From 1970 onwards there was détente or cessation
of the strained relations between the US and the Soviet Union.
On August 12, 1970, the Moscow-Bonn Agreement
was signed by Kosygin, Prime Minister of the Soviet Union,
Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany. Following this,
Brandt initiated measures for resolving the Berlin problem. On September
3, 1971, the US, the Soviet Union, Britain and France signed an
Agreement on Berlin.
When the civil war in Cambodia (Kampuchea) ended
in April 1975. With this, the cold war came to an end at another
front.
The Vietnam war ended on April 1975, with the defeat
of the American forces. Both North and South Vietnam were united,
thus silencing another center of the cold war.
In 1971, Dr. Kissinger paid a visit to Peking
(Beijing), via Pakistan. In February 1972, President Nixon visited
China. The US agreed to withdraw all her forces and military installations
from Taiwan.
In May 1972, President Nixon visited Moscow and
signed the Treaty on Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems
and the Interim Agreement on certain measures. Brezhnev
paid a return visit to the US in June 1973. Together with Nixon,
he pledged to work for a lasting world peace and make an effort
to end the nuclear race between the two countries. President Nixon
visited the Soviet Union in June July 1974, and agreed with Brezhnev
to limit underground testing for five years.
The next summit was held at Vladivostok
in November 1974. It was attended by President Ford and Brezhnev.
They agreed on a limit on the number of offensive nuclear
weapons like missiles launched from land, sea and air bombers and
multiple warhead missiles. Both these leaders also attended the
35-Nation Summit Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe
on July 30 1975 at Helsinki.
