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The Rise and Fall of the Second Cold War

The Rise and Fall of the Second Cold War. Ronald Reagan denounced the Soviet Union as an immoral evil empire. Fought the last phase of the Cold War

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The Rise and Fall of the Second Cold War

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  1. The Rise and Fall of the Second Cold War

  2. Ronald Reagan denounced the Soviet Union as an immoral evil empire. • Fought the last phase of the Cold War • R persuaded the US congress to approve the massive spending, effectively ended arms control negotiations with SU and pursued an aggressive policy to roll back communism in the Third World. • Resulted in a mushrooming budget deficit • Anti US peace movement in the Western Europe. • Strains within the NATO • Heightening of the cold war tensions

  3. $2 trillion to build conventional and nuclear forces. • B-1 bomber program and continued development of the B-2 bomber • Accelerated the deployment of the MX ICBM and the trident submarine missile system • Expanded the navy. • Increased the covert action and military assistance to pro-US governments and groups , including anti-communists insurgents in Afghanistan, Angola , Cambodia and Nicaragua

  4. Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in March 1983 • Expensive and ambitious plan --- to develop a nationwide ballistic missile defense system that would deploy weapons in outer space to destroy the enemy missiles in flight. • Star Wars – violated the SU-US agreements • Limited test ban treaty of 1963 • Outer space treaty in 1967 • ABM treaty in 1972 – not to develop, test or deploy ABM systems

  5. Analysts regarded the treaty --- dangerous and destabilizing attack on mutual deterrence • SDI would give the US the confidence to launch a pre-emptive strike. • SDI would accelerate the arms race. • -> wanted to gain the military superiority that they lost during the détente , wanted to place greater strain on the SU economy. • But no evidence of increased military spending on the part of the SU.

  6. US national debt rose to $2.5 trillion in 1988 • Although the increased spending and tax cuts stimulated the economy, increased government borrowing to finance the budget deficits helped keep interest rates high, which attracted foreign capital and drove up the value of the dollar. • This made the US exports more expensive and imports cheaper, and contributed to a skyrocketing trade deficit. • 1986 – US was the world’s largest debtor.

  7. Second cold war • Short-lived • The coming of Mikhail Gorbachev to power in SU in 1985 – led to the improving ties between the superpowers. • Arms control agreements • 1989 – chronic unrest in Eastern Europe and economic decline in SU --- allowed the communists regimes to collapse. • German reunification, SU withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in early 1989 and negotiation of settlements to local and regional conflicts in Southern Africa, Southeast Asia and Central America.

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