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Further reading:
 Kitson, pp. 285-291
 Horizonte, pp. 411-420
 Sources of Modern History, pp. 110-114, M1-M3
How did the German question affect the creation of détente between East and West after 1962?
During the remainder of the 1960s, the main areas of confrontation in the Cold War were outside
Europe. The most serious crisis occurred in October 1962 over Cuba. Later in the decade, conflict
was centred on Vietnam. By the early 1970s a new era of the Cold War began: détente, a relaxation
of tension between the superpowers. This was highlighted in May 1972 when President Richard
Nixon of the USA and Leonid Brezhnev of the USSR signed the SALT I treaty. This was the first
major international treaty that attempted to limit the increase in strategic (nuclear) weapons.
During this period, West German leaders embarked on a new foreign policy which aimed to relax
tensions between the two German states: Ostpolitik. This led, eventually, to the Basic Treaty
(Grundlagenvertrag, December 1972). The main force behind Ostpolitik was West German Social
Democrat Willi Brandt.
Brandt’s decision to increase links between the two Germanies was developed separately from the
US desire to improve relations with the USSR. […] However, at no time did Brandt wish to cause a
rift between West Germany and NATO. Nevertheless, Brandt wanted to ease East-West tensions in
central Europe, mainly because Germany would be the main battlefield in any conflict. By the mid1960s the two Germanies were host to large forces of both NATO and the Warsaw Pact. By
improving relations with the East, Brandt hoped to create a Mitteleuropa area.
The Basic Treaty with East Germany was preceded by treaties, in 1970, with the USSR and Poland. In
the Moscow Treaty with the USSR, West Germany promised to sign a nuclear non-proliferation
treaty and would support the idea of a European security conference. In the Warsaw Treaty with
Poland, Brandt accepted the Oder-Neisse Line as the permanent frontier between Poland and East
Germany. This confirmed the acquisition by Poland of a large area of the former German state in
1945.
The 1972 Basic Treaty accepted the division of Germany into two states. However, it did not rule out
the possibility of future unification. The treaty also allowed for closer economic links. The USSR
supported the treaty because it gave international recognition to East Germany. It eventually led to
both East and West Germany joining the United Nations (September 1973).
Brandt’s Ostpolitik may have had different origins to détente, but it helped to relax international
tension in central Europe. Both policies led to the Helsinki Accords [KSZE – Konferenz für Sicherheit
und Zusammenarbeit in Europa] of August 1975. This was the high-water mark of détente in Europe.
35 countries, including the two Germanies, signed these accords. The agreements included
acceptance that all European borders were inviolable (permanent). They also suggested greater
economic co-operation between East and West. Finally, the Accords required the signatories to
respect human rights across Europe. This proved to be the most controversial aspect of the Accords
and one which the Eastern bloc countries were criticised by the West for not implementing.
Why did Germany become the centre of a new crisis between East and West between 1979 and
1985?
The end of the 1970s saw a major deterioration in relations between East and West. In December
1979 the USSR invaded Afghanistan. In retaliation, the US Senate refused to ratify the SALT II treaty
that had been negotiated by President Jimmy Carter. Carter then refused to allow US athletes to
compete in the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. In Eastern Europe martial law was declared in Poland
(1981), as part of a campaign to suppress the independent trade union movement, Solidarity.
Germany and Europe, in general, became a centre for this increased conflict over the issue of
nuclear weapons. By the late 1970s the main issue in the nuclear conflict between East and West
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were INF (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces).1 The deployment of these nuclear weapons by the
USA caused considerable protests in western Europe. […]
These developments increased tension with the USSR. This occurred for several reasons. Between
1979 and 1985 the USSR faced a major leadership crisis. Leonid Brezhnev was an ageing and ill
leader by 1980. After his death, in 1982, he was followed, in succession, by Yuri Andropov and
Konstantin Chernenko, both elderly and ill. Not until 1985 was the USSR led by a relatively young,
dynamic leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.2
Secondly, from 1981, the USA was led by Ronald Reagan. During his presidency he greatly increased
military spending. In particular, he launched his ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Strategic Defence Initiative’ (SDI)3 in
March 1983. This initiative, if successfully introduced, would have made Soviet nuclear missiles
ineffective.
