Key Lecture Summary on Cold War Treaties and Detente

Time Period

• Focus on events up to 1979.

Important Treaties and Negotiations

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and Agreements

• SALT I:
  • Initiated November 1969, alternated between Vienna and Helsinki.
  • Breakthrough in May 1971: US grants USSR a 3:2 edge in ICBMs.
  • Treaty successful, signed by US Senate.
  • Main components:
    • Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty: Limits on ABM deployments.
    • Interim Agreement: Freeze on ICBMs and SLBMs with specific counts for USA and USSR.
  • Positives: Mutual benefits, stability, non-confrontational relationship based on nuclear parity.
  • Finalized at Moscow summit, May 1972.

Basic Principles Agreement

• Guidelines for USA-USSR relations set in 1972.
• Emphasized peaceful coexistence, restraint, and negotiation.
• Had no legal status but represented aspirations, especially important to USSR.

SALT II

• Vladivostok Summit (1974): Agreement on equal numbers of ICBMs and SLBMs.
• Carter's administration aimed for ambitious reduction, new proposals in 1977.
• Vienna Summit (1979): SALT II treaty recognized but faced criticism in the US.

European Detente and Ostpolitik

Ostpolitik

• Initiated by Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany.
• Abandonment of the Hallstein Doctrine.
• Treaty of Warsaw (1970): Non-aggression pact between West Germany and Soviet Union.
• Basic Treaty (1972): Normalization of relations between West and East Germany.

Helsinki Accords

• European Security Conference: 35 states participated, final act split into baskets.
  • Basket 1: Security in Europe – recognition of borders, interstate relations principles.
  • Basket 2: Economic cooperation.
  • Basket 3: Humanitarian cooperation – human rights, press freedom.
  • Basket 4: Follow-up meetings.

Challenges and Continued Arms Race

• US argued for technical and strategic superiority over USSR.
• Deployment of SS-20 missiles by USSR seen as a threat.
• Increased military expenditure by NATO, deployment of Pershing II and cruise missiles.

Conclusion

• Despite efforts towards detente, issues regarding arms race persisted.
• The combination of treaties and policies shaped the Cold War era dynamics.