American economic and technological capacity made renewed military competition difficult for the USSR to sustain.
The United States possessed a larger, more flexible economy and strong technological resources. Under US President Ronald Reagan, increased defence spending, weapons modernisation and a confrontational stance renewed pressure on the USSR. The Soviet leadership faced a difficult choice: devote more resources to keeping pace, or seek agreements that could reduce the burden. The American economy also faced recession and budget pressures; greater capacity did not mean competition was costless for Americans.
In 1983 Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), research into intercepting incoming ballistic missiles before they reached their targets. Soviet leaders feared that a future American shield might make their retaliatory nuclear missiles less effective, weakening their ability to deter an attack. A response could require expensive research and new weapons. SDI was an ambitious research programme, not a completed shield. Its pressure mattered alongside Soviet economic weaknesses and leadership decisions. Reagan later negotiated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev: the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty agreed to eliminate a specified class of ground-launched missiles. Competition and negotiated reductions both helped shape the outcome.
Worked example: Separate a proposal from its effect
Explain how SDI could matter even though it did not become a complete shield in the 1980s.
- Soviet leaders had to consider the possibility of future American technological advantage.
- Responding could imply further research and spending, adding pressure to an already strained economy.
- Assess that pressure alongside internal problems and negotiation; do not claim the proposal alone caused the USSR to collapse.
Watch out for this
SDI could not affect Soviet decisions because it was not a working missile shield.
A proposal can affect expectations. Soviet leaders had to consider a possible future technological disadvantage and the cost of responding, even though a complete shield did not exist.
Check your understanding
How could American pressure contribute to the ending without explaining it alone?
- Renewed competition added to Soviet difficulties, while negotiations offered a way to reduce the burden.
- SDI created the Soviet economy's production problems for the first time.
- The later arms treaty shows that earlier competition had no influence on Soviet choices.