The combination of these factors meant that Germany again became the centre of renewed military
conflict between the USA and the USSR. Fortunately, the SDI proposal was never implemented and
both Gorbachev and Reagan began, in 1985, to negotiate seriously about the reduction of nuclear
weapons – and with them, international tension.
 Throughout most of the Cold War in Europe, Germany was a major issue. This was due to both
the legacy of WWII and to Germany’s geographical location in the centre. The division of
Germany into two states was a major symbol of the division of the world between East and
West. When the Berlin Wall was finally torn down, it was seen as the beginning of the end of
the Cold War in Europe.
What problems did the USSR face in trying to maintain control over eastern Europe?
Nationalism
One major problem faced by the USSR throughout this period was the issue of nationalism. In interwar Europe (1919-39) Communism had never achieved majority support in any country outside the
USSR. Even before 1948 the issue of nationalism and national independence had affected Soviet
control. In mid-1948, Communist Yugoslavia was expelled from Cominform. From 1948 to the
1990s, Yugoslavia remained a communist state independent of the USSR. Under Tito, the Yugoslavs
adopted a neutral position in the Cold War. Only after Tito’s death (1980) did national tensions
within Yugoslavia become a destabilising influence. These led eventually to the disintegration of
Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Nationalism also affected Soviet control in other countries. In Poland resentment against Soviet
control centred on two episodes in the Second World War.
 In 1943, the bodies of thousands of Polish army officers were uncovered by the Germans at
Katyn in the USSR. The USSR was accused of the episodes.
 In 1944, the Soviet army failed to aid the Polish Home Army in the Warsaw Uprising.
In Czechoslovakia resentment centred on the communist-led take-over of February 1948 which saw
the murder or suicide of the Czech Foreign Minister, Jan Masaryk. In Hungary, which had fought as
Hitler’s ally on the Eastern front (1941-44), the desire to re-assert national independence was also an
issue.
1
Nuclear weapons based in and aimed at other parts of Europe. In the USSR these took the form of the mobile
SS20 missile. The USA countered by basing Pershing I and II and Lance missiles in Germany and Cruise
missiles in Berlin.
2
Soviet President (1985-91); was a member of the Politbüro from 1980; as general secretary of the Communist
Party (CPSU) 1985-1991 and president of the Supreme Soviet 1988-91, he introduced liberal reforms at home
(perestroika & glasnost); proposed the introduction of multi-party democracy and attempted to halt the arms
race; Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1990.
3
SDI = the US plan to develop satellite-based laser weapons which could destroy Soviet ICBMs
(intercontinental ballistic missiles) in the outer atmosphere.
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Even within the Soviet Union national feeling had the potential to disrupt the state. By 1945 the
USSR had absorbed formerly independent states such as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Nationalist
groups also existed in Georgia and the Ukraine.
Economic hardship
Unlike the rest of Europe, the Eastern bloc did not benefit from the billions of dollars in American aid
under the European Recovery or Marshall Plan. The area had also suffered considerable economic
damage as a result of the Second World War. The USSR had lost 27 million dead and Poland 25% of
its population (6m). In addition, large parts of eastern Europe had always been based on agriculture,
with limited industry.
The introduction of Soviet-style central economic planning and collectivised agriculture meant that
eastern Europe followed a completely different economic course to the western world. Shortages of
food and raw material, and the lack of economic freedom were important causes of resentment. The
contrast between East and West was most apparent in Berlin. Before 1961, East Berliners could
travel freely to West Berlin. The attraction of greater wealth and political freedom resulted in 2.7
million East Germans fleeing to West Berlin by the time the Berlin Wall was erected.
