Brezhnev Doctrine Dbq

Kacie Lee

Tomasetti

AP World P.6

4/22/18

ID #26B

1. Brezhnev Doctrine (647)

The Brezhnev Doctrine was how Leonid Brezhnev reversed Khrushchev's De-Stalinization reform. This allowed him to intervene into any nation that was socialist and at risk of losing its socialist status. The result was a series of interventions, including a crackdown on Dubcek’s attempt to spread communism via the Prague Spring. This ultimately resulted in the Soviet Union asserting stronger influence over its European satellites.

2. Détente (648)

Detente was a diplomatic strategy that the USSR and U.S. used to ease tensions. It set the stage for joint cooperation throughout the 1970’s in areas such as eco-conservation and space. The detente started to fall apart after the U.S.’ involvement in the Vietnam War, which strained U.S.-Soviet relations. Additionally, the Soviet Union engaged in a war with Afghanistan. These conflicts weakened both the U.S. and USSR and chilled their cooperation.

3. Gorbachev, Mikhail (650, 651-653)

Gorbachev was responsible for restructuring the Soviet Union. First, he ended the Brezhnev Doctrine,

leaving Soviet satellites alone. This resulted in a mass wave of instability and regime changes through Europe as communism quickly collapsed. Second, in attempt to fix the Soviet Union’s unsustainable economy, he tried to revive Soviet industries via decentralized economic reforms in a series of reforms called Perestroika and Glasnost. However, his best efforts were simply too late - the Soviet agriculture sector quickly collapsed, and the Soviet Union balkanized into various factions. The biggest faction - the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic - was led by Boris Yeltsin, who took power and implemented capitalist market reforms.

4. Prague Spring (647)
The Prague Spring was initiated by Alexander Dubeck, a communist that tried to spread his party’s ideals in Czechoslovakia. His movement was shut down by a USSR intervention under the Brezhnev Doctrine. The USSR’s invasion into Czechoslovakia represented Brezhnev’s attempt to exert its iron fist over Europe.

5. Vietnam War (648, 660-661)
The Vietnam War began when the U.S. tried assisting the South Vietnamese fight off the influence of the communist North Vietnamese. South Vietnamese rebels, with the support of China and the Soviet Union, assisted North Vietnam in reclaiming full Vietnamese independence under unification. The U.S.’ participation in the war was largely a failure - through multiple presidencies, the U.S. became increasingly more militarily committed as American soldiers continued to die. The public eventually opposed America continuing its position in Vietnam. Nixon ended the U.S. involvement in the war in 1973 through the Paris Peace Accords. The end result was damaging U.S. global status and credibility.

1. What led to the policy of détente? What impact did it have on the course of the Cold War?
Detente was caused by the arms race that the Soviet Union and America had been engaged in. Due to its extreme expenses and effects on escalating tensions, both countries realized that they had to relax their hostilities and shift towards cooperation. Its impact on the course of the Cold War was cyclical. At first, it caused an increase in cooperation on a number of areas, including SALT. However, it soon fell apart, leading to a return to tensions. The U.S. military fighting in Vietnam as well as Soviet efforts in Afghanistan restrained tensions, reversed contingent points of engagement on health or the environment, and left both powers weakened.

2. Compare the America defeat in Vietnam with the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan. In what ways did each conflict reflect the limits of Cold War bipolarism?
America’s defeat in Vietnam was similar to the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan because they both required massive amounts of time, money, and faced public resistance. The primary difference was that the U.S. was simply aiding the North Vietnamese resist communist intrusions, while the Soviet Union enacted regime changed by installing a new communist leader - Babrak Karmal - at the lead of Afghanistan. Thus, the reasons for Afghan resistance to Soviet efforts was slightly different. Each conflict showed the limits of Cold War bipolarism in the sense that single powers can only do so much. After installing new democratic or communist regimes, local backlash and resistance made it difficult for the Soviet Union or U.S. to maintain their stability absent overly costly, excessive military interventions.

3. What led to the collapse of the Soviet Empire? What events signaled the end of the Cold War?
Several factors led to the Soviet Union collapsing, signalling the Cold War’s conclusion First was the economy - the Soviet’s war in Afghanistan in particular was overly expensive, making their economy unsustainable.

Second was counterculture - the Soviet Union was experiencing internal dissent from the public as a result of opposition to the Cold War. Third was that Soviet satellite states rebelled for their independence and became capitalist and democratic - these jeopardized the communist model. Like explained in the section above, Gorbachev’s reforms were too little too late - it was unable to save the Soviet economy or prevent mass revolutions across Central and East Europe. Once the Soviet Union collapsed into factions that were ultimately united by Boris Yeltsin and his capitalist reforms. The Cold War was over, and a massive, uncertain power vacuum

emerged.