berlin, cuba and czechoslovakia 1957-1969

Question 1

§what were the long term causes of the berlin crisis of 1961

Answer 1

1. berlin is surrounded by communist land and khrushchev wants the capitalist land out
2. it is an advert for capitalism as west berlin is prosperous and had a lot of money
   - makes communists look bad so east berliners move to west berlin or west in general and leave communism
3. therefore skilled workers were leaving communism and the population of east berlin dwindles ‘the brain drain’
4. Khrushchev believes espionage is happening in east berlin, so he wants them out
   - 1958 berlin ultimatum, khrushchev tells capitalists they have 6 months to get out of berlin but after a few talks with eisenhower this threat is dropped

Question 2

what were the short term causes of the berlin crisis of 1961

Answer 2

1. may 1960, summit meeting in paris where khrushchev walks out because euisenhower won’t apologise for U2 spy plane incident the week before
   - Gary powers was caught taking photos of russia and spying, was shot down and made to confess
2. november 1960 john f kennedy takes over presidency
   - meets khrushchev in vienna may 1961
   - afterwards kennedy increases defence spending by $3.5 billion and refuses to leave berlin
3. august 1961 work begins building the berlin wall

Question 3

what happened during the berlin wall

Answer 3

1. august 1961, wall around west berlin to stop skilled refugees escaping to the west
2. not immediate start with barbed wire and barricades minefields ect.. takes a few years to gradually build

Question 4

what was the significance of the berlin wall

Answer 4

1. terrible for people in berlin because it split families apart
   - stopped skilled refugees escaping to west berlin
2. led to increased tensions between america and superpowers
3. wall became an international symbol of the cold war
   - became a symbol for division and was used in propaganda
4. kennedy visits west berlin in 1963 and says ich bin ein berliner. i am a Berliner, i am with you

Question 5

how did the arms race develop in the 1950s

Answer 5

both sides trying to build more and more powerful weapons

1. soviet first atomic bomb in 1949
   - america had their first in 1945
2. america had their first hydrogen bomb 1953
   - soviet builds their first one slightly after
3. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) nuclear missiles formed
4. also competing in areas like warships, fighter planes, armies and things like olympics
5. 1957 soviet union puts first satellite in space (Sputnik) Start of space race!!!

Question 6

what was the background to the cuban missile crisis 1962

Answer 6

1. ‘missile gap’- soviet union overtaking usa, causing fear and suspicion
2. tension between us and soviet union after vienna summit kennedy increased defence spending and khrushchev builds a wall

Question 7

what happened to the cuban missile crisis 1962

Answer 7

1. 1959, civil war, cuba turns communist
2. old cuban leader= batista, new one Fidel castro
   - castro removed american businesses and companies
   - so americans stopped buying cuban sugar and khrushchev offers to buy it instead to get friendly w cuba
   - many cubans migrated to floria in exile
3. april 1961- cuban exiles trained by americans (la brigade) 1500 launched invasion of cuba and landed at bay of pigs
   - cost $45 million

Question 8

what happened at bay of pigs 1961

Answer 8

Bay of pigs (epic failure)
1. done to overthrow castro but he was popular so it didnt spark a popular uprising

2. 20,000 cuban soldiers waiting for them at bay of pigs, so were hugely outnumbered
3. americans wouldn’t use their airforce to help
   - made kennedy look soft and weak

Question 9

what were the consequences of the bay of pigs 1961

Answer 9

1. pushes soviet union and cuba closer together
2. soviet sends cuba missels for defense
3. castro declares himself to be communist
4. October 1962- US finds soviet missiles in cuba ready to fire at usa ‘cuban missile crisis’
   - 13 days long and closest ever came to nuclear war
5. EX-COMM headed by robert kennedy decide there are four options
   - bomb cuba/ invade cuba
   - strategic bombing of missile sites
   - diplomacy with russians
   - quarintine cuba aka ship blockades around cuba to stop russian ships with missiles

Question 10

what were the consequences of the cuban missile crisis 1962

Answer 10

1. kennedy had a better reputation, seemed strong and as the victor
   - khrushchev seemed weak and in 1964 he was sacked due to the humiliation

RELATIONS IMPROVED
2. 1963 hotline installed so white house and kremlin can communicate more efficiently, relations improved

3. 1963 they signed partial test ban treaty
   - less threatening and agressive towards eachtoehr
4. 1968, they signed nuclear non-proliferation treaty
   - stop other countries getting nuclear weapons so promised to keep them to themseklves
5. 1969 SALT (strategic arms limitation talks)
   - discuss limiting amount of nuclear weapons

Question 11

what is the background of czechoslovakia 1986

Answer 11

1. have strongest economy in warsaw pact
   - so russia was keen to keep it
2. geographically links ussr to germany
   - without it create a tunnel for germany and splits the warsaw pact in 2

Question 12

what caused czechoslovakia : the prague spring reform in 1968

Answer 12

1. leader of czechoslovakia, Navoty since 1957
   - unpopular because he was a harsh communist and refused to introduce reform
2. people were tired of communism because:
   - economy in serious decline since 1960s
   - low standard of living
   - trade and travel restrictions
   - no freedom of speech, secret police will imprision/tourture
   - no elections
   - no religion
   - russian soldiers traded czechoslovakian people badly
   - russian culture taught at schools
3. are repressed and want freedom 1968
4. soviet leader in 1964, brezhnev is worried
   - decidees to get rid of novoty and replace with popular alexander dubcek in 1968 to stop rebellion
   - hes a softer communist and wants to introduce ‘socialism with a human face’

Question 13

what were the prague spring reforms 1968

Answer 13

series of reforms dubcek introduced

1. removal of trade and travel restrictions
2. reduction in powers of secret police to imprision without trial
3. creation of works councils to improve working conditions and increase trade union rights
4. democratic elections
5. freedom of speech and abolition of press censorship
   - march 1968 newspapers were printing uncensored discussions of political and social changed

Question 14

what was the soviet reaction to dubcek’s prague spring reforms 1968

Answer 14

1. communist leaders e.g. east germany Ulbritch and Poland’s Gomulka were afraid of it happening in their countries
   - upset with dubcek
2. Brezhnev and dubcek meet and dubcek reassures them that he isn’t turning capitalist
   - however brezhnev decides something needs to be done and sends the tanks in
3. 20th august 500,000 troops invaded czechoslovakia from warsaw pact
   - 11 soviet soldiers killed and 72 czech’s killed
4. dubcek spent 4 days in interview with brezhnev and raced to renounce reforms
   - took a year for things to settle down because many protests occurred

Question 15

what was the significance of the prague spring reforms in 1968

Answer 15

1. czechoslovakia remained communist under husk and the rebellion was quashed
2. brezhnev doctrine said it will get involved in capitalist threat in the ussr
   - disobedience not tolerated
3. romania didnt send troops to czechoslovakia and thought it was wrong, became weary of russia
   - china didnt like it either, mao and brezhnev fell out
4. america not happy but didnt want to provoke war and it was behind iron curtain