Detente
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Opening of China
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SALT I and II
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Detente
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Opening of China
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SALT I and II
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Demolition of the Berlin Wall
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The end of the Cold War took away the fear and mistrust hanging over everyone's head, from the threat of nuclear war. The detente, or relaxing of tensions, between the United States and Soviet Union released a lot of the fear that was in everyone's minds. The United States and Soviet Union both didn’t want war, especially a nuclear one, so they relaxed the tension. Since there was no longer the threat of war the United States didn’t have to put so much money into weaponry, they could put it into other things like education. In 1972 both President Nixon and Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger set a goal to become on better terms with China. Even though China was communist and the United States disagreed with communism, they decided trade deals with China would be a good thing for the United States. The trade deals opened many new items for purchase for both the United States and China. To show the new relationship with China the United States sent China oxen and China sent the United States pandas. This detente between the United States and China also took a lot of fear out of everyone's lives. The Cold War was an extremely tense time for every country involved, so when it ended it was as if a huge weight was lifted not only from every citizen but from the world.
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The Cold War didn’t end with a bang. Instead, it eased through several finishing stages, such as Détente, SALT I and II, and Perestroika. Détente, a French word meaning release from tension, was just that-- a relaxing of tensions between the East and West. Richard Nixon, politician and 37th president of the United States, tried to improve relations and reduce the possibility of war that could potentially destroy the world. Leonid Brezhnev, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, also wanted more neutral relations so money could be spent on bettering the living conditions, not on military weapons. SALT I and II (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) were talks that lasted years. They were both between the US and the USSR, and SALT I was where both parties agreed to reduce the amount of long range nuclear missiles, putting a 5 year limit on the number of offensive weapons either party could have possession of. SALT II placed exact limits on the collective numbers of nuclear weapons. Lech Walesa, Polish politician and labor activist, was the leader of Solidarity, the first independent labor union of communist Poland. Walesa was arrested in 1980 when Solidarity was disbanded due to the push back of communists. In 1989, he ran for president (and won), then replaced communism with democracy. Glasnost, the idea of a more open government and more freedom of speech in the USSR, began to bloom, and was quickly followed by Perestroika. Perestroika was the rebuilding of the economy, the restructuring of the Soviet government so there would be cheaper priced goods in stores. All in all, the closing of the Cold War Era was drawn out and the road to peace was rocky, but eventually America and Russia made compromises that worked for both of them and the once sour relations were neutral. |