Reagan came to power in 1980 and immediately implemented his idea that an increase in military spending would help win the cold war. In 1980 £325 billion was spent on arms which rose to $456 billion by 1987 going against the agreements associated with Détente. During this increase in military spending Reagan restarted the development of the neutron bomb – which could kill people by radiation without destroying buildings or contaminating land. Another of his developments was the more accurate peacekeeper missiles, suggesting he had the intention of nuking the USSR. He also started the development of the stealth bomber which was undetectable by radar. A consequence of this is that the USSR may believe that the USA wanted to spy on them again and would in due course raise tensions further. By 1983 he had installed cruise missiles in Europe which would take 10 minutes to reach the USSR. His hatred of communism was highlighted when he called the USSR ‘the evil empire’ and was also emphasised by his aggressive spending in the development of arms.
In the USSR Gorbachev had implemented new policies of Perestroika and most significantly Glasnost, which were openness and the reduction of corruption. This triggered workers at the Gdansk shipyard to want more of these policies in their country – leading them to put forward 21 demands to the government. All 21 demands were agreed to in August 1980 which included free trade unions and the right to strike. In 5 months the membership had peaked at 9.4 million (more than a third of all workers in Poland). Due to its increasing popularity it was deemed illegal but support from the west ensured it continued as an underground movement in 1983. In 1988 Gorbachev abandoned the Brezhnev Doctrine deeming that the Red Army would not stop any attempt to break away from communism by the satellite states. Solidarity would have made the US