Evaluate the factors which led to detente between the US and USSR between 1971 and 1979.

The question requires that candidates make an appraisal of factors which contributed to détente between the US and USSR between 1971 and 1979, weighing up their importance or otherwise. Factors may predate the timeframe but they must be clearly linked to the issue raised in the question. Candidates may refer to the financial benefits of reducing arms expenditure for a US drained by the Vietnam War and for a USSR that faced a stalled economy and weak satellite states. With regard to military factors, both countries were deeply aware of their nuclear capabilities (MAD: mutually assured destruction), and having achieved parity, were more prepared to discuss arms limitation. Candidates may also refer to political factors such as the US potential gain from the Sino–Soviet split by fostering separate relationships with both countries whilst driving them further apart; the Soviet wish to secure American recognition of the post-war borders of its satellite states; the impact of Ostpolitik which had relaxed tension in Europe and encouraged trade. Candidates’ opinions or conclusions will be presented clearly and supported by appropriate evidence.

The question required that candidates make an appraisal of factors which contributed to the period of détente between the US and USSR between 1971 and 1979. Only a few responses were seen and, despite a clear timeframe being stated in the question, weaker responses offered narratives of Cold War history mostly from the Cuban Missile Crisis through to the end of the 1980s. Candidates without a firm understanding of détente struggled to include relevant knowledge.