Strategic Arms Limitation Talks

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks were U.S.–Soviet negotiations that produced agreements limiting certain strategic nuclear weapons during the Cold War.

Cold War: A decades-long geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. The superpower rivalry made arms control both urgent and politically difficult.
SALT I: The 1972 U.S.–Soviet arms-control package comprising the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and an interim agreement on offensive arms. It was the first major outcome of the talks.
Mutual assured destruction: A deterrence condition in which each nuclear-armed adversary can inflict unacceptable damage after a first strike. SALT’s limits operated within a deterrence system based on the threat of retaliation.
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: A treaty adopted in 1996 that prohibits all nuclear explosions, though it has not entered into force. Unlike SALT’s limits on strategic forces, it targets nuclear explosive testing.
Nuclear arms race: The competition among states to build and deploy increasingly powerful nuclear arsenals. Rapidly expanding arsenals created pressure to negotiate limits.
SALT II: A 1979 U.S.–Soviet treaty that sought to limit strategic nuclear delivery vehicles and launchers. It extended the negotiations’ effort to cap offensive strategic forces.
Nuclear deterrence: The prevention of attack through the threat of nuclear retaliation. The talks regulated arsenals without replacing the deterrence logic behind them.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: A 1968 treaty intended to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and support peaceful nuclear cooperation and disarmament. The NPT addresses proliferation and disarmament obligations rather than bilateral force ceilings.
Cuban Missile Crisis: A 1962 confrontation over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba that brought the United States and Soviet Union close to war. The crisis sharpened awareness of how nuclear competition could escalate.
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty: A 1972 U.S.–Soviet treaty that restricted national systems designed to defend against strategic ballistic missiles. Its limits supported deterrence by constraining defenses against a retaliatory strike.

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