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Euromissiles Crisis

This is a collection of primary source documents dating from 1979 to 1983 – during a period of confrontation and building tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. The documents in the collection come from Dutch, German, and Italian archives. They include correspondence and negotiations between the leaders of NATO member countries. The majority of the documents are from 1979, an eventful year which included the conclusion of SALT II (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks), the Soviet Union's deployment of SS-20 nuclear missiles targeting Western Europe, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The rest of the documents dating from 1980 to 1983 deal with security policy and the increased hostility between the Soviet Union and the West. See also the related collections in the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project. (Image: Mass peace demonstration in Bonn against the modernization of nuclear weapons in West, October 10, 1981.)

Popular Documents

May 31, 1983

Meeting Minutes of the Politburo of the CC CPSU, Regarding Western Plans for Deployment of New Nuclear Weapons in Europe

Politburo discussion, presided over by Andropov, on how to respond to the Western decision to deploy new nuclear weapons in Europe.

March 11, 1980

Letter to the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Chairman of the Socialist International, Willy Brandt

A letter from Brezhnev to Willy Brandt before their meeting in Madrid. Discusses detente and the disarmament.

August 7, 1980

Meeting between Comrades Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev and Todor Zhivkov

This memorandum provides an overview of the meeting between Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov and Leonid Brezhnev. The two discussed international affairs, specifically escalating tensions with the U.S. and NATO, and Soviet interest in maintaining and strengthening detente. In response, a new international summit of the communist parties is proposed.

October 1983

Evolution of the deployment of Soviet intermediate missiles

An exhaustive memo on the deployment of the Soviet Intermediate Nuclear Forces from 1977 to 1983.

July 6, 1981

Conversation between SPD chairman Willy Brandt and the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Leonid Brezhnev on 30 June 1981 in Moscow

Memorandum of a conversation between Brandt and Brezhnev. Among other things, Brezhnev focused on the increased hostility between members of the international community. He pointed to debate over missiles in Europe as an example of that tension.