Los Angeles Summer Olympics open without the USSR and its allies

Warsaw Pact states declined to set a resumption date for negotiations on mutual troop reductions in Europe. The suspension narrowed a major arms-control forum during a period of heightened nuclear...

Andropov died after a short and often illness-interrupted tenure. His government’s limited discipline campaign did not resolve deeper economic problems or the war in Afghanistan.

The elderly Chernenko succeeded Andropov, continuing the rapid leadership turnover of the early 1980s. The choice highlighted the aging of the political elite and the narrowing space for reform.

The USSR cited security concerns and alleged anti-Soviet hostility as reasons for non-participation. The boycott was retaliatory in the context of the 1980 Moscow boycott and again made athletes carry...

The Reagan administration proposed meetings in September to discuss resuming negotiations on strategic and intermediate-range nuclear weapons and antisatellite arms. The proposal came after years of...

Chernenko’s death ended another brief leadership tenure and accelerated a generational transition at the top of the CPSU. The Soviet Union faced stagnation, a costly Afghan war, and loss of confidence...

The Central Committee chose Gorbachev, the youngest Soviet leader in decades. He inherited an empire-wide system marked by economic problems, national inequalities, restricted public debate, and a war...

Gorbachev’s first major policy initiative emphasized faster economic and technological development. The campaign began before perestroika became a broad reform program and retained top-down...

The USSR began a unilateral moratorium on nuclear explosions, timed to the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing and initially set through January 1, 1986. The pledge made Kazakhstan’s test-site...

The leaders met for the first time at the Geneva Summit. Their talks began a new phase of direct engagement, but the encounter remained a negotiation between nuclear superpowers whose decisions...