Confrontation and Cooperation, c1963-1972: Cooperation

Question 1

Timeline of events

Answer 1

• 1961
- Sino-Soviet split

• 1962
- Cuban Missile Crisis

• 1963
• US, USSR, UK and France were only nuclear powers
• Summer - report by General Leon Johnson estimated that nuclear war between two nations in 1963/64 would result in a combined 93 million casualties
• June - Washington-Moscow hot-line set up
• August - Moscow Test Ban Treaty
• November - Kennedy is assassinated

• October 1964
• Khrushchev is ousted
• PRC successfully test their first nuclear bomb• 1967
- LBJ first to use hot-line during Six Day War to tell Soviets he was considering sending air support to Israel

• July 1968
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

• 1968-1970
• Most countries in UN sign Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty
• France and China privately agree

• 1990s
- France continues to test nuclear weapons in south Pacific ocean

• 1992
- France and China sign Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

• 1996
- China stop testing nuclear weapons in south Pacific ocean

Question 2

When was the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 2

• 1962

Question 3

What pressures did Khrushchev and Kennedy face prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis which affected their foreign policy?

Answer 3

• Both interested in peaceful coexistence

• Khrushchev

• More interested in improving Soviet economy and standards of living
• Challenged by Mao Zedong who claimed he wasn’t revolutionary enough
• Had to show strong anti-western stance to maintain Soviet dominance in communist world

• Kennedy
- Had to adopt strong anti-communist stance to appease opposition

Question 4

What were Kennedy’s attitudes towards the USSR and nuclear weapons following the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 4

• Believed US should focus on avoiding nuclear war, rather than trying to win one
• Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) encouraged nuclear equality
• Wanted to prevent spread of nuclear weapons to more irrational countries

Question 5

What report confirmed Kennedy’s beliefs on nuclear weapons?

Answer 5

• Summer 1963
• Presented by General Leon Johnson, director of National Security Council’s Net Evaluation Subcommittee
•’Neither the US nor the USSR can emerge from a full scale nuclear exchange without suffering very severe damage and high casualties.’
• Estimated that nuclear war between two nations in 1963/64 would result in a combined 93 million casualties

Question 6

Which countries were nuclear powers by
1963?

Answer 6

• USA
• USSR
• UK
• France

Question 7

When was Kennedy assassinated? How did these affect nuclear weapon discussions?

Answer 7

• November 1963
- Delayed talks but didn’t prevent them

Question 8

What were Khrushchev’s attitudes towards the US and nuclear weapons following the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 8

• Wanted US-Soviet relations to be based on mutual restraint, rather than brinkmanship
• Conciliation important due to Sino-Soviet split (1961) and realisation that foreign policy wasn’t fixed after reconciliation with Tito in Yugoslavia

Question 9

When was Khrushchev ousted? How did these affect discussions with the US?

Answer 9

• October 1964
- Negotiations persisted under new leadership

Question 10

When was the Washington-Moscow ‘hot line’ set up? What was its significance?

Answer 10

• lune 1963
• Allowed Kennedy and Khrushchev to reach each other 24/7
• Avoided delays in communication like during the Cuban
Missile Crisis
• Symbolised new spirit of co-operation
• First used by Johnson in 1967, when he alerted the Soviets that the USA was considering sending air support to Israel in the Six-Day War

Question 11

Moscow Test Ban Treaty

Answer 11

• August 1963
• Above-ground, underwater and outer space nuclear testing was prohibited
• Underground tests were not prohibited, difficult to detect and differentiate from earthquakes
• No on-site inspections, shows trust
• First collective agreement to establish some limitations on the nuclear arms race
• France and China refuse to sign
• Both continued to test nuclear weapons in south Pacific:
France well into the 1990s; China until 1996

Question 12

When did the PRC first successfully test a nuclear bomb?

Answer 12

• October 1964

Question 13

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Answer 13

• July 1968
• Signatories agreed to not share nuclear technology or assist non-nuclear states in developing nuclear weapons
• This prevented non-nuclear states from forming alliances with nuclear states
• Most countries in UN signed between 1968 and 1970
• France and China didn’t sign until 1992, but privately agreed to adhere to terms in 1968

Question 14

Why did countries want to cut back on nuclear weapons?

Answer 14

• They were expensive
- Many conflicts (e.g Vietnam War) used guerrilla warfare where nuclear weapons not effective