'nSALT II' was a second round of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks from 1972-1979 between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which sought to curtail the manufacture of strategic nuclear weapons. It was a continuation of progress made during the SALT I talks. SALT I 1969-1972 SALT II 1972-1979 External links http://www. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... Soviet redirects here. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... SALT I is the common name for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks fromthe talks. ...

An agreement to limit strategic launchers was reached in Vienna on June 18, 1979, and was signed by Leonid Brezhnev and President Jimmy Carter. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the treaty was never formally ratified by the United States Senate, but its terms were honored by both sides. Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Hungarian: Bécs) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine federal states (Bundesland Wien). ... June 18 is the 169th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (170th in leap years), with 196 days remaining. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev   listen[?] (Russian: ) (December 19 (O.S. December 6) 1906 – November 10, 1982) was effective ruler of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, though at first in partnership with others. ... For the pop band, see Presidents of the United States of America. ... James Earl Jimmy Carter, Jr. ... Seal of the Senate The United States Senate is one of the two houses of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ...

Subsequent discussions took place under Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. START, officially the STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty was a nuclear weapons limitation treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. ... START, officially the STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty was a nuclear weapons limitation treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. ... Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Opened for signature September 10, 1996[1] at New York Entered into force Not yet in force Conditions for entry into force The treaty will enter into force 180 days after it is ratified by all of the following 44 (Annex 2) countries: Algeria, Argentina, Australia...

Larger Historical Context

The nuclear arms race was an outgrowth of the Cold War and was very expensive for both sides, both in money and by diverting resources from other, more useful weapons. Producing more and more weapons and delivery systems had reached a point of diminishing returns by the early 1970s. Additional arms were of decreasing usefulness given that each side could quite assuredly cripple the economy, infrastructure, populace (etc.) of the other side even if only a small fraction of the weapons launched managed to strike their intended targets. The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear weapons between the United States and Soviet Union during the Cold War. ... For the generic term for a high-tension rivalry between countries, see cold war (war). ... In economics, diminishing returns is the short form of diminishing marginal returns, the concept that, as more of an input is applied, each additional unit produces less and less additional output. ... This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ...

There was starting to be a further cost that probably had not been factored in during earlier eras - maintenance. Each missile, warhead, silo, launcher, ship, and other system had to be maintained with spare parts, expertise, and consequently, money.

The combination of these factors meant that the military and political leadership on both sides had an incentive to reduce their arsenals. Factoring in the industrial complex, if the talks led to allowances for fewer but more advanced systems, this would allow for further expenditures and thus keep the military-industrial complex happy. The term military-industrial complex usually refers to the combination of the U.S. armed forces, arms industry and associated political and commercial interests, which grew rapidly in scale and influence in the wake of World War II, although it can also be used to describe any such relationship of...

Massive amounts of mistrust on both sides contributed to difficulties with the treaty process, however. The U.S. Senate never passed the treaty due to arguments about the terms of the treaty not being enforceable due to cheating by the other side and the U.S. government's ability to detect if cheating was occurring. The process of ratification lost momentum after time and was never picked up, although the terms were apparently honored anyway.

Further talks were picked up by President Ronald Reagan and Premier of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-1980s. For the pop band, see Presidents of the United States of America. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan, GCB, (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... Premier of the Soviet Union is the commonly used English term for the offices of Chairman of the Council of Peoples Commissars of the USSR (Председатель Совета Народных Комиссаров СССР) (1923-1946) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Председатель Совета Министров СССР) (1946-1991), who... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov (Gorbachev)   listen[?] (Russian: ; pronunciation: ) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ...

External link

• Text of the treaty from the U.S. Department of State