1960-1970 (ish) Flashcards
outline the cuase of the U2 crisis
and u2 spy plane was found in soviet air space and the usa thought it was too high to be dected by the ussr but it was dected the soviets shot down the plane and captured the piolet ( gary powers) after they were spying of russian weponry stores .
this wa safter the ussr had condemed spying and khruschev was ourtaged
why was a u2 plane sent into soviet airspace?
they had no idea about waht soviet weponry was being used or manufactured or even the evnets occuring in some parts of the spviet union
what was the effect of operation ‘overflight’
it busted the myth of the bombber gap but brought in the worry of the missile gap
the idea of the missile gap made the need to spy more often from the usa’s point of view and gave the u2 missions a grater scence of importance
why was the u2 plane shot down?
khruschev was under pressure his army was demoralised and his power was threatened and he needed to unite the people under a strong common enemy
what did the usa say about the u2 plave after it was shot down
they said it was just a weather plane untill the ussr revealed they’d captured the piolet nd had the pictures the plane took to wich the usa repiled that htey’re just protecting themselves and this lead to the ussr storming out of the confernece in 1960
how does u2 effect the cold war?
it revented the summit wiht the usa ussr bristain from coming to any agreement at the paris peace summit and damged eisenhower’s reputation as he was blaimed for the filure
it eneded peacful co-existance
it meant that china belived th eusa could not be trusted
it was a porpogander victory for khruschev
is though of as a cuase of the berlin wall and the cuban missile crisis
and gary powers was entenced to 10 years in prison
what was the berlin wall?
it was put up in 1961 almost overnight and got pogresssivly bigger and wider overtime and stoped people going from east to west
why was the berlin wall put up?
the ussr wanted to radicaaly reduce the number of crossing form the west to east berlin from 300 in ‘53 to 50 in ‘63
berlin was also bein gused as a spying base and used for anti-soviet propogander for the usa and the ussr wanted to stop this
khruschev also wanted east berlinners to be prevented from seeing how much more prosporous and well built up the west was compared to the east
khruschev also asked if JFK wanted to give up berlin he refused and siad that he would be happy to use force to defend it so he thought the only way he was cgoing to control his people was a wall. he stopped ‘an isalnd of communism’
also due to the brain drain
what was ‘the brain drain’
skilled workers and highly educated people that east berlin’s economy relyed on kept defecting to the west overall 3.5 million people defected the harsh poltical climate of the east
what was the effect of the checkpoint charlie incident
shpwed the armericans were not willing to start a confilct on soviet terriotry surrounded by their forces and communists terriotry
what was kenedy’s speech 2 years after the berlin wall was built and it’s consequences
he claimed that west berlin was a symbol of freedom and the sruggle against communism and this was aimed to show that the allies were not going to be driven from west berlin whereas the soviets used the wall to show how they were protecting poeple from communism
how did people escape form the west to the east
in eary days they climed over the wall and avoided the guards or enerted one side of a building of the east and jumping out a window in the west or they would hide in a c ar or use a pully sysytem some built a tunnel or used a hot air balloon
5,000 escaped over the wall and 40 germans were killed trying
what were the consequences of the berlin wall for west beliners and the usa
cleared any uncertainty they had about the ussr’s intention with west berlin ans was a ptopogander victory for kendedy e.g the shooting of decfectors showed the ruthlesssness f the ussr
mean that berlin was no longer a point of resistnace/ tension
what were the consequences of the berlin wall for east belliners as well as the west of the usssr and khruschev
decetions felll from 3 million to 5,000
stabilised the ecpnomy as it stopped the brain drain
136 died trying to cross
it redcued spying and removed an area of potential confilct but helped peacful co-existnace but also meant germany would never be united
it evend the balance between the 2 sides of berlin (as the west was so proporous) the wall was put up to pressure the west
what was the american response to the berlin wall
short term radicaaly increased tension
they kept trying to push the boundaries and kept sending diplomats across the boader
untilll octorber 1961 when soviet tanks pulled up to checkpoint charlie and refues the americans entrenace to the east for 18 hours the two stide stood off untill it was resvolved by diplomats
