cold war crisis Flashcards
what was the background of the Berlin Ultimatum in 1958?
the refugee problem
- East Germans had a low standard of living
- people moved from East Germany
What is the Berlin Ultimatum and Khrushchev’s demands?
- western powers should accept east Germany as a real countries to make citizens harder to leave.
- Berlin should be demilitarized and Western troops withdrawn.
- Berlin should be a free city under communist control
- Khrushchev threatened to force another bloackade
What are the consequences of the Berlin Ultimatum
both the US and The USSR wanted to solve the Berlin problem by
- Geneva Summit meeting 1959
- Camp David
- Paris 1960
- Vienna 1961
what happened at the Paris meeting in 1960?
The Soviet Union announced that they had shot down a U2 spy plane from the US, Kennedy refused to apologize and Khrushchev walked out of the meeting.
What happened at the Vienna Meeting in 1961 ?
Khrushchev renewed the Berlin Ultimatum and saw Kennedy as a weal president.
this worsened relations and Kennedy increased military spending by 2 billion dollars.
This meant that the US was ready to fight with Germany with necessary.
What happened during the construction of the Berlin Wall?
- August 12th 1961 a barbed fence was built between East and West Berlin
- A concrete wall was added
- the wall separated families
- 130 people were killed trying to escape
What were the consequences and the importance of the Berlin Wall for the USSR?
- cut through the centre of Berlin separating families
positives: wall stopped the refugees leaving, showed communism would last in east Berlin
negatives : Khrushchev had to abandon plans, the wall showed people preferred capitalism more than communism as they were being locked in
What were the consequences of the Berlin Wall for the US?
- West Berlin had not gone communist, and became a symbol of freedom against communism.
- people who wanted to escape from East Berlin could no longer escape.
The wall reduced the risk of war although the tensions were still bad
What happened in the Cuban Revolution in 1959?
- Fidel Castro overthrows the pro-American Cuban government
- USA had close business links with Cuba but decided to cut off diplomatic relations as a pro-soviet regime was being established there.
- Kennedy did not want a communist ally close to their allies
Why did the Bay of Pigs incident happen?
- Kenney did not want a communist ally close to the US
- Kennedy sent Cuban exiles (men who did not like Castro) back to the Cuba to revolt so the USA could claim they were not involved in international relations
Why was the Bay of Pigs incident significant?
- the USA were embarrassed
- Cuban people supported Castro meaning that they preferred communism
- It lead to stronger relations between Cuba and the USSR
- Cuba started receiving weapons from the USSR for protection
- Kennedy warned Khrushchev not to put nuclear weapons on Cuba
Why did Khrushchev place nuclear weapons in Cuba?
14th- American U2 spy plane discovered nuclear site on Cuba and Soviet troops carrying Nuclear weapons
- The US had nuclear missile sites in Turkey and the weapons could damage the USSR
- Khrushchev wanted to look strong after being criticized about the Berlin Wall
- Khrushchev wanted to help a communist ally
Briefly summarize The 13 Days (oct 16th-28th 1962)
22nd- Kennedy set up a naval blockade around Cuba so Soviet ships could not pass through, he prepared weapons in case of war
24th - Soviet Ships reached the blockade but turned around meaning that a confrontation was avoided
26th- Khrushchev promised to remove the weapons if the US promised not to invade Cuba
27th- Khrushchev sent a 2nd telegram demanding the removal of nuclear weapons in turkey
28th - both agreements were made
What were the consequences and the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis?
- Both countries agreed to follow a policy of brinkmanship
- A direct ‘hotline’ was set up between Washington and Moscow
coming close to war improved relations - The Test Ban Treaty was signed by the US, UK, and USSR that prohibits the testing of nuclear weapons
- The Outer Space Treaty was signed that agreed not to use space for military purposes
- the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty was signed to stop the spread of Nuclear Weapons
Explain two consequences of the election of Alexander Dubcek as First Secretary of the Czech Communist Party in January 1968
- Dubcek believed communist governments should offer socialism with a human face
- wanted to improve the poor standard of living as the Czech economy ran for the benefit of the USSR, and there was no freedom of speech
- he introduced the Prague Spring