Why was the Strategic Defense Initiative created?

Why was the Strategic Defense Initiative created?

During the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan initiated the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), an anti-ballistic missile program that was designed to shoot down nuclear missiles in space. Otherwise known as “Star Wars,” SDI sought to create a space-based shield that would render nuclear missiles obsolete.

What did President Ronald Reagan argue that the Strategic Defense Initiative Star Wars would do?

President Ronald Reagan saw the proposed Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) as a safeguard against the most terrifying Cold War outcome—nuclear annihilation.

What was the Strategic Defense Initiative effect on the Cold War?

The Strategic Defense Initiative was a U.S. missile defense program that played a very prominent role in the U.S.–Soviet relationships in the 1980s and is often credited with helping end the Cold War, as it presented the Soviet Union with a technological challenge that it could not meet.

Why was the Strategic Defense Initiative controversial?

Advocates have claimed that in the high-stakes poker game between the US and the USSR, Reagan — master of shaping public perception — used the expensive SDI to scare Moscow into folding and hastened its collapse. That’s debatable.

Why would a treaty limit defensive weapons rather than offensive ones?

The United States and the Soviet Union negotiated the ABM Treaty as part of an effort to control their arms race in nuclear weapons. The two sides reasoned that limiting defensive systems would reduce the need to build more or new offensive weapons to overcome any defense that the other might deploy.

Was the Strategic Defense Initiative controversial?

Third, critics both in the United States and around the world called the SDI initiative a clear violation of the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty. That treaty had committed the United States and the Soviet Union to refrain from developing missile defense systems in order to prevent a new and costly arms race.

What steps did Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev take in reaction to President Reagan’s 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative?

He answered the program with negotiations in Geneva and Reykjavik in an attempt to create disarmament treaties with the US. He hoped for agreement to rid the countries of nuclear weapons.

How did Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative SDI impact negotiations with the Soviet Union?

SDI has sometimes been credited for the success in resuming the negotia- tions, primarily because the Soviet Union insisted that the negotiations cover space weapons. much more limited role and most likely made the return to the talks more difficult.

Why did the Soviets react strongly against the Strategic Defense Initiative SDI?

Why was the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) never fully implemented? Trustworthy software could not be developed. Why did the Soviets react strongly against the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)? It violated international treaties.

How did the Soviets react to the Strategic Defense Initiative?

Soviet Response to the SDI Program. The Soviet Union quickly identified ways to avoid a technological arms race with the United States and focused on development of advanced missiles and anti-satellite systems to counter missile defenses. Some of these programs have been preserved to the current day.

How much did the Strategic Defense Initiative cost?

One of these generic estimates, produced by the Co uncil on Economic Priorities,’places the cost of ‘SDI at from $400 billion to $800 billion.

Why was the SDI a failure?

Why the Technology Behind SDI Didn’t Work To make matters even more complicated, the Soviets could add missile decoys, overwhelm the system by building more ICBMs or even take aim at the defense system itself, incapacitating it before launching a nuclear attack in the first place.

What was the Strategic Defense Initiative quizlet?

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as Star Wars, was a program first initiated on March 23, 1983 under President Ronald Reagan. The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union.

What was the main objective of the Strategic Defense Initiative?

The goal of the Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI as it is commonly known, was to defend the United States from incoming nuclear missiles by a combination of land and space-based weapons. Sensors at battle stations placed on land or in space would detect Soviet missiles when launched.

What was the Star Wars program quizlet?

“Star Wars”, Reagan’s idea to build a satellite-based missile defense system to protect against ICBMs fired by the Soviet Union. It was nicknamed “Star Wars” by people for it’s far-fetched nature. The program proved incredibly expensive and hard to achieve.

What did some critics dub the proposed missile defense program SDI of President Reagan quizlet?

Popularly known as “Star Wars,” President Reagan’s SDI proposed the construction of an elaborate computer-controlled, anti-missile defense system capable of destroying enemy missiles in outer spaced. Critics claimed that SDI could never be perfected.

What was the alleged goal of Reagan’s Star Wars program quizlet?

Their goal was to reduce the size of the federal government and stimulate economic growth. also known as “Star Wars,” this plan proposed creating a global umbrella in space to destroy invading missiles.

How did Reagan’s Soviet strategy help end the Cold War quizlet?

How did Reagan end the Cold War? He exploited key Sov weaknesses. 1. He identified and exploited key Sov weaknesses (e.g. SDI knocked Sovs out of arms race – it required massive military spending and investment in tech – Gorb was forced to negotiate to end the arms race).

What doubts did critics have about the Strategic Defense Initiative SDI )? Who supported the initiative and why?

Critics of the program argued variously that the scheme was unworkable, that it encouraged a further arms race, and that it undermined established arms-control agreements and weakened the prospects for further arms-control agreements.

Why did the Soviet Union object to the American Strategic Defense Initiative quizlet?

The ambitious initiative was criticized for allegedly threatening to destabilize the MAD -approach and to possibly re-ignite “an offensive arms race”.

What did President Reagan’s new approach to the Cold War reveal about his foreign policy strategy quizlet?

What did President Reagan’s approach to the Cold War reveal about his foreign-policy strategy? He wanted to work for peace from a position of military strength. improved US-Soviet relations through the reduction of arms. the United States intervened in Middle Eastern politics.

What did Reagan believe would end the Cold War quizlet?

Doctrine which forced the basis of Reagans foreign policy – declared that the US would support anti-communist governments in their fight against communism.

How did Reagan view the Cold War struggle quizlet?

Reagan wanted more of a military build-up to match soviet Powers. He continued the arms race, it raised the military spending 43 percent instituting a peace through strength policy. He saw it as a weak policy that the soviets ignored. Also he saw it as the cause of the soviet Invasion in Afghanistan.

What did Reagan do about the Cold War?

The Reagan Administration implemented a new policy towards the Soviet Union through NSDD-32 (National Security Decisions Directive) to confront the USSR on three fronts: to decrease Soviet access to high technology and diminish their resources, including depressing the value of Soviet commodities on the world market; …

How did the Reagan Doctrine affect the Cold War?

Under the Reagan Doctrine, the United States provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist guerrillas and resistance movements in an effort to “roll back” Soviet-backed pro-communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

How did Reagan’s approach toward the USSR shift after Gorbachev came to power quizlet?

How did Reagan’s approach toward the USSR shift after Gorbachev came to power? Reagan agreed to meet openly with Soviet leaders. ,meaning “restructuring,” reduced government control and helped the Soviet Union move away from a totalitarian government.

What was divided into two countries one Democratic and one communist after World War 2?

After World War II, Germany was divided into 2 nations. West Germany became a democratic nation. East Germany became a communist nation controlled by the Soviet Union.

Why did people within the Eastern bloc have few economic freedoms?

People within the Eastern Bloc had few economic freedoms because the government controlled the economy. The Eastern Bloc was the group of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, and Southeast Asia led by the Soviet Union (USSR) during the Cold War.

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