Carter and Brezhnev sign the SALT II treaty

Afghan military officers and the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan seized power and killed President Mohammed Daoud Khan. The new government pursued a radical program that encountered...

The treaty formalized close relations after Vietnam’s reunification and its conflict with Cambodia and China. Vietnam pursued its own security and regional aims; the agreement also expanded Soviet...

The treaty deepened bilateral cooperation under President Taraki. It preceded the Soviet military intervention by a year and should not be confused with an open-ended authorization for the 1979...

The Shah’s departure followed a mass revolutionary movement against monarchy and foreign influence. Moscow watched a regional upheaval shaped by Iranian actors, whose diverse political visions...

Chinese forces crossed into Vietnam after months of worsening relations. The USSR condemned the attack and supported Vietnam under their 1978 treaty, while Vietnamese communities faced a devastating...

Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki was critically injured in an internal power struggle, and Hafizullah Amin consolidated control. The episode reflects factional conflict within Afghanistan’s ruling...

Soviet forces began a large-scale deployment into Afghanistan in late December. Moscow described the move as assistance requested by Kabul; it escalated an Afghan conflict into a foreign...

Soviet forces assaulted government sites in Kabul, killed Hafizullah Amin, and installed Babrak Karmal. The intervention intensified resistance and displacement; Afghans were political actors, not a...

Emergency Special Session Resolution ES-6/2 deplored the armed intervention and demanded the immediate, unconditional, and total withdrawal of foreign troops. The vote made Afghan sovereignty a...

President Carter publicly called for the Games to be moved or boycotted unless Soviet forces left Afghanistan. The decision linked sport to the intervention and placed athletes in the middle of a...