chapter seven- the USA and the Cold War Flashcards
what was significant about the appointment of John foster Dulles?
he would be an anti communist and he would be an advocate of massive retaliation he would believe that the NSC should be in the hands of the state, he would have a high influence on foreign policy he would also be the brother of the director of the CIA Allen Dulles. he would also advocate for brinkmanship.
what was significant about the death of stalin?
5 March 1953 Stalin died, there would be protests in East Germany and soon it would be krushchev that would be the new leader. in 1956 Krushchev would deliver the secret speech and this would be where he would denounce the power of Stalin, he would call for peaceful coexistence with the west.
This would seek a change in relationship, a belief that containment should be continued.
what was significant about the space race?
the introduction of MAD would make the Cold War morph into other spheres. on 4th October 1957 the soviet union would out the first man made object into space. this would lead to a massive blow and the US had essentially lost the beginning of the space race. (USSR)This would be made worst when sputnik two would be launched on 3rd November 1958. The US rocket satellite would would only be able to go 4ft in the air.
who was Werner Von Braun?
he would succumb to US forced and was an excellent engineer, in 1958 he would lead the development of the Saturn series of rockets that eventually put 12 Americans on the moon.
what was the significance of the arms race?
there had been a desire to develop more bombs since 1945, 1953 both sides had developed hydrogen bombs that would be 7x the power of the effect of Hiroshima. in 1955 the US had been working on the 3rd of its nuclear bomb ready to fly at short notice.
in 1957 the US would have a stockpile of 5543 nuclear weapons this would be compared to the 650 that the USSR would have. However, the USSR had been successful in the creation of ICMBs, this would lead to the creation of policy called the new look policy, Dulles would state that the US must be able to respond to the real threat that is posed by communism.
what are the key developments of nuclear missiles in the US?
1952- Ivy Mike yield of 10,400 this would be the first thermonuclear weapon, USA.
Ivy Mike, yield of 500 this would be the largest pure fission weapon ever tested, USA.
1953, Joe 4 yield of 400 this would be the first fusion test by the USSR
1954 Castle Bravo yield of 15,000 this would be the largest detonation conducted by the USA.
1955 RDS-37 yield of 1,600 first thermonuclear test by the USSR,
1961 Tsar Bomba there would be the yield of 50,000 this would be the largest thermonuclear test that would be ever tested.
what was the significance of hungary?
the process of desalination would mean that people would believe that they were potentially free from the rule of Stalin. There would be riots in Poland against the government. in Hungary this would lead to the removal of the hard line leader Rakosi and this would lead to the introduction of Nagy, which would see things such as the promise that Hungary would leave the Warsaw pact. There would be the belief that Hungary would gain the support of Eisenhower. Though, there was a severe threat that hungry now posed to Krushchev so in November of 1956 he would send troops which would lead to 3000 hunagrians being killed, 200,000 would flee across the border to Austria, Krushchev would establish control by having Kadar as the leader of the country. the failure of the US to assist would highlight how there were seperate spheres.
what was the significance of the events in Berlin?
with the success in Hungary, on 10 November 1958 Khrushchev would demand that the west would pull their forces from Germany. for Krushchev the lack of a border would mean that 20% of the population had escaped to west Germany. There would be some progress that would be made at the Geneva conference in 1959 this would lead Eisenhower to invite Krushchev he would arrive on 15 September 1959 at camp David the pair would agree that there would be no deadline to solve the problem of Berlin.
what is the significance of the U2 crisis in 1960?
this would halter the visit that Eisenhower would have planned in Moscow the USSR would shoot down a US spy plan in 1 May 1960, it would be believed that Allen Dulles would be responsible for the planes. the pilot Gary powers would be announced alive on the 5th May and Eisenhower would have to admit to the fact that he would order the planes. This would lead to the proposed conference in Paris being unsuccessful. USSR now have an American hostage
what was significant about the ending of the war in Korea?
Eisenhower would go to Korea on 2nd December 1952, the armistice would be signed on 27th July 1953 this would officinally divide the countries on the 38th parallel. Dulles would suggest that he would threaten China and North Korea with the reality that the US was prepared to use atomic weapons. This would given Eisnehower a boost. it would be suggested that the increase in the willingness to use nuclear weapons increased the willingness for China to reach a settlement.
a key legacy of this relationship is that the US Chinese relationships would remain tense and for example Eisenhower would refuse to recognise the PRC.
what was the significance of the events in Taiwan?
the Korean War would make Taiwan an important country. Jeshi would have a willingness for Taiwan to be used as a base for US operations. Eisenhower would respond to the shelling of the islands Quemoy and Matsu by securing the Formosa resolution in January 1955 there would only be 6 people in congress who would vote against it. John Dulles would state that the US would be considering a nuclear attack on china, this would lead to China ceasing the shelling.
what was the significance of the events in Vietnam?
by 1954 the war between Ho Chi Minh and the French had turned against the French, Eisenhower would allow for Operation Vulture this would be the US intervention in Vietnam but eventually would not be supported by Eisenhower. There would be the beginning of peace talks in Geneva, on 20th July 1954 there would be the decision to partition the two countries, there would also be the promise to hold a general election by 1956. Though, the US would support the regime of Diem despite his wrongful actions this was due to the anti communist beliefs that he held. He would also create SEATO and he was proud that he had managed to avoid military intervention.
what was the significance of the US’s response to the crisis in the Middle East?
the tensions that were created when Truman would recognise the state of Israel would be worsened when the west would become more dependent on middle eastern oil. this would be a concern as the left leaning leaders would be suspectiable to communism. in 1955 CENTO was created though this would fail when the Iraqi monarchy would be overthrown in 1958.
what was the significance of the Suez crisis?
this would take place in July 1956 and this would bet where the Egyptian leader Nasser would nationalise the Suez Canal, this would lead to Britain and France striking a deal with Isreal and this would lead to France attacking Egypt. This would be significant as both England, France and Isreal would expect to have the support of Eisenhower. Eisenhower did not want to side with imperialism and instead would use financial methods in order to cause the withdrawal of England and France. it was thought that this would strengthen the rule that Nasser would have over the Egypt and would seek to strengthen his power over the Arab world.
what were the key elements of Eisenhower’s New Look policy?
- he would want to protect the economy whilst also having the means for the Cold War.
- relying on nuclear weapons if that is necessary
- using the CIA to carry out covert operations
- he would want to strengthen relationship with allies.
Eisenhower would seek to have more “bang for buck”
This was designed to protect people from the harm of the CW.
