Notes on End Of The Cold War – 1968-1991

Resource Description

There were a number of nuclear weapons treaties negotiated during the Cold War. These treaties can be divided into two categories – bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral treaties are treaties between two nations. Quite a few of the treaties were just between the United States and the Soviet Union, and were brought about through diplomacy and negotiations between the superpowers. For this reason, these bilateral treaties have a self-serving nature, with the superpowers deciding on the terms without input from any other nations, even though nuclear weapons constituted a threat to everyone on the planet. The bilateral treaties were also largely ineffective in slowing down the arms race. For instance, after SALT I, both the United States and the Soviet Union kept increasing the size of their nuclear arsenals. Most of these treaties only modified the nuclear arms race to suit the two superpowers. Only the INF and START I reversed the arms race, quite significantly in numbers, but nowhere near enough to remove the threat of nuclear weapons for the world.

Removing the threat of nuclear weapons should have been an outcome of the end of the Cold War. Gorbachev wanted it, but neither Reagan nor George H Bush would go that far. This explains why today nuclear weapons remain as great a threat as ever.