COLD WAR 2 Flashcards
(34 cards)
refugee problem in Berlin
-During the 1950s, West Germany received Marshall aid and prospered into a country where the people enjoyed a high standard of living while east Germany received far less aid from the Soviet union and the government’s economic policies were largely unsuccessful and as a result the people had a much lower standard of living and often lacked basic necessities/ goods
- as a result the communist regime became increasingly unpopular amongst the people of East Germany since there were many restrictions on what they could do or say and they were constantly monitored by the secret police
-1953 riots against the government and the soviet government subdued them with armed forces
-Many East Germans decided to leave the East for West Germany since they knew the quality of life there was much higher and in 1958, 3 million East Germans (over a sixth of the country’s population) had crossed to the West- many of them being people who East Germany needed to rebuild the economy :skilled workers like engineers, technicians and teachers, etc -knowing they could receive much higher salaries in West Germany
impact of the Berlin ultimatum on international relations
West was outraged by Khrushchev’s demands and saw them as another example of his trying to spread communism, while Khrushchev saw his actions as essential to stop the flood of skilled citizens leaving the country
- however by 1958 both the soviet union and the USA were in possession of nuclear weapons and neither wanted to resort to war, even the West German chancellor, Adenauer, who was strongly opposed to giving East Germany independence
- so between 1959 and 1961 a series of talks were held to solve the issue (Geneva and camp David summits)
what was Khrushchev’s solution to the Berlin problem?
Khrushchev’s solution was for the whole of Berlin to become part of the surrounding territory of East Germany since he knew if the Western allies left Berlin it would be much harder for East Germans to leave for the West but he also knew that they would have to be forced out and would not leave willingly
-November 1958 Khrushchev demanded that Western countries should officially recognise East Germany as an independent country, which was refused
-27 November Khrushchev issued his Berlin ultimatum which demanded that Berlin should be demilitarised and Western troops withdrawn and that Berlin should become a free city
- the West had 6 months to make these changes or Khrushchev would hand over control of all routes into Berlin to the government of East Germany, which would force the Western powers to talk to the East German authorities and so force them to acknowledge East Germany as a legitimate country
Geneva Summit
May 1959
-held in neutral Switzerland where both sides put forward proposals for how Berlin should be governed but no agreement was reached
-Eisenhower invited Khrushchev to the USA for further talks
Camp David
September 1959
- Eisenhower and Khrushchev met face to face for the first time at the presidential ranch but there was still no agreement about a way forward for Berlin but the Soviets agreed to withdraw the Berlin Ultimatum
- the meeting seemed to have established better relations between the two leaders and it was agreed that further talks would happen in Paris that summer
meeting in Paris and the plane?
May 1940
- Soviet Union made an announcement that on 1 may they had shot down an American U2 spy plane as it flew over the Soviet Union
- American tried to claim it had been a weather plan that had veered off course but the soviets interrogated the pilot, Gary Powers, who admitted to being on a spying mission
- although this incident embarrassed Eisenhower he refused to apologise and Khrushchev walked out of the meeting and no agreements were made
When did John . F. Kennedy take over
January 1961
Vienna meeting
June 1961
-Kennedy followed a policy of building up the US’s military forces but attempting to resolves tings with the Soviet union through talks at the same time
- Khrushchev thought that it would be possible to get his way over Kennedy due to his inexperience in foreign affairs and Kennedy’s reputation had suffered after the American invasion at the Bay of Pigs had failed, which was why Khrushchev took a tougher approach and renewed the Berlin ultimatum on 1958 at the Vienna talks held in June 1961
-Kennedy decided not to give way and refused to make any concession, making their professional relationship very strained
-afterwards, Kennedy decided to increase spending on American armed force by over $2 million to protect the USA if war did break out- seemingly the USA was prepared to fight over Berlin
building of the Berlin wall
Khrushchev’s approach had forced the Western allies to again become involved in talks about the city’s future but as tensions between the east and west grew more east Germans fled to the West, e.g. August 1961 40,000 east Germans crossed to the West
-East German leader, Walter Ulbricht urged Khrushchev to close the border and on the 12th August 1961 East German troops built a fence of barbed wire around Berlin and between East and West Berlin
-work soon began to build a concrete wall spanning 165 kilometres : the ‘Berlin wall’
Impacts of the Berlin wall
the wall cut through streets and even buildings and while it was being built there were many attempts at escape, e. g a woman threw a mattress into west Berlin through a window then jumped out, landed on it but later died of her injuries- west berlin fire service tried to help others by catching them in blankets
- wall was finished by the end of summer and along a 27 mile section that divided the centre of Berlin there were technically 2 walls, one facing east and the other west and were separated by a zone called ‘ no man’s land’, packed with traps, barbed wire, minefields and car barriers, all guarded by lookout towers with machine gun nets and powerful search lights
- some people still made desperate attempts at escape and east German border guards were told to shoot those who did- it is estimated that over 130 people were killed
outcomes of the berlin wall for the Soviet union
negative:
-Khrushchev had to abandon plans to unite Germany under soviet control
-the wall showed the Soviet union had to lock people in to stop them from leaving and given a choice they seemed to prefer capitalism of communism
Positive;
- people were now unable to leave as refugees
- the wall also sent the message to the west that communism would survive in berlin and any attempt to reunite Germany under western control would fail
outcomes of the Berlin wall for the USA
negative:
-Soviet union had closed the border without consulting them
- the people who wanted to escape communism were no longer able to
negative:
- the wall showed that Khrushchev had been forced to accept Western control in berlin and was perhaps less willing to try and take advantage of Kennedy
-west berlin became an emblem of freedom and defiance against communism
