Cold War rivalries 1955-63 Flashcards
When was sputnik launched?
October 1957
When was the Gaither report commissioned?
November 1957
When was the U2 spy plane incident?
May 1960
When was vostok?
April 1961
When did the construction of the Berlin wall begin?
August 1961
When was the Strategic Air Command created?
1948
When did the USA successfully test a lithium based Hydrogen bomb?
1954 1500 times more powerful than the bomb used at Hiroshima
What was SAC
organisation set up as a primary defence system for the USA
What were the results of the Gaither report?
Suggested a missile gap and predicted a 100 to 30 lead in ICBMS in favour of the USSR
Whereas what did U-2 spy plane data suggest?
A slower rate of production of nuclear warheads
How did Eisenhower strengthen American Nuclear capability?
-Atlas and Titan (IRBM)
-negotiated an agreement with Britain that enabled the USA to station IRBM in Britain
- Polaris, Thor and minuteman
How did Khrushchev strengthen Soviet nuclear capability?
-replaced SS-6 with SS-7
Why was the USA so threatened by Sputnik?
-convinced them that it meant the USSR had the technology to launch nuclear missiles against them.
- undermined the effectiveness of the massive retaliation strategy
How did the Americans contribute to the space race?
1958 invested $1 billion
First attempt was the Vanguard rockets ‘flopnik’
When did the American’s manage to catch up with the space race?
1962
-USA has successfully launched 63 space missions compared to the USSR’s 15
- US Discoverer satellite program
What were the 5 factors that influenced Khrushchev’s decisions regarding Berlin?
1) The soviet space programme appeared to be dominating
2) West Germany was now a part of NATO which could result in it’s rearmament
3) The USSR’s hold over the Eastern states was fragile
4) he movement of people East to West Germany undermining Eastern economy
5) The west had not yet recognised the existence of the GDR
When did the USSR issue a six-month ultimatum to the West?
November 1958
What was the Hallstein Doctrine?
The FDR would regard the recognition of the GDR by any state other than the USSR as an unfriendly act and would end diplomatic relations
How many people fled from East Germany and when?
1953- more than 300,000
1956- 150,000 more
When was kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech
June 1963
Impacts of the Berlin wall?
1) Ich Bin ein Berliner speech
2) GDR’s immediate economic crisis was resolved
3) the inaction from the West suggested that the West had reached a degree of recognition of the GDR
4) Avoided any future conflict ‘a wall is better than a war’
Was the impact of Soviet success in the space race?
- Primary causal factor in the US nuclear response?
- An unrelated issue
- The crisis over Berlin as a dangerous gamble in a nuclear age
- A guarantee of nuclear free stalemate?
