Detente and Arms Control: SALT I and the Helsinki Agreement, 1969-75
Detente in the 1970s produced the Cold War's first serious arms control agreements, as both superpowers sought a more stable relationship after the dangers of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the costs of the ongoing arms race. SALT I (the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) was signed by President Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in Moscow in May 1972, and consisted of two parts: the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, which limited each side's missile defence systems, and an Interim Agreement, which froze the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) each side could hold for five years. The Helsinki Accords, signed in August 1975 by 35 states including the USA and the USSR, went further than arms control, formally recognising the existing borders of post-war Europe and committing all signatories to respect human rights and basic freedoms, though the USSR's actual record on human rights changed very little in practice.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Learn SALT I as two separate agreements signed together, not one: the ABM Treaty limited each side to a small number of missile defence sites, and the Interim Agreement froze (rather than reduced) the number of ICBMs each side held for five years, so SALT I slowed the arms race without reversing it.
- Learn who signed SALT I and where, since exam questions reward this precision: President Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, in Moscow, in May 1972.
- Learn the Helsinki Accords as a wider agreement than SALT I: signed in August 1975 by 35 states, it recognised the existing borders in Europe established after the Second World War, and included a commitment to human rights and basic freedoms, often called the 'third basket' of the agreement.
- Learn the gap between promise and practice at Helsinki: although the USSR signed the human rights commitment, it continued to restrict free speech, censor the press and imprison dissidents, so Helsinki is best explained as a symbolic step that gave Western governments and human rights campaigners a document to hold the USSR to, rather than a change that was immediately enforced.
- For 'explain two consequences of...' questions, keep the practical consequence (slower growth in nuclear weapons numbers under SALT I) separate from the political/symbolic consequence (recognition of European borders, or a moral argument Western campaigners could use against Soviet human rights abuses under Helsinki).
- For 'explain two of the following: importance' questions, be ready to argue that SALT I and Helsinki were important more for building trust and habits of negotiation between the superpowers than for their immediate practical effects, since neither agreement stopped the arms race outright.
Worked example
Explain two consequences of the Helsinki Accords of 1975 for relations between the superpowers.
- Identify two different consequences: one about European borders, and one about human rights.
- Write consequence one: by recognising the existing borders of post-war Europe, the Accords reduced one source of long-running tension, since Western states formally accepted the USSR's territorial gains in Eastern Europe, which the USSR had long wanted acknowledged.
- Support consequence one with detail: this removed a potential trigger for future disputes over borders, contributing to a period of more stable, predictable relations during the mid-1970s.
- Write consequence two: the human rights commitment gave Western governments and campaign groups a formal document to point to when criticising Soviet treatment of dissidents, even though the USSR's actual practices changed very little.
- Support consequence two with detail: human rights monitoring groups formed in the USSR and Eastern Bloc states after 1975, using the Helsinki commitments to draw international attention to abuses, which added a new source of pressure on Soviet governments in the years that followed.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1Who signed SALT I, and where and when was it signed?Show answer
Answer: President Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, in Moscow, in May 1972.
Q2What did the ABM Treaty, part of SALT I, limit?Show answer
Answer: The number and type of anti-ballistic missile defence systems each side could deploy.
Q3What did the Interim Agreement, the other part of SALT I, do to the number of ICBMs each side held?Show answer
Answer: It froze (kept at existing levels) the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles each side could hold, for five years.
Q4When was the Helsinki Accords signed, and how many states signed it?Show answer
Answer: August 1975; 35 states.
Q5What did the Helsinki Accords formally recognise about Europe?Show answer
Answer: The existing, post-war borders of European states.
Q6What commitment did the Helsinki Accords include beyond borders and security?Show answer
Answer: A commitment by all signatories to respect human rights and basic freedoms.
Q7Did the USSR's actual treatment of dissidents change significantly after signing the Helsinki human rights commitment? Explain your answer briefly.Show answer
Answer: No - the USSR continued to censor the press and imprison dissidents, so the practical effect on Soviet behaviour was limited, even though the commitment gave campaigners a document to point to.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE History exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Explain two consequences of SALT I for the arms race between the superpowers.
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Explain two of the following: (a) The importance of SALT I for relations between the superpowers. (b) The importance of the Helsinki Accords for human rights campaigners in the Eastern Bloc. (c) The importance of detente for the arms race of the 1970s. You must answer on two options.
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