing II missiles
The USSR rejected the Zero Option
26
In December 1981, Reagan reacted to the
imposition of Martial Law in Poland by banning
high technology exports to the USSR
We were puzzled by this as we had not used force
in Poland. Was the USA over reacting?
I regret the breakdown in Détente, this was a
policy I had really worked hard on
27
It seemed that the USA was prepared to fight a
limited nuclear war in Europe. The arrival of
Cruise Missiles in GB added to this feeling
28
The Peace Movement in Europe found popularity
Protesters set up camp at Greenham Common,
Berkshire
This became the focus of the peace movement in
the 1980s and didnt end until 2000
29
The death of Brezhnev and the succession of
Andropov in 1982 added further uncertainty to the
situation
Tension increased with the shooting down of a
Korean jet liner in soviet air space
Further tension came with the USAs intervention
in Grenada in Autumn 1983
30
MBFR, INF and START talks were deadlocked by the
end of 1983
There were fears of a new arms race. Neither side
could afford this
31
START 1

• Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty 1

32
Signed after ten years of negotiations on the
31st July 1991
5 months later soviet union dismantled START
continued
4 countries had ICBMs on their territory
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine
23rd May 1992, these four countries signed up to
START1
Russian Federation reduced weapons to 6000, the
other three have either completely eliminated or
removed them from their territory
33
START II

• Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II

34
Signed George Bush and Boris Yeltsin January 1993
Eliminated Heavy Inter continental Ballistic
Missiles and all other multi warhead missiles
Reduced strategic nuclear weapons by 2/3rds below
pre start levels i.e. 3800 4250 each
All reduction to be completed by 2007
35
Read this extract from a speech by Brezhnev in
1976
The struggle to consolidate the principles of
peaceful co-existence, to assure lasting peace,
and to reduce and in the long term to eliminate
the danger of world war has been and remains the
main element of our policy toward the capitalist
states. Considerable progress has been achieved
in the past five years. The passage from the Cold
war, from the explosive confrontations of two
worlds to Détente was primarily connected with
the changes in the correlation of world force.
But much effort was required for people
especially those responsible for state policies
to become accustomed to the thought that the
natural state of things is not brinkmanship but
negotiation, not confrontation but peaceful
cooperation though world peace is by no means
guaranteed yet, we have every reason to declare
that the improvement of the international climate
is convincing evidence that lasting peace is not
merely a good intention but an entirely realistic
objective. And we can and must continue to work
tirelessly to achieve it.
Ok go to the next slide to break down whats
being said
36
It breaks down into three sections
Posh name for the policy
Section 1
The struggle to consolidate the principles of
peaceful co-existence, to assure lasting peace,
and to reduce and in the long term to eliminate
the danger of world war has been and remains the
main element of our policy toward the capitalist
states.
Non communist states
Translation
The USSR has worked hard to keep the peace and
stop war
37
Considerable progress has been achieved in the
past five years. The passage from the Cold war,
from the explosive confrontations of two worlds
to Détente was primarily connected with the
changes in the correlation of world force. But
much effort was required for people especially
those responsible for state policies to become
accustomed to the thought that the natural state
of things is not brinkmanship but negotiation,
not confrontation but peaceful cooperation
Cuban missile crisis
Threaten war and dont back down until after the
last possible minute
translation
A lot has been done in the last 5 years. Much of
it has to do with changes in world forces.
Politicians have had to get used to the idea that
we work best when we work together not threaten
war
38
though world peace is by no means guaranteed yet,
we have every reason to declare that the
improvement of the international climate is
convincing evidence that lasting peace is not
merely a good intention but an entirely realistic
objective. And we can and must continue to work
tirelessly to achieve it.
translation
We cant guarantee world peace, but things are
improving and lasting peace can and will be
achieved
39
Answer the following questions
What developments was Brezhnev referring to when
he said considerable progress has been achieved
in the last five years?
Give two examples of explosive confrontations
which characterised the cold war of the 1960s
What were the changes in the correlation of
world forces that helped bring about détente?
40
Read Reagan's speech made in 1981
So far détente's been a one way street which the
Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims. I
know of no leader of the Soviet Union since the
revolution and including the present leadership,
that has not more than once repeated in the
various Communist congresses that they hold,
their determination that their goal must be the
promotion of world revolution and a one world
socialist or communist state Now as long as they
do that and as long as they, at the same time,
have openly and publicly declared that the only
morality they recognize is what will further
their cause, meaning they reserve the right to
commit any crime, to lie, to cheat in order to
obtain it, it think that when you do business
with them even in détente you keep that in
mind.
Go to the next slides for the translation
41
Again it splits
So far détente's been a one way street which the
Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims.
The Russians have done exactly as they want
42
I know of no leader of the Soviet Union since the
revolution and including the present leadership,
that has not more than once repeated in the
various Communist congresses that they hold,
their determination that their goal must be the
promotion of world revolution and a one world
socialist or communist state
translation
They want to make the world communist
43
Now as long as they do that and as long as they,
at the same time, have openly and publicly
declared that the only morality they recognize is
what will further their cause, meaning they
reserve the right to commit any crime, to lie, to
cheat in order to obtain it, it think that when
you do business with them even in détente you
keep that in mind.
translation
They do exactly what they want and will lie,
cheat and commit any crime to get what they want.
Keep that in mind when you deal with them
44
Answer the following questions
Who was the present leadership?
What is meant by one world Socialist or
communist state?
What Soviet actions in the period 1976 1981
made Ronald Reagan think that Détente had been a
one way street in which the Russians refused to
abandon their plans for world revolution?