Lack of political and religious freedom
Like the USSR under Stalin, a Stalinist political system was established in all Eastern bloc states by
1949. Except for Czechoslovakia, eastern Europe did not have a strong tradition of democracy. A
desire for a relaxation in the rigid control of the Communist Party was always apparent in almost
every Eastern bloc state. This was most noticeable in the relations between communist
governments and the Roman Catholic Church. Communist control over education and its support for
atheism meant that conflict was inevitable. […] In 1978 the Catholic Church in the Eastern bloc
received a considerable boost with the election of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland as Pope John
Paul II. This led to a resurgence of Polish Catholicism which helped undermine communist rule.
Crises faced by the USSR in eastern Europe after 1949:
 Hungary and Poland, 1956
 Czechoslovakia, 1968 (‘Prague Spring’)
 Poland, 1980-81 (Solidarity)
 Soviet invasion (e.g. Czechoslovakia) = examples of the Brezhnev Doctrine4
The collapse of Soviet influence in eastern Europe, 1989
The fall of all the communist regimes of eastern Europe within the space of a year and with little
bloodshed was one of the more remarkable events of 20th-century Europe. […]
Like the unrest that affected Poland and Hungary in 1956, the revolutions of 1989 had their origins in
the USSR. The appointment of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet leader in 1985 began a process that was
to lead directly to the events of 1989. His attempts to modernise the USSR led to the call for
glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring).
Gorbachev’s new programme was the result of poor economic growth in the USSR and with it Soviet
difficulties in keeping up with the USA in the arms race. However, the lessening of central political
and economic control undermined the authority of the Communist Party in the USSR and in the
Eastern bloc. Economic problems were not limited to the USSR. By 1989 Poland still had a foreign
debt of $40 billion. Other Eastern bloc countries faced similar problems.
Within the space of a few short months in 1989, Jaruzelski in Poland began talks with Solidarity.
Hungary opened its borders with the West and finally the Berlin Wall was opened.
The main reason why the revolutions of 1989 succeeded was the unwillingness of the Soviet Union
to implement the Brezhnev Doctrine. By 1989 the USSR was no longer in a position to put down
widespread unrest in eastern Europe. The Soviet involvement in Afghanistan (1979-1989) had a
4
Western name given to the policy put forward by the Soviet leader in 1968, Leonid Brezhnev, claiming that
the USSR had the right to intervene in any communist state (i.e. in any country in the Eastern bloc where
socialism was under threat); this policy was abandoned by Gorbachev when he withdrew from Afghanistan.
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similar impact on the USSR as the Vietnam War had on the USA. The political and economic crisis
within the Soviet Union forced it to relinquish control over eastern Europe. […]
Political revolution in eastern Europe, 1989 [EPOCHENJAHR 1989]
11 January:
Hungary legalises independent political parties.
6 February:
open discussion between Polish Communist Party and Solidarity.
15 February:
Soviet forced complete withdrawal from Afghanistan.
25 April:
Soviet Army begins withdrawal from Hungary.
4 June:
Solidarity achieve success in Polish elections.
24 August:
end of Communist rule in Poland. Tadeusz Mazowiecki becomes PM.
10 September:
Hungarian government allows thousands of East German ‘holiday-makers’
to cross the border into Austria.
1 October:
Thousands of East Germans allowed to leave for West through West German
embassies in Warsaw and Prague.
18 October:
East German leader Erich Honecker resigns; replaced by Egon Krenz.
10 November:
Berlin Wall opened.
November:
Bulgarian Communist leader Topol Zhivkov overthrown.
17-27 November.
Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. Communism overthrown.
21 December:
Armed revolution begins in Romania.
25 December:
Romanian Communist leader Nicolae Ceaucescu executed.
28 December:
Prague Spring leader Alexander Dubcek elected leader of Czech parliament.
