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