Renewed Cold War (1980s)
The renewed Cold War (1979-1987) was the period of increased tensions between the US and the Soviet Union after détente. Changes in Western foreign policy toward the Soviet Union characterized by increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressures are generally associated with US president Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990). Major episodes of the renewed Cold War include a US-led boycott of the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics following the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan in 1979, and the reciprocal Soviet boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles; Soviet deployment of ballistic missiles targeting Western Europe and deployment of Pershing II ballistic missiles in West Germany (1983–1985) targeting the Soviet Union; and NATO’s Able Archer ’83 military exercises that simulated a nuclear attack. This phase in the Cold War began to ebb after 1985 with the ascension of reform-minded Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991).
