Cold war crisis

why was berlin a problem between 1948-61?

location

centre of soviet controlled east Germany

capitalist lifestyle shown undermined communism

peace treaties

split into 4 sections

part capitalist, part communist

attitudes to economic recovery

usa wanted to speed it up

ussr wanted to slow it down- protect itself from future attacks

short term causes

western zones merge to form Bizonia

resources sent by marshall said to berlin, held up and searched by soviet troops

new currencies (ostmark, deutchmark)

refugee problem

4 million east germans fled to west

20,000 a month

whole maths department of Leipzig defected

drain of labour and economic output

espionage

9 days before Paris Summit of 1960 USSR announced it had shot down U2 spy plane

Khrushchev wanted apology and flights to stop

Eisenhower refused to apologize

summit did not take place as a result

why was the Berlin wall built?

Vienna summit 1961

Khrushchev fixed another summit conference with new president JFK

Khrushchev demanded western allies leave berlin

Kennedy refused and increased spending by $3.5 bil

Khrushchev increased defense budget by 30%

Kennedy

reasserted the Truman doctrine in his inauguration speech on 20th of Jan 1961

Khrushchev thought he could use his experience to push Kennedy around

What was the impact of the wall?

construction

closed border on 13th of august 1961 between east and west berlin

27 miles of barbed wires

contained chains, minefields and fences

wall was 3.6m high and 1.2 m wide

impact on superpower relations

led to stand off in October 1961, both sides stationed at check point Charlie- Kennedy persuaded Khrushchev to remove troops

impact on Germans

families were split up

people risked their lives to travel from east to west

Khrushchev had broken 1949 berlin agreement

Peter Fechter- 18 year old bricklayer killed by east german guards after trying to get over wall

over 200 people died trying to escape

kennedy

visited in 1963

went on a 30 mile tour which was lined by 1.5 million people

he spoke to crowd of 200,000 next to the wall

why did cuba become a problem in 1959?

Cuban revolution

overthrow of Fulgencio Batista (dictator) by Fidel Castro

Castro removed US capitalist companies and wanted to help Cuban people (socialist)

US banned import of Cuban sugar which threatened to bankrupt the Cuban economy

US refused to acknowledge castro's government

soviet relations

Khrushchev offered to buy Cuban sugar

sent weapons at the end of 1959 and soviet diplomats visited Castro

In 1960 Khrushchev promised to send Castro military assistance

Khrushchev needed success to deflect his criticisms of his failure of the soviet union

Why did bay of pigs fail?

plan

a group of fully equipped Cuban exiles would travel to cuba and stage an uprising

$45 million spent

la brigada 2506- numbered 1500

why it failed

castro's popularity

the plan had been leaked- some of exiles were heard discussing plan in Miami

USA second wave of bombing was cancelled- remnants of Cuban air force regrouped and fought the next day

la brigada 2506 was outnumbered by the 20,000 Cuban troops

What led to the Cuban missile crisis?

consequences of bay of pigs

castro's position in cuba became stronger (previously had been losing support due to economic situation)

pushed castro closer to the soviet union- started sending advisors and weapons in 1961

embarrassment for kennedy- lead to 'operation mongoose' (secret operation to remove castro)

military build up in cuba

in September 1962 soviet technicians began to install ballistic missiles- Khrushchev said they were defending cuba not offensive like US missiles in Turkey and Italy

U2 spy plane photographs

taken on the 14th of October 1962 and showed that soviet intermediate range missile bases were being constructed - would be operational with a month

the IRBM could hit almost all US cities- threat to country's security

blockade

stretched 3,300 km around cuba

a fleet of Polaris subs was made ready and 156 ICBM's

air force bombers were on patrol

hundreds of thousands of soldiers were placed on combat alert

what were the events of the Cuban missile crisis?

October crisis

22nd= Kennedy's tv address

24th= 18 soviet ships turned around to avoid confrontation

26th= Khrushchev sent letter offering to remove missiles if cuba was not invaded and if blockade was removed

27th= Khrushchev sends a tougher letter promising to remove missiles if the missiles in turkey and Italy are removed. U2 spy plane shot down over cuba

28th= Kennedy accepts first letter. if no positive response by 29th then cuba would be invaded. Khrushchev accepted and US agreed to remove missiles (happened a few months later)

Increased rivalry

Kennedy was praised for standing up to communists- removal of Turkish missiles were not publicized

Khrushchev criticized by Mao Zedong and other soviet politicians

Khrushchev removed as leader in 1964

détente

hotline

improved communication

telephone link between white house and Kremlin

treaties

limited test ban= Aug 1963

outer space treaty= 1968

nuclear non proliferation=1968

strategic arms limitation talks 1969

Why was there a crisis over Czechoslovakia?

declining economy

declining economy

in 1962-63 national income fell

Novotny's 'new economic model' of 1965 was unsuccessful

fall in standard of living

leadership

forced to produce steel etc for USSR and no consumer goods

Antonin Novotny had been Czech leader since 1957

unpopular: hardline communist, slow to release political prisoners, slow to follow destalinization, refused to introduce reform

Dubcek

In October 1967 Dubcek + other reformers challenged Novotny's leadership at Central Committee of the Communist party

In December Dubcek invited Brezhnev to Prague who withheld support for Novotny

On 5th of Jan 1968 novotny was replaced as first secretary by Dubcek

In march Novotny resigned as Czech leader and was replaced by Ludvick Svoboda (war hero)

Prague spring reforms (1968)

free speech no censorship

no travel restrictions

works councils

less secret police

10 year program; multi party state and democratic elections

'socialism with a human face'

Why did the soviet union invade and what happened?

eastern European leaders

east german leader (Walter Ulbricht) and Polish leader (Gomulka) and Slovakian communist Vasil Bilak opposed reforms

Bilak sent letter to Brezhnev asking him to invade and stop reforms

afraid of Czechoslovakia might become closer to west germany

warsaw pact

Czechoslovakia is one of most important countries in pact

centrally placed and had the best industry

Brezhnev was afraid Czechoslovakia might leave

would advance Nato's frontier by 700km and split eastern bloc in 2

Brezhnev

met with leaders in pact

met with Dubcek who promised not to leave the pact or allow the new social democratic party

Brezhnev and warsaw pact reps signed Bratislava doctrine

Brezhnev calls Dubcek and gets angry at him due to Tito reception in Czechoslovakia

invasion (20-21 august)

students and protestors= tore down street names, threw petrol bombs, climbed on tanks

thousands of soviet troops backed by other pact countries

less than 100 killed and no armed resistance from Czech army

what was the impact of the invasion of Czechoslovakia?

Brezhnev doctrine

soviet union had right to invade any countries whose actions appeared to threaten the security of eastern bloc

redefined communism as a one party system

sent out message to other communist states- USSR would suppress any attempt to relax communist control

Czechoslovakia

demonstrations continue until April 1969

Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas square in jan 1969

Dubcek resigned and sent to Turkey

superpower relations

temporarily worsened relations- US and Brit protests

usa was busy with Vietnam war and elections

usa offered no military support to czechoslovakia

western europe

condemned invasion but provided no military help

French and Italian communists outraged created eurocommunism

communist countries

increased rivalry between ussr and china

Yugoslavia, Romania and Albania condemned invasion- distanced themselves from USSR