Détente During The Cold War

Détente was the relaxing of tensions between the two Cold War enemies during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The policy aimed to increase communication between the Soviet Union and the USA so that the superpowers could resolve their differences and actively cooperate to form a respectful relationship. Whilst détente significantly reduced tensions and increased peaceful communication, it did not lead to the end of the Cold War nor did it resolve the ideological differences between the two nations.
The policy of Détente was highly successful in curtailing the arms race as it facilitated a series of summits that allowed for peaceful communication between the two superpowers to occur. A major factor that led to the Cold War tensions was the
Consequently, several meetings between the two leaders occurred; Nixon met Brezhnev in Moscow in 1972 and again in 1974 and Brezhnev visited Washington in 1973. These summits resulted in the signing of SALT 1 in 1972 which placed limits on the number of offensive missiles each nation could have, ended the race to create a defensive anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system, and missile stockpile levels of both sides were frozen at current levels. The Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT), as a result was also signed in 1974. It established a nuclear “threshold” or limit, by prohibiting tests having a yield exceeding 150 kilotons. The treaty was important as it removed the possibility of testing new or existing nuclear weapons
President Nixon recognised the importance of demonstrating America’s willingness to ignore ideological differences and establish good relations with the communist powers in order to break down Cold War tensions. This came in the way of Nixon’s dramatic visit to Beijing in 1972 which ended a 25 year isolation and marked the start of diplomatic relations with communist China. However, The meeting was strategic as the Sino-Soviet split which had occurred during the 1960’s meant that the two communist powers were no longer on speaking terms. As a result, the Soviets felt highly threatened by the development of such a relationship and in retaliation organised their own summit meeting with President Nixon. This paved the way to creating a triangular relationship between Washington, Beijing and Moscow meaning the bipolar world of the early Cold War had now become multi-polar. Therefore the policy of détente was highly successful in achieving its objective of tolerance as the USA and the Soviet Union had developed a cooperative relationship that resulted in a period of peaceful