Detente - Was it successful?

‘Détente was a failure’ How far do you agree with this assessment?

In the period of the 1970s, the policy of Détente is often viewed as a failure because the main themes of the Cold War remained present, for instance Soviet Expansionism continued and new advances for nuclear production came about despite laws capping old types of nuclear weapons. In addition, not all agreements were taken seriously, such as Helsinki which was deemed by Soviets as ‘just a piece of paper’. However, the term Détente simply means a loosening of tensions, which did happen and therefore is it correct to say that it failed? Détente certainly backed away from more incidents like the Cuban Missile Crisis happening once again, and cooperation increased between the powers significantly, therefore to a fairly large extent I don’t agree that Détente was a failure.

The policy was often viewed as ‘soft’ and it was criticised by many Americans because the aggressive Soviet Expansionism continued. On the other hand though, expansionism doesn’t signify any failure, because Détente was not a tool to stop communism from spreading like containment was, but a policy to reduce tensions, for this reason Soviet Expansion can’t be seen as a factor for the ‘failure’ of Détente to any extent.

It was also viewed as a failure because not all of the policies worked, for instance the Helsinki Agreement of 1975 was an agreement based around human rights, it was completely dismissed by the USSR, who viewed it as a ‘scrap of paper’ and as a country they continued to suppress people. Moreover, other agreements had faults too, such as SALT 1 which failed to put caps on new advances of weapons and which only lasted for five years. To some extent these policies can be seen to have failed, yet despite these downfalls, as a whole we cannot view Détente as a failure because there were positives to the policies, such as increased communication which in turn reduced tensions – the aim of Détente.

Other people viewed Détente as a failure because The Cold War continued afterwards; they wanted Détente to end the war completely. Following the period of Détente, the appointment of Ronald Reagan as president of America led to a period of the ‘Neo-Cons’, a group of people that hated communism and wanted to eliminate it. For this reason, the Cold War fired up again, and some people believe that because of this, the policy of Détente was a failure; however to a large extent this is untrue, because Détente was never a promise to end the Cold War, and both the Americans and the Soviets were aware that it was not the end. Détente was a promise to reduce tensions, which it did successfully to a great extent.

On the other hand, when reviewing Détente overall in relation to its aim, it was incredibly successful. The policy of Détente aimed to reduce tensions between the superpowers. One of the main causes for the loosening of tensions was the Cuban Missile Crisis, which put into perspective how easily the countries could destroy each other; MAD, mutually assured destruction was the name given to this realisation. In terms of mutually assured destruction, détente was a positive thing; it increased communications for example through the use of the hotline set up and these steps avoided further crisis. For this reason, Détente was to no extent a failure.

In addition, Détente had other successes for both America and The Soviet Union. America were able to use Détente as a tool to get out of Vietnam, which was positive in terms of its international relationships. Moreover, Détente stopped the Soviet Union from feeling isolated by the relationship built up by China and America, which was positive because this in turn reduced tensions and increased communications – the overall aim. Finally, Détente improved the economic situation in both America and The USSR after the arms race had taken it’s toll, this was done by an increase in trade and technology across the iron curtain. All these factors were positive and the loosened tensions between the superpowers, therefore Détente was without a doubt a success in achieving its aim.

In conclusion, it’s obvious that Détente did have many downfalls and for this reason many people instantly conclude that it was a failure. On the other hand, to a large extent Détente achieved its purpose because many policies reduced the tension that was present. Détente should not be seen to have failed due to the fact that the Cold War continued, because that was not the intention of the policy. Overall, it’s evident that détente was only a failure to a marginal extent because of the downfall of some of the agreements, yet to a significant extent, Détente was a success.