How did the arms race affect US-Soviet relations?

Vladivostok Summit Issues

-US Secretary of defence did not support it. -Ford was under re-elections pressure and had to show a strong front. -Soviets were unhappy with the USA moving away from equality. -Europe was worried about the USSR's S-20 medium range missiles.

USA's reaction to USSR invades Afghanistan

-USSR did not withdraw and so USA halted some exports to USSR (grain and high tech) -USA boycotted 1980 Olympic Games -Carter started funding Mujahedeen (resistance fighters)

Consequences for Carter

-criticised within the US as giving too much to the Soviets, especially by Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan.

Impacts of Moscow Test Ban Treaty

-first collectively established nuclear limits. -commitment by UK, US and USSR to ease Cold War tension. -decrease possibly of nuclear war. -trust between the powers. -easier monitoring of nuclear action.

Why did the disarmament pillar of the Non-Proliferation Treaty fail?

-most of the powers were unwilling to commit to it -it was put in mostly for PR -if countries disarm, the value of any remaining weapons is way higher.

Non-Proliferation Treaty: Non-Proliferation

-pledge no to transfer nukes to any non-nuclear state or assist them with building any. -non-nuclear states pledge to accept inspections to verify they are not engaged in offensive nuclear activities. -never use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states.

3 most important principles from Moscow Summit

1. peaceful coexistence in the nuclear age and relations based on mutual advantage, non-interference and equality. 2. avoid military confrontation and nuclear war and use diplomacy. 3. let all countries live with peace and security and without outside interference on internal affairs.

10 ICBMs are deployed successfully by USSR

1959

Polaris SLBMs

1959 Submarine Launch Ballistic Missiles launched by USA with USSR launching their first 40 days later.

First successful ABM test in USSR

1960 V-1000 rocket

R-16 Rocket

1961 even with the improvement from R-7, the R-16 still took 3 hours to prepare and was easily destroyed, which made it ineffective for the USSR; Khrushchev burning through cash.

Treaty of Tlatelolco

1967 an independent treaty that proposed to make Latin American a nuclear free zone and all Latin American countries signed.

Outer Space Treaty

1967 bans nuclear weapons being placed in orbit or on any celestial body.

Non-Proliferation Treaty Pillars

1968 -non-proliferation: limit spread of nuclear weapons to other countries that are not the nuclear states. -disarmament: reduction of missiles. -right to peaceful use of nuclear tech.

Minuteman III

1968 US tests the Minuteman III which delivered 3 warheads and made the USSR ABMs system useless.

Moscow Summit

1972 -agreement on 12 principles to govern US-USSR relations -no legal status, but the USSR believed in them and the US also did to an extent.

Interim Treaty

1972 -fixed numbers of ICBMs, SLBMs, Strategic bombers and warheads -no limits on MIRVs and cruise missiles (meant the USA had many more warheads then the USSR even if the USSR had more ICBMS, but had not developed MIRVS) -due to expire in 1977.

ABM Treaty

1972 treaty between the U.S and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems to two ABM sites; which was updated to one in 1974 because neither side had started plans on their second site.

Nixon's visit to Moscow

1974

USSR MIRVs enter service (R-36)

1975

USSR decrease in test from 50s to 60s

218-157

USSR invades Afghanistan

24th December 1979

USA increase in bomb test from 50s to 60s

268 to 385

Carter asks the Senate to postpone action on SALT II and recalled the US ambassador to Moscow.

2nd January 1980

Sputnik launch

4th October, 1957

ARPA

Advanced Research Projects Agency (1958)

ABMs

Anti-Ballistic Missiles

Yuri Gagarin

April 12th, 1961 -USSR rushed preparation for his Vostok mission to beat the Mercury Program in the States. -most of his peers believed he would die. -when he was successful, the victory parades reached WW2 era size. -even Kennedy announced the USA would need some time to catch up. -became a diplomatic friendly face for the USSR.

USSR tests the R-7 rocket

August 1957, range 60000km

Moscow Test Ban Treaty

August 5th, 1963 -faced some opposition due to worry that both sides will seem liniment .-still allowed underground tests -France and China did not sign it and continued testing until the 90s. -hosted in Moscow by Khrushchev to show USSR in a position of strength.

