The period of detente in international relations: political background, chronology of events and consequences

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

The 1970s were a time of great hopes and no less serious disappointments in international politics. After the real threat of a global nuclear conflict in 1962, the world community gradually came to a period of detente in the Cold War between the USSR and the USA. Both sides clearly realized that serious changes had taken place in international relations. The search for ways to security through cooperation was outlined, international consultations began, the USSR and the USA signed a number of important agreements on limiting the defense potential.

The term "detente" in the USSR

The term "detente of international relations" in the USSR was first announced in the second half of the fifties by Georgy Malenkov, a high-ranking party leader, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, who oversaw a number of strategic areas of the defense industry, including the creation of the first nuclear power plant in the world and hydrogen bomb. Subsequently, the term was used by Leonid Brezhnev andNikita Khrushchev - the first secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Foreign policy of the USSR

The foreign policy of the USSR during the Cold War was not consistent. In the 1950s and 1980s, the Soviet leadership resorted to the rhetoric of detente several times in politics, but then again switched to open confrontation. The first step towards easing international tension between the two superpowers was the official visit to the United States by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1959.

In the second half of the sixties, a relatively stable bipolar system of political structure emerged. Before the beginning of the period of detente of international tension, the Soviet Union caught up with the United States in terms of the power of its nuclear potential, that is, the countries reached a strategic balance, which was based on mutual assured destruction. Mutual destruction is a doctrine according to which the use of weapons of mass destruction by one of the parties is guaranteed to lead to the complete destruction of both. This rendered useless any attempt to inflict a sudden massive strike on the enemy.

Arms limitation

The sides achieved equality in nuclear forces, after which they proceeded to detente. Cooperation began within the framework of the Soviet-American Soyuz-Apollo program, the Soviet Union and the United States signed an arms limitation treaty. SALT saved the economy of the USSR and the USA, since the build-up of nuclear potential required huge material costs. The final agreement was reached in Vienna in 1979. The treaty was signed by Leonid Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter. The agreement was not ratified by the US Senate, but the provisions were respected by the parties.

Human rights in the USSR

During the period of détente, the Helsinki Accords (1975) were signed, an important part of which was the block on human rights. This part of the document was not widely publicized in the USSR, and the relevant information was broadcast on Western radio. Since that time, dissidence in the USSR has intensified, becoming more of a mass movement.

Another event of the period of détente was an attempt to use the interest of the US supreme authorities in reducing tensions by activists of the Jewish Defense League in 1969. It was planned to achieve the lifting of restrictions by the Soviet authorities on the migration of Jews. Activists drew attention to the position of Jews in the Union through mass demonstrations and protests, including violent ones against Soviet facilities. It did not bring any real results.

The period of detente of international tension ended in 1979, when, after the signing of an arms limitation treaty, the Soviet Union sent troops into Afghanistan, violating its obligations of non-interference in the affairs of other states. This event marks the end of the discharge period.

Detente in European countries

The concentration of control of the West's nuclear potential in the hands of the United States and a number of incidents with nuclear weapons carriers have provoked criticism of US policy on nuclear weapons in Europe. Contradictions in commandNATO during the period of detente (in the years 60-70s) led to the withdrawal of France from participation in the organization in 1966.

In the same year, one of the largest dangerous incidents involving nuclear weapons occurred. An American nuclear bomber caught fire in the air and dropped four bombs over the village of Palomares in Spain due to an accident. In this regard, Spain refused to condemn the withdrawal of France from NATO and suspended the Spanish-American agreement on military cooperation.

In Germany, the Social Democrats led by Willy Brandt came to power. This period was marked by the "Eastern policy", as a result of which an agreement was signed between the FRG and the USSR in 1970. This document officially recorded the stability of state borders and the renunciation of claims to East Prussia. The possibility of German unification in the future was also declared.

Prerequisites for detente in the US

The escalation of the Vietnam War led not only to serious economic, but also to political consequences: the financial costs of combat operations called into question Lyndon Johnson's "welfare state" plan and the implementation of John F. Kennedy's "new frontier" program. Domestic opposition and an active anti-war movement in the United States have grown, leading to calls for an end to hard-line confrontation in the Cold War.

