The Cold War - Why did the Cold War end?

By Daisy Willans
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    Brezhnev

  • The Outer Space Treaty

    Stopped the arms race spreading to outer space as it pledged that no nuclear weapons would be placed in space by either superpower.

  • The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

    Neither superpower would supply nuclear weapons to other states or help other states to develop nuclear weapons.
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    President Nixon

  • The Moon landing

  • SALT 1

    The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty imposed limits on nuclear capabilities. It was agreed that there would be no further production of strategic ballistic missiles, submarines carrying nuclear weapons would only be introduced when existing stocks of ICBMs became obsolete and the ABM treaty was agreed. ABMs could shoot down incoming nuclear missiles - each side was limited to two systems each.
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    President Ford

  • The Vladivostok Agreement

    Both sides agreed to reduce their stocks of nuclear warheads to 2250.

  • The Apollo-Soyuz Mission

    A joint space mission where an American Apollo and a Russian Soyuz docked in space.

  • The Helsinki Agreements

    Representatives from 35 nations made agreements on security, co-operation and human rights.
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    President Carter

  • The Kabul Revolution

    A dramatic overthrow of the government in Afghanistan. The new government was determined to 'build socialism in Afghanistan', led by Mohammed Taraki.

  • SALT 2

    Never ratified by US congress.

  • Hafizullah Amin claimed presidency of Afghanistan

    Taraki was assassinated.

  • Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

    Soviet troops killed Amin and Babrak Karmal was declared president.

  • The Carter Doctrine

    The USA would not allow the USSR to gain territory in the oil-rich Middle East.

  • 1980 Moscow Olympic Games

    Boycotted by around 60 countries, the boycott was lead by the USA who organised the Olympic Boycott Games in Philadelphia.
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    President Reagan

  • Reagan's 'Evil Empire' speech

    Reagan argued that the Cold War was a fight between good and evil and America fought with God's blessing.

  • SDI

    The Strategic Defence Initiative or 'Star Wars' was a system proposed by Reagan to act as a nuclear umbrella.

  • 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games

    Boycotted by the USSR and 14 communist countries. The USSR organised the Friendship Games as a communist alternative.
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    Gorbachev

  • The Geneva Summit

    The first meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev. Reagan wanted peace between the superpowers and Gorbachev hoped to persuade Reagan to drop his plans for SDI.

  • The Chernobyl Crisis

    The nuclear reactor in the Chernobyl power plant in the Ukraine went critical and exploded.

  • The Reykjavik Summit

    Reagan proposed the scrapping of all ballistic nuclear missiles. Gorbachev refused to agree unless Reagan dropped SDI.

  • The INF Treaty

    The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty eliminated all nuclear missiles with a range of 500-5500km.

  • The Moscow Summit

    Reagan went to Moscow for the first time. The leaders agreed to work towards disarmament of both nuclear and conventional arms.
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    President Bush

  • Poland - Communist Party defeated in free elections

  • The Berlin Wall falls

  • Czechoslovakia - The Velvet Revolution

  • The Malta Summit

    A meeting between George Bush and President Gorbachev. It laid groundwork for the CFE and START 1 agreements.

  • East Germany - communists defeated in free elections

  • Hungary - communists defeated in free elections

  • The CFE Agreement

    Signed by Bush and Gorbachev, it set limits to the non-nuclear forces that the Warsaw Pact and NATO could have in Europe.

  • The Baltic States declare independence

  • The dissolution of the Warsaw Pact

  • START 1

    The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was signed by Bush and Gorbachev and set limits to the numbers of nuclear weapons. Both sides agreed to reduce their holdings of nuclear warheads by a third by destroying them. It was agreed both sides would continue to reduce. The agreement did not agree on all kinds of nuclear weapons but most.

  • The Gang of Eight Coup

    Senior communist government officials though glasnost and perestroika had gone too far and organised a coup d'etat preventing Gorbachev returning to Moscow.

  • Gorbachev returns to Moscow

  • The dissolution of the Soviet Union

    Gorbachev resigns.