← Unit 2: Movements in the modern world
How did peace and anti-nuclear movements shape the Cold War world?
Peace and anti-nuclear movements from the 1950s, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Aldermaston marches, the international peace movement of the 1980s, and Australian protests against US bases and French Pacific nuclear testing
A focused answer to the QCE Modern History Unit 2 dot point on peace and anti-nuclear movements. Origins in the late 1950s (CND, Aldermaston marches from 1958), the Greenham Common protest (1981-2000), the 1980s European peace movement, the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior (1985), Australian protests against US bases (Pine Gap) and French Pacific tests, and post-Cold-War legacy.
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What this dot point is asking
QCAA wants Year 11 students to trace peace and anti-nuclear movements from the late 1950s to the end of the Cold War, identify the Australian dimensions of these movements, and evaluate their political effectiveness.
Origins (1950s)
Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945). The bombings established the moral and practical urgency of nuclear politics.
Russell-Einstein Manifesto (July 1955). Eleven leading scientists (including Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, and nine Nobel laureates) called for governments to find peaceful means of resolving disputes given the destructive power of nuclear weapons.
Pugwash Conferences (from 1957). Scientists from East and West met to discuss nuclear arms control. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995.
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND, UK, founded 1958). Mass British anti-nuclear organisation. The "peace symbol" (semaphore for N and D over a circle) was designed for CND.
Aldermaston marches (from 1958). Annual march from Trafalgar Square to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston. Up to marchers at the peak.
1960s-1970s
Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962). Concentrated public concern about nuclear war into a -day window.
Limited Test Ban Treaty (1963). Banned atmospheric and underwater nuclear tests.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968, in force 1970). Three pillars: non-proliferation, disarmament, peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Anti-Vietnam War overlap. Peace movement organisation increasingly entangled with anti-Vietnam War mobilisation through the 1960s.
1980s peace movement wave
NATO Dual Track Decision (December 1979). Deploy Pershing II and cruise missiles in Western Europe by 1983 unless arms-control progress was made with the USSR. Re-energised European peace movements.
European demonstrations. Approximately in Bonn (October 1981); in Amsterdam (November 1981); million in London's Hyde Park rally (October 1983).
Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp (1981-2000). Established by women opposed to the deployment of cruise missiles at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire. At peak () sustained a continuous camp at multiple gates. The "embrace the base" demonstration (December 1982) saw women link hands around the perimeter.
Nuclear Freeze Campaign (US). people demonstrated in Central Park (12 June 1982).
Australian dimension. Palm Sunday peace rallies through the 1980s drew large crowds. Concerns about US bases in Australia (Pine Gap, Nurrungar, North West Cape) and the implications for nuclear targeting.
New Zealand. Lange Labour government (1984-1989) declared a nuclear-free zone (Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987). New Zealand refused entry to US nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered ships, leading the US to effectively suspend NZ from ANZUS (1986).
Greenpeace and the Rainbow Warrior
Greenpeace had been active against Pacific nuclear testing since the early 1970s (Mururoa, France's nuclear test site in French Polynesia). The MV Rainbow Warrior was bombed and sunk by French intelligence agents in Auckland harbour on 10 July 1985; photographer Fernando Pereira was killed. The exposure of French state-sponsored terrorism on New Zealand soil produced an international diplomatic crisis.
French Pacific nuclear testing continued until the 1995-1996 final round of tests under President Chirac, in the face of massive South Pacific opposition (Australia and New Zealand recalled ambassadors; consumer boycotts of French goods).
INF Treaty and end of the Cold War
Reykjavik summit (October 1986). Reagan and Gorbachev came close to agreeing to eliminate all nuclear weapons; the summit failed but established the negotiating framework.
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (December 1987). Eliminated all nuclear and conventional ground-launched missiles with ranges - km. The first treaty to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons.
START I (1991). Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Reduced US and Soviet strategic warheads by approximately %.
The end of the Cold War (1989-1991) reduced the urgency of anti-nuclear politics but did not end it.
Post-Cold War
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (1996). Banned all nuclear explosions for any purpose; not yet entered into force.
Iran and North Korea. Both became central nuclear proliferation concerns in the 21st century.
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017). Approved by UN member states; entered into force January 2021. No nuclear weapon states (or NATO members, or Australia) have signed.
Significance
Peace and anti-nuclear movements achieved limited but real influence:
- Constrained NATO basing decisions in several European countries.
- Helped shape New Zealand's distinctive nuclear-free policy.
- Contributed to the climate that made INF possible.
- Ended atmospheric nuclear testing.
In one sentence
Peace and anti-nuclear movements from CND and the Aldermaston marches (UK, 1958) through the 1980s European mobilisation against Pershing and cruise missile deployment, Greenham Common (1981-2000), the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior sinking (1985) and New Zealand's break with ANZUS (1986), contributed to the public atmosphere that produced the INF Treaty (1987), the end of atmospheric testing, and successive arms-control agreements through to the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Past exam questions, worked
Real questions from past QCAA papers on this dot point, with our answer explainer.
Year 11 class taskAssess the effectiveness of the peace and anti-nuclear movements of the 1980s in shaping superpower nuclear policy.Show worked answer →
A Year 11 response.
Thesis. The peace and anti-nuclear movements of the 1980s were effective in raising public concern about nuclear war, constraining NATO basing decisions, and contributing to the public atmosphere that made the INF Treaty (1987) and the wider arms-control breakthrough possible, though direct causal claims about superpower policy must be made cautiously.
Body 1: The wave. NATO's Dual Track Decision (1979) to deploy Pershing II and cruise missiles in Europe was countered by mass demonstrations. The October 1981 Bonn demonstration drew people; subsequent European demonstrations were even larger. The Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp (UK, from 1981) became iconic.
Body 2: Political and policy effects. Several European governments faced significant domestic opposition. The Dutch and Belgian governments delayed deployment. In Australia, the Hawke government distanced itself from the more provocative aspects of US nuclear policy without breaking ANZUS. New Zealand under David Lange (Labour, 1984-1989) declared a nuclear-free zone and was effectively ejected from ANZUS for refusing US nuclear-armed vessels.
Body 3: The Reagan-Gorbachev breakthrough. The Reykjavik summit (October 1986) and the INF Treaty (December 1987, eliminating an entire class of nuclear weapons) marked a turning point. The treaty was negotiated against a background of strong public pressure on both sides; Gorbachev's reform agenda included responding to popular peace sentiment.
Conclusion. The peace movements did not by themselves produce the INF Treaty; it required Reagan's surprising flexibility and Gorbachev's reformist commitment. But they shaped the political space in which leaders operated and contributed to the ending of Cold War nuclear escalation.
Markers reward dates (1979 Dual Track, 1981 Greenham, 1987 INF), the New Zealand-ANZUS detail, and the appropriately cautious causal language.
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