Why did the USSR seem so successful at the Space Race?

Because they were only releasing information about their successful missions, while NASA was a public institution and had to release information about all of its failed and successful missions.

Agreement on number of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles is reached.

February 1975

ICBMs

Inter Continental Ballistic Missile. They have the power to shoot a missile from one country to another. This makes it easier to attack a country without getting to close to them.

Apollo 11 (The Moon Landing)

July 21st, 1969 U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins make it to the moon.

USSR launchpad is destroyed by the N-1 rocket's malfunction.

July 3rd, 1969

SALT II

June 18th 1977 -A second treaty was signed on to cut back the weaponry of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. because it was getting too competitive. -2400 strategic nuclear delivery vehicles -1320 MIRVS -no new ICBM launchers. -limits on cruise missiles -valid until 1985

Vienna Summit

June 1979 -SALT II was basically the Vladivostok Agreement -no restrictions made on medium range ICBMs, so USSR kept S-20 missiles (Europe :( ) -US kept cruise missiles.

The ''Zeus'' ABMs Program

Kennedy cancelled it in 1963 due to its major issues in favour of the theoretical, but promising ''Nike-X'' ABMs program.

Castle Bravo Test

March 1, 1954, 750 times as strong as the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Purpose of The Space Race

Mostly public proxy to the arms race for the US and the USSR public.

MIRVs

Multiple Independently Targeted Reentry Vehicles

NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1958)

The Gaither Report

November 1957 reported that the US was far behind on ICBMs (bot true) which caused a massive raise in military spending to close the 'missile gap' and build bomb shelters.

US tests the first Atlas missile

November 1958, range 14 500km

Vladivostok Summit

November 1974 Kissinger and Brezhnev meet to discuss long term arm restrictions including MIRVS and cruise missiles.

Laika

November 3, 1957 A dog launched into space by the USSR; she only survived 4 hours in orbit due to the cold, but they published that she survived all 6 days of her orbit.

USSR tests its first ICBM that can reach the USSA

November, 1961

Soviets test the ''Tsar Bomb'' the biggest nuclear bomb ever detonated.

October 30th, 1961

Hydrogen Bomb

One thousand more times more powerful than the fission bomb; uses fusion of hydrogen atoms.

China's 1st nuclear bomb

Test 596 in 1964

5 Nuclear States

US, UK, FRANCE, USSR, China

Nixon's Detente with China

USA worked closely with China, which made the USSR try to shut them out to remain the leading Soviet state.

Henry Kissinger

United States diplomat and National Security Adviser under President Nixon and President Ford (born in 1923)

Fission Bombs

a thermo-nuclear weapon that involves the energy dense splitting of atoms along with fusion

US Vanguard Rocket

crashed on December 1957.

'Titan' ICBM missiles

deployed in the UK after the Bermuda Conference

SALT

negotiations between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics opened in 1969 in Helsinki designed to limit both countries' stock of nuclear weapons; the final agreements were signed in 1972; their aim was partiality between the US and USSR.

weapons sharing

placing nuclear weapons in non-nuclear states and giving them access to them in the case of general war, but only operated by citizens of nuclear states.

Nixon's comments on Moscow Summit in 1972

suggested it was a peace offering from the USA and a start to peaceful coexistence.

How did the USA manage to catch up to the USSR in the Space Race?

the N-1 program sucked in all priority and no new launches happened for 2 years, which gave the USA time to catch up and overpass the Soviets.

Minuteman ICBM Project

took priority over Atlas when Kennedy took office in 1961 due to its low cost and low preparation time.

Nixon's linkage strategy

use detente to gain good outcomes with the USSR in Berlin, Vietnam(''peace with honour'') and the Middle East; failed because Brezhnev was not interested in arm restraints.

Brezhnev's motivations

use nuclear detente to make the USA let them do as they wish in Soviet bloc states.

Was the Non-Proliferation Treaty successful?

🙂only 4 states have acquired nuclear weapons since:Israel, Pakistan, India and North Korea. 🙁Disarmament was a total failure. 🙂almost all nations signed. 🙁NATO gutted it by allowing for ''weapons sharing"