DSE History: Detente 1969-1979 (Tutor Prep Guide) — SALT I, the Shanghai Communique and Afghanistan

2026-11-05

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary History

The lesson fixes the pattern where a student describes the 1970s as the end of the Cold War and cannot say why detente had conditions, a timetable and a failure.

Objectives — By the end students can (1) name the Shanghai Communique, SALT I and the Helsinki Final Act; (2) explain three drivers of detente: nuclear parity, Vietnam and economic strain, and the Sino-Soviet split; (3) explain how the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan ended detente and why that is not the end of the Cold War.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
The two Cold War blocs	Name NATO under the United States and the Warsaw Pact under the Soviet Union	Swapping the alliances must be corrected at once
What nuclear deterrence means	Explain mutual assured destruction in one sentence	Both sides fear nuclear war is acceptable
Outcome of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis	Both sides stepped back and a hotline was set up	A Soviet victory answer needs the earlier lesson rebuilt

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
5 minutes	Opening diagnosis	Ask students to define detente and name one 1970s event	Write alone, no books
8 minutes	Drivers	List three drivers and have students attach one fact to each	Copy three lines with one fact each
12 minutes	Document work	Model reading the Shanghai Communique and ask what each side wanted from each phrase	Supply the next sentence aloud
10 minutes	Source question	Hand out a SALT I signing photo and a 1979 Afghanistan headline, ask about the change in tone	Write two sentences quoting the source
5 minutes	Trap check	Write that the Cold War ended in 1972 and ask students to refute it	Refute with one year
5 minutes	Exit check	Give three questions to finish independently	Answer alone

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: 1969: all three sides were hurting

Write 1962, 1969 and 1972 on the board and ask who changed position in the decade after the Cuban crisis. Then explain: in 1969 Soviet and Chinese forces clashed on the Ussuri border, cracking the socialist camp; the United States was trapped in Vietnam with rising domestic protest, military spending and inflation; the Soviet Union faced the long cost of the arms race and proposed a European security conference. Ask which side was in the greatest hurry. The answer matters less than the insight that detente came from three calculations, not from goodwill.

Students write one sentence: the first driver of detente was ___.

Scene 2: 1972 and 1975: putting the conversation into documents

Explain: in October 1971 UN Resolution 2758 gave the China seat to the People’s Republic; in February 1972 Nixon visited Beijing and the Shanghai Communique recorded separate positions while agreeing not to settle disputes by force; in May 1972 the Moscow summit signed SALT I and the ABM Treaty, putting numerical ceilings on strategic weapons for the first time; in 1975 the Helsinki Final Act had the West accept European borders and the Soviet Union accept human rights and contact provisions. Ask whether Helsinki was a Soviet or a Western victory. Both sides thought they had won, and the human rights basket was later used repeatedly by dissidents. That exchange is the nature of detente.

Students write one line for each document: year, signatories, what was traded.

Scene 3: 1979: one winter ends a decade

Explain: SALT II was signed in Vienna in June 1979 but never ratified by the US Senate; in December 1979 Soviet troops entered Afghanistan, and Carter withdrew the treaty, imposed sanctions and boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Ask why a small country could end a decade of detente. Because detente rested on one assumption, that negotiation could restrain expansion, and Afghanistan disproved it, so domestic politics turned at once. Detente was a conditional cooling, not the end of the Cold War.

Students write the year and trigger that ended detente plus one line on why it is not the end of the Cold War.

Scene 4: Closing: cooling is not ending

Draw a line across the board: high in 1947, highest in 1962, down in 1972, up in 1979, down again from 1989. Explain that the line measures confrontation, not war and peace, and that proxy wars continued throughout detente in 1973 in the Middle East and 1975 in Angola.

Students write one sentence distinguishing detente from the end of the Cold War, with one example each.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Causal question (why)	Why did the United States push for detente in the early 1970s?	1 military: more arms had falling returns under parity 2 economic: Vietnam and inflation 3 diplomatic: the Sino-Soviet split gave leverage	Nuclear parity, the cost of Vietnam and inflation, and the Sino-Soviet split made negotiation cheaper than confrontation.
Comparison	Compare the handling of the 1962 Cuban crisis with SALT I in 1972	1 crisis mode 2 outcome 3 durability	1962 ended through crisis management and secret concessions; 1972 wrote limits into a treaty with regular talks and institutionalised the cooling.
Source question (communique or photograph)	Shanghai Communique 1972: each side states its own position	1 identify the document and year 2 explain how it handled disagreement 3 explain its signal to third parties	A bilateral communique managing the Taiwan disagreement through separate statements while signalling rapprochement to Moscow.
Essay (how far)	Detente was mainly the result of American concessions. How far do you agree?	1 argue American initiative under Vietnam and economic strain 2 counter that Moscow also needed lower costs and faced the Chinese border 3 conclude two-way but unequal	American concessions were more visible, but Moscow also needed arms ceilings and recognition of European borders, so the trade ran both ways.

Sanity check (teach this): Keep years exact: Ussuri clashes 1969, UN Resolution 2758 October 1971, Shanghai Communique February 1972, SALT I May 1972, Helsinki 1975, Afghanistan December 1979. Never say SALT II entered into force, and never say proxy wars stopped during detente.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Use three documents to show the institutional side of detente	Shanghai Communique, SALT I with the ABM Treaty, Helsinki Final Act	Check that years and traded terms appear, not just that meetings happened
Explain how the Sino-Soviet split affected American policy	After the 1969 border clashes Washington could court Beijing and create a triangle	Check that leverage is explained, not just rivalry
How Afghanistan ended detente	Invasion, unratified SALT II, sanctions, Olympic boycott	Check that signing and ratification are distinguished

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Cooling mistaken for ending	Nixon went to China in 1972, so the Cold War ended.	The Cold War ran to 1989 to 1991. 1972 was detente, and confrontation rose again in 1979.
Signing mistaken for ratification	SALT II was signed in 1979 and took effect, capping strategic weapons.	It was signed but never ratified, so it never took effect. Examiners test this distinction.
Ignoring proxy wars	During detente the superpowers stopped clashing.	There were proxy wars in 1973 in the Middle East and 1975 in Angola; detente covered direct confrontation only.
One-way explanation	Detente was an American gift to the Soviet Union.	Moscow also wanted lower military costs, a solution on the Chinese border and recognition of Europe’s postwar borders.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

S6 Cuban missile crisis guide: section 3, act two — See how crisis management forced dialogue before studying the policy tools of detente
S5 Origins of the Cold War guide: section 5, practice question 1 — Compare the tone of 1947 with 1972

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Name two drivers of detente	Falling returns on more arms under nuclear parity; Vietnam and economic strain	Both needed; wanting peace alone means reteaching act one
Years of the Shanghai Communique and SALT I	February 1972 and May 1972	Wrong years or merging them means reteaching act two
One sentence on why detente ended	The 1979 Afghan invasion showed negotiation could not restrain expansion	A Soviet collapse answer is a chronology error

09 Tutor FAQ

Which year group is this for

Mainly S6; S5 classes covering the later Cold War can use act one and the timeline only.

Is forty-five minutes enough

Yes. Read one document closely and summarise the other two in a sentence; the target is that students can name what was traded.

Do I need handouts

Only an extract from the Shanghai Communique and one 1979 headline. A full treaty text will stall the lesson.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.