Based on my understanding of the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis was understandably a major contributor to the later U.S. policy of detente towards the Soviet Union. However, the official detente period didn't actually begin until years later when the first round of anti-nuclear proliferation treaties were negotiated.
My question is, in the absence of a Cuban Missile Crisis (say Nixon is President during the early 1960s), what is the effect on the detente of the 1970s? Could it still come about as a result of the Vietnam War and Sino-Soviet border dispute? Or would a similar crisis play out, resulting in little change to history?
My question is, in the absence of a Cuban Missile Crisis (say Nixon is President during the early 1960s), what is the effect on the detente of the 1970s? Could it still come about as a result of the Vietnam War and Sino-Soviet border dispute? Or would a similar crisis play out, resulting in little change to history?