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 .
How did Star Wars affect the Cold War?
Star Wars itself entered the realm of Cold War history after it was adopted by the media in the 1980s as a nickname for President Ronald Reagan’s proposed Strategic Defense Initiative , which would have used lasers to defend the United States against incoming nuclear missiles.”
What was the impact of the Strategic Defense Initiative?
The Strategic Defense Initiative was ultimately most effective not as an anti-ballistic missile defense system, but as a propaganda tool which could put military and economic pressure on the Soviet Union to fund their own anti-ballistic missile system.
What was the Strategic Defense Initiative Cold War?
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively nicknamed the “Star Wars program”, was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles).
What was the Strategic Defense Initiative Star Wars supposed to do?
Reagan said he wanted to avoid nuclear Armageddon, critics called the Strategic Defense Initiative far-fetched and expensive. It was a plan that read like science fiction: A system armed with an array of space-based X-ray lasers would detect and deflect any nukes headed toward the United States .
Why was the Strategic Defense Initiative called Star Wars?
The SDI was first proposed by President Ronald Reagan in a nationwide television address on March 23, 1983. Because parts of the defensive system that Reagan advocated would be based in space , the proposed system was dubbed “Star Wars,” after the space weaponry of a popular motion picture of the same name.
Why do you think the Strategic Defense Initiative was controversial quizlet?
The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic offense doctrine of mutual assured destruction (MAD). ... The ambitious initiative was criticized for allegedly threatening to destabilize the MAD -approach and to possibly re-ignite “an offensive arms race” .
How did Star Wars impact society?
Star Wars fundamentally changed the aesthetics and narratives of Hollywood films, switching the focus of Hollywood-made films from deep, meaningful stories based on dramatic conflict, themes and irony to sprawling special-effects-laden blockbusters, as well as changing the Hollywood film industry in fundamental ways.
What two major alliances were formed during the Cold War?
1. The Cold War world was shaped and divided by political and military alliances. The best known of these alliances were NATO and the Warsaw Pact , formed in Europe after World War II.
What religion is Star Wars based on?
The Force and the Jedi religion, Lucas stated, were thus based on all religions in the real-world, as he constructed Star Wars mainly from Methodism—or Christianity, Islam, and Judaism—and Buddhism .
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.
When was the Strategic Defense Initiative?
On March 23, 1983 in a televised address to the nation, U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced his intention to embark upon groundbreaking research into a national defense system that could make nuclear weapons obsolete.
Why did the Soviets react strongly against the Strategic Defense Initiative SDI?
Trustworthy software could not be developed. Why did the Soviets react strongly against the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)? It violated international treaties . ... The SDI-equipped satellites would be too easy to destroy.
What was the Star Wars program quizlet?
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 INF agreement?
The INF Treaty was signed in December 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. It prohibited the United States and the Soviet Union from possessing, testing and deploying ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles with ranges between 300 and 3,400 miles .
How did SDI increase world tensions?
How did SDI increase world tensions? SDI confronted the USSR with strategic competition in the area of technology and an arms race . This raised the tensions between the US and USSR. The Soviet leadership immediately accused the United States of attempting to undermine the existing strategic balance.
