"3 Cold War Crises: Berlin, Cuba, Czechoslovakia" - 1957-1969 Flashcards
U2 Incident
1960
- Paris Conference
- May 1, 1960: U2 Plane shot down over USSR
- USSR capture pilot (Gary Powers) who admits to spying
- USA denies it ‘he strayed into Soviet territory’
- USSR develop U2 film = prove he was spying
- K demands USA must:
1. apologise 2. stop ALL flights 3. punish those responsible - Eisenhower stops flights BUT no apology
- USSR imprison GP for 10 years
- Consequences = plane shot down + lying = damaging
- USSR gains ‘propaganda points’
- Drop in relations
Causes of the Berlin Crisis?
1959-61
- High standard of living in West contrast with EG - people unhappy
- Western civilisation = symbol of success over Communism
- ‘49-‘61: 6 million people flee to WG [Jan ‘61: 20,000 a month]
- ‘55: WG joins NATO
- Mainly skilled workers eg. Dr = shortage in East [embarrassing] which could’ve brought collapse of EG!
- USSR did not stop people because USA Nuclear Advantage
- USSR announced EG Communist + USA should leave
- USA objected: Conferences [‘59: Geneva + Camp David ‘60: Paris ‘61: Vienna] 1+2=X 3=U2 4=X NUCLEAR WAR??
- Kennedy increased defence budget to $3.5 billion
Consequences…
- Krushchev seemed to back down
- Allies stayed in WG
- But suddenly EG Police blocked all road + set up barbed wire fences
- Through the day concrete walls were built
- By August a wall surrounding WG had been built
- Anyone trying to cross WAS SHOT
- K saw this as a victory: WALL (Stopped refugees)
- He had avoided war but still looked strong!
- But had failed to remove the Allies
- Families were split; Wall = Symbol of Division
- JFK visited Berlin (loved by all) “Ich bin win Berliner”
Arms Race Developments
‘53: USSR + USA had ‘H’ bomb
‘57: USSR Sputnik
‘57-59: USA:
inc. missile spending by 20%; NASA; inc. B52s; increased training for engineers + scientists; SLBMs + more missiles in Europe
- BOTH superpowers decreased production of non-nuclear weapons
Superpower Weapons
USA vs USSR ICMB: 63 50+ SLBM: 96 0 MRBM/IRBM: 90 200! Long-range bombers: 600 190 Carriers: 24 0 Nuclear Subs: 21 2 Subs: 174 428 Troops: 2,606,000 3,800,000
Causes of Bay of Pigs/Cuban Missile Crisis
1961
- USA had helped Batista take power
- Batista and leaders were corrupt: Overthrown by Castro
- USA refused to buy Cuban sugar [retaliation]
- USA broke of diplomatic relations
- Agreed a sugar deal with SU (appointed Communists)
- SU also agreed to give machinery + tech to Cuba
- Cuban exiles treated like heroes in USA
Bay of Pigs Invasion
1961
- Eisenhower has created a scheme to train ex-Cubans for an invasion
- JFK carried on this…
- CIA trained them in Florida: Budget = $45 million
- La Brigada 2506 (1,500 men) were to invade Cuba and create a national uprising
- US planes bombed Cuban airforce [2nd wave called off]
- Cuban airforce regrouped
- La Brigada met a force of 20,000 men
- 100 men dead: 1,000 captured
- Swapped in 1962 for $53 million worth of food + medical supplies
Results of Bay of Pigs Invasion
- Humiliation for Kennedy + USA
- JFK determined to resist growth of Communism in USA
- Castro’s position strengthened in Cuba: EXAMPLE
- Cuba pushed further towards SU
- USA began Operation Mongoose: [Remove Castro]
- USA seen as imperialist nation
Cuban Missile Crisis
1962
- USSR military advisor + combat station in Cuba
- K concerned by US missile bases in Turkey + Italy
- Cuban stations would restore balance [defending Cuba from USA]
- SU continued sending equipment
- SU sent ICBM missiles [all cities but Seattle]
BLOCKADE:
- Polaris Subs put on stand-by
- 156 ICBMs ready for action
- Air-Force bombers patrolling + hundreds of thousands of troops on COMBAT ALERT
- JFK spoke on TV + told K any ships containing military equipment would be turned back
Cuban Missile Crisis Timeline:
14th; 16th; 20th; 24th; 25th; 27th; 28th
14th: U2 Spy Planes take photos of missile sites in Cuba
16th: JFK told about Cuban missile sites
20th: JFK decided against attack; 200km blockade [quarantine enforced by US Navy]
24th: USSR says blockade is ‘act of aggression’
26th: K sends letter saying missiles will be removed if USA removes blockade and doesn’t attack
27th: K sends 2nd letter; remove missiles from Cuba if USA removes them from Turkey; U2 plane shot down by SU missile
28th: JFK takes advice from brother; accepts 1st letter but not 2nd + no +ve outcome by 29th US invades Cuba; K accepted [secret deal to remove missiles from Turkey]
Results of Crisis
- JFK had won; K humiliated; sacked in ‘64 -> Brezhnev
- Direct Hotline set-up
- ‘63: Partial Test Ban Treaty [no testing in atmosphere]
- Followed by Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
- JFK ‘common interest’ speech
- MAD Theory
- ‘Detente’
Why was there opposition to Soviet control in Czechoslovakia?
- Czechs hated Novotny (hard line Communist)
- Slow to introduce de-Stalinisation; no reforms
- Czech economy fell: So did Living Standards
- SU forced Cz to produce raw materials for SU
- SU stopped factories producing consumer goods
- Novotny’s New Economic Model FAILED
Prague Spring Reforms
- Greater Political Reforms