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Gorbachev → eager to bring his new thinking to foreign policy + role of military in USSR
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began to cut spending on defence.
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after almost 50 years of massive investment + preparations for war with US and allies → Red army began to shrink
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Gorbachev → realistic enough to recognise → USSR could not hope to outspend US on nuclear weapons.
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announced cut in arms spending.
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2Y later → US and USSR → signed treaty → remove most of their missiles from Europe
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same time → Gorbachev → brought a new attitude to USSR’s relation with world
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withdrew soviet troops from Afghanization.
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speech after speech → talked abt intl trust + cooperation rather than confrontation as way forward for USSR