Why did the Cold War come to an end in 1991?
According to historian Martin McCauley in “Russia, America and the Cold War 1949-1991” (1998):
“The Cold War came to an end because it was impossible for two powers to divide and rule the
world. The will had drained away. The burden was so great that the Soviet Union buckled and then
disintegrated. By 1991 the United States was no longer able to intervene at will and was immensely
relieved when the need to do so, the communist threat, melted away.”
Another historian, Simon Bell, in “The Cold War 1947 to 1991” (1998), takes a similar view. He states
that “there is little doubt that the Cold War came to an end as a result of Soviet economic failure.
This failure led in turn to a failure of nerve among the Soviet governing elite.”
Both historians point to the fact that by the late 1980s the USSR was no longer in a position to
maintain the military forces necessary to superpower status. Few western observers were able to
predict the rapid collapse of Soviet power in eastern Europe in 1989 and the end of the USSR in
1991. However, the Economist journal, in the 1980s, described the USSR as ‘Upper Volta [now
Burkina Faso] with missiles.’ This suggested that the Soviet economy was of Third World standard.
Also, Richard Perle, national security advisor to Ronald Reagan, had predicted in 1991 that any
increase in the arms race between the superpowers would eventually lead to the bankruptcy of the
Soviet Union.
Gorbachev’s attempts to modernise the USSR were too little too late. The origins of the USSR’s
failure to control eastern Europe could be traced back to the years of stagnation in economic
development under Brezhnev. In “Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” (1989), the historian Paul
Kennedy states that a common cause of great power decline was over-commitment of military
forces. Although a great Eurasian power, the Soviet Union simply did not possess the economic
power to sustain a global conflict against the USA. Support for regimes such as Cuba, Angola,
Vietnam and eastern Europe proved too demanding. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and a
protracted war in that country lasting ten years was one military burden too much for the state.
Once Soviet military power weakened, the disruptive forces of nationalism took hold. The desire for
national independence undermined Soviet influence in eastern Europe. It also undermined the USSR
from within. By 1990 the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia all sought independence from
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the USSR. In the Caucasus region, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia followed suit. By 1991 the old
USSR had fragmented into 15 separate states.
The failure of Gorbachev’s attempts to modernise the USSR through glasnost and perestroika
produced a backlash. Traditional communist leaders had opposed Gorbachev’s policies from the
start. By August 1991 opposition within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union had become so
great that an attempt was made to ‘turn the clock back’ by staging a take-over of the Soviet
government. Soviet troops were sent to Moscow. Gorbachev and his family were placed under
‘house arrest’ while on holiday in the Crimea. The attempted coup failed completely. The soldiers
mingled with civilians. Former Moscow mayor Boris Yeltsin5 persuaded the soldiers to lay down their
arms. The USSR, like so many Eastern bloc countries in 1989, faced a peaceful revolution in
government. The traditional communists were disgraced, Gorbachev was discredited. By the end of
1991 Yeltsin had replaced Gorbachev as leader. The USSR was replaced with the Commonwealth of
Independent States made up of 11 of the former 15 republics of the USSR. In turn, this confederation
collapsed leaving the Russian Federation merely one of 15 new independent states.
KEY QUESTION:
 Was the collapse of Soviet control in eastern Europe, and the USSR itself, inevitable?
(from: Derrick Murphy/Terry Morris (eds.) 2008: International Relations 1879-2004. London (Collins), pp. 123133.)
5
Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007): Communist reformer and subsequently President of the Russian Federation; in
1985, he became communist mayor of Moscow as part of Gorbachev’s plans to liberalise Soviet politics. Yeltsin
was expelled from the Politbüro (Cabinet) in October 1987 as part of a reaction against Gorbachev’s liberal
reforms. In 1991, though, he was a major figure in stopping traditional communist take-over. He replaced
Gorbachev as leader of the Russian state (December 1991). Twice elected President of the Russian Federation.