Mozambique becomes independent from Portugal

Military officers deposed Emperor Haile Selassie amid popular unrest, peasant demands, labor organizing, and student protest. The USSR was not the author of the revolution; later Soviet alignment with...

The leaders agreed on broad limits for strategic offensive weapons as a basis for further negotiations. The framework advanced détente but remained a bargain between nuclear powers whose decisions...

Portugal and the MPLA, FNLA, and UNITA agreed on a transition to independence. The movements had distinct social bases and competing political visions; the accord soon collapsed as foreign...

The Khmer Rouge captured the capital after years of civil war and U.S. bombing. Cambodian people faced forced evacuation and a radical regime; Soviet policy and support for other Cambodian factions...

The fall of Saigon ended the Republic of Vietnam and completed the reunification process under the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Soviet material support mattered, but Vietnamese people and movements...

The spacecraft docked in orbit and crews met during a symbolic détente mission. Cooperation was real but limited: both programs retained military links, and the joint spectacle drew on labor and...

The USSR and 34 other states signed commitments on European security, borders, cooperation, and human rights. Moscow emphasized recognition of postwar borders; dissidents later used the human-rights...

The Nobel Committee honored physicist and dissident Sakharov for advocacy of human rights and disarmament. Soviet authorities denied him permission to travel, illustrating the conflict between...

Portugal’s withdrawal left competing liberation movements fighting for control. The MPLA proclaimed the People’s Republic of Angola with Soviet and Cuban support, while the FNLA and UNITA contested...

The congress reaffirmed the Brezhnev leadership and the language of developed socialism. Its agenda presented the Union as an equal federation while decision-making remained concentrated in the...