Kennedy’s reception in Berlin
He visited Berlin in 1963 and was celebrated and he made a speech praising the freedoms of the west and contrasted them with communism and said ‘ich bin ein Berliner’ -I am a citizen of berlin
impacts of the wall on international relations
increased tensions+ two sides had yet to reach an agreement over Germany since the war and Khrushchev had resorted to building a wall, which reminded others of the ‘iron curtain speech’ + berlin wall became a powerful symbol of the differences between the east and the west for almost 30 years before being taken down in 1989
positive outcomes - Berlin was divided and the east and west borders were closed so there was les chance of the US and soviet union going to war over berlin+ it may have even reduced tension
Cuban revolution
January 1959
-group of revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara overthrew the pro- American Cuban government
- Eisenhower was concerned because there were close links between the USA and Cuba- American businesses had invested heavily in Cuba and much of the land was owned by Americans- Cuba’s oil refineries, electricity and phone networks and railways were also controlled by Americans and the USA was an important investor in Cuba’s main export, sugar
-Fidel Castro did not want the country’s economy to be controlled by America which created tension
areas of tension as a result of the Cuban revolution
-American government recognised the new government but refused to provide economic aid unless Cuba followed guidelines set out by the International monetary Fund
-May 1959 the Cuban government took over all land in Cuba owned by foreign nationals and paid compensation to previous owners but the US government refused to acknowledge the scheme but Castro took the land anyway
- Castro had already begun appointing communists to his government when in February 1960 he made an agreement with the soviet union where Khrushchev agreed to buy sugar in return for economic aid, including a secret clause saying that Cuba would receive arms from the Soviet union
Why was the USA concerned about Cuba
a pro -soviet regime was being established just 145 kilometres from US mainland and they decided to take action to try and bring Cuba in line
-July 1960 Eisenhower reduced the amount of sugar being bought from Cuba and in October banned all trade with the country
-January 1961 USA broke of all diplomatic relations with Cuba
Bay of Pigs
President Kennedy who took over in 1961 decided to go through with a plan agreed by the CIA and Eisenhower previously in which a group of Cuban exiled could be trained and then sent to invade Cuba and topple the Castro regime and it would look like a Cuban counter -revolution so the USA could claim to have no involvement
- 17 April 1961 an invasion force of around 1,400 exiles landed at the ‘bay of pigs’ in Cuba, but the coup was a complete failure
why was the coup in the bay of pigs a failure
-the volunteers had little military experience and had only been given a little training by the CIA in contrast to the battle hardened revolutionary army in Cuba
-the USA wanted to present the attack as a Cuban effort to get rid of Castro so they could not send US forces or air strikes to support the attack
- Castro’s government had already found out about the plan beforehand so he 1400 invaders were met with an army of 20,000
-the USA and the exile army assumed that the Cubans would support them but this was wrong as they were evidently fairly happy with Castro’s regime
- Castro showed wrecked aeroplanes and other evidence of the Cuban victory to journalists from around the world- the American involvement was clear and became a public humiliation for the USA
effects of the Bay of Pigs on international relations
-humiliating failure for the USA especially since they had previously accused the Soviet union of attempting to build an empire in Eastern Europe and now it seemed they were doing the same thing by attempting to restore American influence in an independent country by supporting an armed uprising of its government
- soviet union pointed out that the Cubans were happy with Castro’s rule and did not lend their support to the exiles and used this as an example of the popularity of communism
- it led to stronger relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union- after the incident Castro declared himself a communist and aske Khrushchev for help in defending Cuba against future attacks by the USA- Khrushchev then publicly announced he would provide them arms in September 1961
-Kennedy was concerned since Cuba would now have modern military equipment and training from Soviet experts, which could put the USA under threat if nuclear weapons were placed in Cuba - Kennedy warned Khrushchev not to use Cuba as a base to threaten the USA, to which he claimed he had no intention of doing so, which was a lie
Cuban Missile Crisis
14 October 1962 an American u2 spy plane took pictures of what appeared to be launch pads for medium range ballistic missiles which could carry nuclear warheads capable of causing significant damage to American cities- American intelligence agencies informed Kennedy of soviet ships sailing to Cuba, presumably carrying the missiles themselves
why would Khrushchev provoke the US by placing nuclear weapons in Cuba
-in Europe, NATO had placed missiles in Turkey just a short distance from the soviet union, so Khrushchev may have wanted the Americans to also feel threatened, or perhaps have the missiles removed from Turkey
- the building of the Berlin wall had been portrayed as a failure for Khrushchev so if he could outwit Kennedy over Cuba, it would restore his reputation
- He may have feared another attack by the Americans, which would have been seen as a defeat for communism if they had succeeded in overthrowing Castro
solution to the Cuban Missile crisis
16-28 October 1962 Kennedy and the Executive Committee met to discuss how the US should react
-22 October it was decided an attack would not be launched and instead a naval blockade was set up around Cuba so no ships could pass without US permission
- many expected the Soviets to ignore it, meaning the Americans would have to sink the ships and war would break out so the US had in advance prepared 54 bombers each with 4 nuclear warheads
-24 October the soviet ships reached the blockade and turned around and so nuclear war was avoided
what was the effect of the placement of missiles on Cuba
there was not much practical difference since they could be fired at the USA from the soviet union but the political difference were that this would be a victory for Khrushchev and allow him the upper hand in negotiation about Berlin and the American people might see the missiles in Cuba as a blow to the nation’s pride + elections for US congress were in November and if he allowed Khrushchev to take advantage of him, Kennedy’s democratic party was likely to do badly