In the US, the Cuban Missile Crisis began the period of détente in the Cold War. John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev realized that it was necessary to make decisions that would not lead to a repetitionsimilar situation in the future. But then there was a pause. Nixon's course did nothing to improve the situation. Mass demonstrations, for example, were provoked by the abolition of the deferment from the draft of students. The most famous incident was the shooting of a demonstration at the University of Kent in 1970.

Chronology of the period of detente

In 1967, after the start of the joint space project "Soyuz - Apollo", there was a meeting between US President Lyndon Johnson and Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Alexei Kosygin in Glasboro. In 1969, negotiations began on limiting offensive weapons. In 1971, an agreement was signed in Washington to improve direct communications between states, as well as on measures to reduce the danger of nuclear war.

During the period of detente in the USSR in 1972, the US Consulate was opened. In the same year, another agreement on cooperation in cultural, scientific, technical, educational and other fields was signed. The result of an extremely important event - the first official visit of the current US President (Nixon) to Moscow in the entire chronology - was the signing of an agreement on the limitation of missile defense, the temporary limitation of offensive weapons, cooperation in the environmental field, in the field of medicine, science and technology, and the exploration of space for peaceful purposes., the Relationship Basics document, and so on.

In 1974 Leonid Brezhnev and J. Ford met in Vladivostok. Political figures sign agreement to limit nuclear weapons carriers to a maximum of 2,400 unitslaunchers, including no more than 1,320 multiple launchers.

Cultural cooperation between the USSR and the USA

As part of cultural cooperation during the period of détente, the countries jointly filmed the film "The Blue Bird" in 1976. Cast: Georgy Vitsin, Elizabeth Taylor, Margarita Terekhova, Jane Fonda. At the same time, VIA Pesnyary went on tour in the United States and jointly recorded an album with an American folk group.

Economic cooperation

During the period of detente in international relations, the development of space docking modules was carried out, the system for rescuing people in distress (Cospas-Sarsat) was jointly deployed. In the field of the chemical industry, the policy of L. Kostandov, the Minister of the Chemical Industry of the USSR, was promoted. Cooperation was carried out according to the principle: factories in exchange for products.

In the early 1970s, the Soviet Union bought American dump trucks and concrete mixers to build canals in Asia. In 1972, a livestock breeding complex was created in the Kuban, equipment and production equipment for which the United States supplied. In the same years, the possibility of purchasing Boeing-747s for the Soviet airline Aeroflot was considered in order to operate them on intercontinental flights linking the Soviet Union and the States, but these ideas were never implemented.

PepsiCo in the Soviet Union

In 1971, PepsiCo President Donald Kendall met withAlexey Kosygin. During the negotiations, possible cooperation was discussed. The following agreements were reached: Pepsi-Cola began to be sold in the Soviet Union (the first batch was released in April 1973), the construction of a drink production plant in the USSR began (the first was launched in 1974 in Novorossiysk). As part of the deal, PepsiCo began importing Stolichnaya vodka into the United States. This scheme was used because the leadership of the Soviet Union refused to make payments in foreign currency.

The end of the discharge of relations

The period of détente ended with the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. On December 24-25, 1979, the palace of Hafizullah Amin, an Afghan politician and head of state, was stormed and he himself was killed. After the introduction of troops, the President of the United States, J. Carter, ordered the Senate:

• postpone the ratification of the arms reduction treaty;
• limit or stop the export of certain goods to the USSR (primarily the embargo concerned high-tech and agricultural products);
• suspend exchanges between the USSR and the USA in the field of science, culture, education, medicine, science and technology;
• delay the opening of consulates.

Soon the US decided not to send the national team to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. More than 60 countries joined the boycott of the Olympic Games. True, a certain part of the states did this for economic reasons, while Mozambique, Qatar and Iran were not invited by the international committee at all. Ideaboycott arose at the NATO meeting. The head of the headquarters of the US-led Olympic boycott group noted that the main initiators were the United States, Great Britain and Canada, but in the end the latter two countries did not take part in the political action. By the way, Philadelphia hosted the Liberty Bell Games, which went down in history as the Olympic Boycott Games.

In 1981, the US imposed sanctions against the USSR in connection with the events in Poland. It was decided to suspend Aeroflot flights and postpone negotiations, refuse to automatically renew contracts that ended in 1981, and also review the procedure for obtaining permits for the supply of certain types of equipment to the USSR. So, after detente, international relations again turned to confrontation.