Reagan's renewed confrontation

H2 History - syllabus 9174, 2027

What this lesson teaches

  • I can judge which causes mattered most in ending the Cold War, and weigh historians' views.

    Syllabus 9174, Paper 1, Theme I, Learning Outcomes. evaluate the causes of the end of the Cold War

Make a guess

Ronald Reagan became US president in 1981, soon after detente had collapsed. What do you think his approach to the USSR was?

  1. Confrontation: a military build-up, SDI and aid to anti-communist rebels.
  2. Withdraw US forces from Western Europe to save money.
  3. Revive detente straight away with new trade deals and summits.
Show the answer

Confrontation: a military build-up, SDI and aid to anti-communist rebels.

Reagan saw the Soviet system as dangerous but weak, so he raised spending and pressure, and tension peaked in 1983.

Reagan revived confrontation with a military build-up, SDI, hard-line rhetoric and support for anti-communist rebels.

Detente collapsed after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. Ronald Reagan became president in 1981 believing the USA had fallen behind and that the Soviet system was both dangerous and weak.

Reagan expanded defence spending sharply. In March 1983 he called the USSR an "evil empire" and announced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a research programme for defences against ballistic missiles. Soviet leaders feared SDI would let the USA strike first without fear of retaliation, and that matching it would be ruinously expensive.

The Reagan Doctrine meant supporting anti-communist insurgents against Soviet-backed governments. The USA armed the mujahideen in Afghanistan, including with Stinger missiles from 1986, the Contras in Nicaragua and UNITA in Angola. This raised the costs of Soviet commitments abroad.

Tension peaked in 1983. The Soviets shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in September. In November, the NATO exercise Able Archer alarmed Soviet leaders, who feared it might hide a real attack.

Evil empire speech
8 March 1983.
SDI
Announced 23 March 1983.
Reagan Doctrine
Support for anti-communist rebels: Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Angola.
Able Archer 83
NATO exercise that alarmed Soviet leaders, November 1983.

Real examples to use

Defence build-up, 1980 to 1985

US defence spending was about 134 billion dollars in 1980. By 1985 it was roughly 40 per cent higher after inflation, which the USSR could only match by spending even more of a weaker economy.

KAL 007, 1 September 1983

A Soviet fighter shot down a Korean airliner that had strayed into Soviet airspace, killing all 269 people on board. It marked a low point in superpower relations.

Stinger missiles, 1986

From 1986 the USA gave Afghan mujahideen Stinger missiles that could shoot down Soviet helicopters, raising the cost of the war for Moscow.

Worked example: Using renewed confrontation in an argument

An assertion source says American pressure forced the USSR to change.

  1. Support: the build-up, SDI and the Reagan Doctrine raised Soviet costs.
  2. Challenge: Soviet hardliners responded to pressure with more suspicion, not concessions.
  3. Timing: major Soviet change came only after Gorbachev took power in 1985.
  4. Judgement: pressure mattered, but it needed a Soviet leader willing to change course.

Watch out for this

SDI was a working missile shield that made Soviet missiles useless.

SDI was a research programme. It never produced a working shield, but Soviet leaders feared its potential and the cost of competing.

Check your understanding

What was the Reagan Doctrine?

  1. Withdrawing US forces from Europe
  2. Signing arms control treaties with the USSR
  3. Supporting anti-communist insurgents against Soviet-backed governments
Show the answer

Supporting anti-communist insurgents against Soviet-backed governments

Right. Examples include Afghanistan, Nicaragua and Angola.

Sources and context

Background reading for this chapter.

  • Reagan describes an evil empire

    Paraphrase of President Reagan's remarks to the National Association of Evangelicals, Orlando, 8 March 1983.

  • Reagan proposes missile defence

    Paraphrase of President Reagan's televised address on defense and national security, 23 March 1983.

  • A Soviet premier meets the US Secretary of State

    Paraphrase of the US memorandum of conversation between Soviet Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikolai Ryzhkov and Secretary of State George Shultz, Moscow, 14 April 1987.

  • Gorbachev plans his UN speech

    Paraphrase of notes by Anatoly Chernyaev of Gorbachev's conference with his advisers, 31 October 1988, held in the archive of the Gorbachev Foundation.

  • Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate

    Paraphrase of President Reagan's remarks at the Brandenburg Gate, West Berlin, 12 June 1987.

  • A US government history of the collapse

    Paraphrase of "The Collapse of the Soviet Union", an account published by the Office of the Historian, US Department of State.

  • Reagan's strategy towards the USSR, January 1983

    Extract from National Security Decision Directive 75, "U.S. Relations with the USSR", signed by President Reagan, Washington, 17 January 1983. Secret when issued. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981-1988, volume III, document 260. A US government document in the public domain.

  • Reagan and Gorbachev at Reykjavik, 12 October 1986

    Extract from the US memorandum of conversation of the final meeting between President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev, Reykjavik, 12 October 1986, written by the American notetaker Tom Simons. The summit ended without agreement. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981-1988, volume V, document 308. A US government document in the public domain.

  • Shevardnadze previews Gorbachev's UN speech, 7 December 1988

    Extract from the US memorandum of conversation of Secretary of State George Shultz's meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, New York, 7 December 1988, hours before Gorbachev addressed the UN General Assembly. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981-1988, volume VI, document 178. A US government document in the public domain.

  • the CIA Director on Eastern Europe, October 1988

    Extract from a memorandum to the file, Washington, 4 November 1988, reporting a meeting of President Reagan's National Security Planning Group on Eastern Europe on 25 October 1988, based on notes by State Department official Tom Simons. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981-1988, volume X, document 61. A US government document in the public domain.

  • Bush on the opening of the Berlin Wall, 9 November 1989

    Extract from President George Bush's remarks and question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office on the relaxation of East German border controls, Washington, 9 November 1989. A US government record in the public domain; text from the American Presidency Project.

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