Pick up the set
On May 23, 1983, then US President Ronald Reagan delivered a televised speech at the White House, announcing that the United States had officially begun to implement the "Star Wars Program" and expounding the important components of this plan: the "Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Defense Program" and the "Anti-Satellite Program."
Reagan stated that the U.S. government plans to use space lasers and other new technologies to intercept and destroy any incoming missiles as a way to achieve the ultimate defense against the enemy to protect the security of the United States and its allies.
Finally, Reagan also singled out that the budget for the implementation of the program was up to $1 trillion (US GDP was $3.6 trillion in 1983)!
The reaction of the USSR
Having learned of the American plan, Comrade Brezhnev of the USSR was very upset. Because at this time the USSR had already gained the upper hand in the global hegemony with the United States. Although later generations (mainly in the West) have commented on Brezhnev mostly as ridicule and ridicule, such as the 1991 Guinness Book of World Records that Brezhnev is "the most decorated person in the world", and so on.
But the fact is that in the 16 years since Leonid Brezhnev became the supreme leader of the Soviet Union in 1964, the Soviet Union has achieved unprecedented growth in national power, doubled its economic power, and reached 75% of the per capita income of the United States. He first put forward the concept of "developed socialism" and declared that the Soviet Union had "built a developed socialist society", that is, "a society in which the principle of pay for work is dominant according to the principle of each according to his ability".
Erection Nirvana
In addition, Brezhnev believed that "the development of heavy industry, which was and is the immutable principle of Soviet economic policy," was a prerequisite for the fulfillment of all tasks of the national economy. To this end, he devoted more than 85 percent of his industrial investment to the development of heavy industry. As a result, the Soviet Union was evenly matched in terms of military equipment and strength, and even slightly superior in ground equipment, especially in terms of nuclear attack power, gradually showing a posture of surpassing the United States.
Therefore, in Brezhnev's view, the US Star Wars program is a countermeasure against the Soviet Union's superiority in nuclear strikes, which is a challenge to the Soviet Union and cannot be tolerated in any way. Therefore, Brezhnev instructed the military-industrial research units of the USSR to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the feasibility of the program.
At the technical level, relevant experts in the Soviet Union believed that it is an extremely complicated and almost impossible thing to develop high-tech weapons and build such a complete defense system in space in reality, so the "Star Wars Program" should only be an idea of the United States.
But the Soviet military's top brass had a different view, and they were anxious about the large and advanced military plan launched by their opponents. In particular, after the United States announced the total budget of the plan and the goals for each stage, the Soviet military felt a strong sense of crisis -- if this defense plan was implemented, the Soviet Union's missiles and satellites would be rendered useless, and the military balance of power between the United States and the Soviet Union would be completely upset by the United States.
Despite the choice for a new round of competition, the high cost could have brought down the Soviet economy. But if it does not synchronize with the United States this time, then the Soviet Union will be far behind at the technical level, and it may never have a chance to stand on the same starting line with the United States again.
Follow up! We must follow up! Let US imperialism taste the power of the iron fist of socialism!
The Soviet Union quickly adjusted its economic plan, invested more money and resources than in the previous two arms races, military spending accounted for one-third of total government expenditure, and the defense budget continued to increase, and the corresponding results were also visible.
In 1986, the Soviet Union built the first space research center for long-term human habitation, the Mir space station, established the "Administration for the Development and Utilization of Space Technology in the National Economy and Scientific Research", and created 16 independent related complexes.
The Mir space station is by far the largest human structure in outer space. Its successful establishment marked the peak of the Soviet Union's national and military strength, and the Soviet Union and the entire socialist camp rejoiced.
However, dialectics tells us that after reaching the top, we go downhill.
The plan worked
The Soviet Union's various military inputs in response to the "Star Wars program" were made at the expense of domestic economic development, and the Soviet Union's domestic economic model was too homogeneous, and its foreign exchange earnings were heavily dependent on oil exports.
Prior to this, due to the large demand for oil, a large amount of oil from the Soviet Union was transported to the international market, which made the Soviet Union earn a lot of wealth and could import a large amount of grain, foodstuffs and daily industrial products. This also caused the Soviet Union to pay less and less attention to the development of agriculture and light industry -- anyway, I have money, where can't I buy these things? Feeling that the supplies are sufficient, Brezhnev announced a reduction in prices.
At this time, the Soviet Union can be described as cooking oil on fire.
As the arms race progressed, this long-term tug-of-war left the Soviet Union's finances strapped and increasingly unsustainable. What is worse is that since 1979, agricultural output has been declining year after year, and the value of agricultural output has fallen by 3.1 percent, 2.5 percent, and 1.9 percent respectively in 1979, 1980, and 1981.
At this time, the Soviet Union was like a messy ukiyo-e.
The Soviet Union had the largest amount of arable land in the world at that time, but its grain harvest was in short year after year, and it had to import a large amount of grain; Soviet spacecraft could reach the moon and Mars, but cars broke down frequently and consumed alarming amounts of fuel; many Soviet people had outdated household appliances in their homes, television explosions were frequent, and many people often joked that Soviet-produced television sets should be given to the enemy.
It was also during this period that Western ideas, culture, and way of life began to penetrate into the hearts and minds of ordinary citizens of the Soviet Union, especially the younger generation. Western culture such as disco and jazz became fashionable among young people, and the once-eradicated phenomenon of drug abuse became all the rage. According to statistics, in the Soviet Union at that time, about 2,400 mafia organizations were formed, and most of these mafia parties had bureaucratic backgrounds. By the beginning of the 80s of the 20th century, Moscow, like New York, had become one of the most unsafe cities in the world.
As its own shortcomings continued to emerge, the Soviet Union gradually lost control of the country. Leonid Brezhnev died of illness in November 1982, and the three Soviet leaders since then, Andropov, Chernenko, and Gorbachev, have been unable to extricate the Soviet Union from the trap of the arms race.
On September 6, 1991, the three Baltic states declared independence, and on December 8, the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed the Agreement on the Commonwealth of Independent States, declaring the formation of the "Commonwealth of Independent States". On December 25, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev announced his resignation from the presidency of the Soviet Union. On December 26, the House of Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR held its last meeting and announced the cessation of the existence of the Soviet Union and the official dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The aftermath lingers
On 13 May 1993, US Secretary of Defense Aspin suddenly announced the termination of the "Star Wars" program and the complete end of the "Star Wars era." For a while, there was an uproar in the outside world, and the "Star Wars" conspiracy theory began to spread.
Nevertheless, it is of great significance for world history, as it represents the highest level of American military technology. Over the next few years, Project Star Wars had far-reaching political, military, technological, and economic implications.
It has inspired innovation in the U.S. defense industry and science and technology. For the United States, this plan is not only a scientific and technological development plan, but also a national security plan. The U.S. government and businesses have invested a lot of manpower and material resources in this program in order to achieve the goals of the plan. This investment has not only promoted the development of related technologies, but also given birth to a number of new enterprises and industries.
Although the "Star Wars Project" is theoretically unrealizable, the work done in technical research is of great significance for various fields in the future. The anti-missile technology he has studied is of great significance to national defense, and his research on laser technology and satellite technology has had a far-reaching impact on the development of information technology and communications.
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