Can you leave the USSR?

Emigration and any travel abroad were not allowed without an explicit permission from the government. People who were not allowed to leave the country and campaigned for their right to leave in the 1970s were known as “refuseniks”.

Why might Berlin be a likely spot for trouble?

Why might Berlin be a likely spot for trouble to develop during the Cold War? The Soviets wanted to keep Germany weak. The state of diplomatic hostility between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the decades following WWII.

Why was the Soviet Union so afraid of Western culture?

On their part, the Soviet rulers were constantly afraid of the possible encroachment of “western influence” among the population (the influence of consumerism, democratic values, free press, liberalism, western art, music, cinema, just about anything). Their very rule depended on constant anti-Western scaremongering.

What was the policy of detente between the US and the USSR?

The Soviet Union and the United States stayed far apart during the next three decades of superpower conflict and the nuclear and missile arms race. Beginning in the early 1970s, the Soviet regime proclaimed a policy of détente and sought increased economic cooperation and disarmament negotiations with the West.

What was the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union?

Relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were driven by a complex interplay of ideological, political, and economic factors, which led to shifts between cautious cooperation and often bitter superpower rivalry over the years.

When did the United States stop recognizing the Soviet Union?

The United States, the Soviet Union, and the End of World War II. The policy of non-recognition ended in November 1933, when the United States, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, established full diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, the last major power to do so.