![]() ![]() By the late 1970s, détente was barely still alive. The end of the Vietnam war had removed the original American incentive for détente and Soviet involvement in the Third World became an actual hassle for American plans during the Angolan decolonization crisis. From the mid-1970s on, those two ideas began to clash openly. So, the Americans expected détente to keep the Soviets quiet, the Soviets however saw themselves empowered by détente. ![]() The Soviets, on the other hand, saw the détente treaties as proof that they were accepted as an equal by the United States now and – helped by their savings due to the slowing of the arms race – could therefore act like the United States, namely project their power more assertively in the Third World. ![]() Nixon saw détente as a tactical instrument to rid the United States of their tensions with the Soviets when America had enough other things to worry about, chiefly the war in Vietnam. However, the two superpowers understood détente rather differently – even when their leaders got along well, like the two chief architects of détente, US president Richard Nixon and Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev. “Détente” became the new paradigm of superpower relations – exemplified by regular dialogue between American and Soviet leaders and a slowing of the nuclear arms race. We’ll have a look at the new American policy after the fall of détente and then go right into the grim fall of 1983 – all of which through the lens of Twilight Struggle (Ananda Gupta/Jason Matthews, GMT Games).Īfter Détente: The New Political LandscapeĪfter the Cuban Missile Crisis, American and Soviet leaders realized that a new culture of cooperation between the superpowers was necessary to prevent nuclear war. None of the events of fall 1983 were as iconic by themselves, but together they formed an impressive string which made the world anxious if the Cold War was going to turn hot more than once. The Cold War had its fair share of tense moments – think of the Berlin Blockade in 1948 or the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962… and then there was the fall of 1983. ![]()
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