Arms Reduction Dbq

The United States and the Soviets were already engaged in the cold war when talks of Arms reduction started happening. The Arms reductions did not stop the cold war but it did help to cool it down a little. It reduced the risk of going to nuclear war a little bit and that was important. The reasons the Soviets were willing to engage in negotiations on arms reduction was because it was facing pressure from china, it would facilitate progress in Germany and Berlin, and most importantly they would be equal to the united states. One reason was that they would be able to focus on Germany and Berlin, mostly on facilitating progress. Mostly the Soviets wanted to improve trade with West Germany but for this to happen there needed to be changes in domestic politics. With change in domestic politics there would be a change in foreign policy. Technology was also important especially in the soviet block for Poland. Western capitalist technology allowed Poland to modernize its plants and expand their

Their status would be equal to the United States which was something the Soviets greatly wanted. They did not like being looked as being inferior to other nations and most of all to the United States. The humiliation that they suffered from Cuba under Khrushchev's rule was what propelled them to become a military-industrial complex. As Eisenhower had said “it was a military-industrial complex'”(One World Divisible, Pg 325). At first the United states had three times the number of launchers compared to the soviet union but only five years later and it had decreased to only 50 percent. This was due to the fact that the soviets had invested a quarter of its GNP and some of its work force. Therefore when the arms reduction was offered they accepted because it would put them at same level as other nations. They would especially have the same status as the united states and be known as the two