Cuban missile crisis - fall of communism Flashcards
Impact of the Cuban missile crisis
- Kennedy’s prestige increased, public victory even though Khrushchev is the real winner as he got rid of american missiles in Turkey and secured the safety of communist Cuba.
- Khrushchev was met with bitter criticism, leaders saw him as weak
- Cuba saw the USSR’s decision to remove missiles as a betrayal
- USA had overwhelming superiority in nuclear weapons which shocked the USSR
- 1963 - ‘hotline’ was installed between Moscow and Washington so leaders could talk quickly
- Test ban treaty 1963 (however China and France don’t sign so are free to do what want with nuclear weapons)
Impact of the Cuban missile crisis
- Kennedy’s prestige increased, public victory even though Khrushchev is the real winner as he got rid of american missiles in Turkey and secured the safety of communist Cuba.
- Khrushchev was met with bitter criticism, leaders saw him as weak
- Cuba saw the USSR’s decision to remove missiles as a betrayal
- USA had overwhelming superiority in nuclear weapons which shocked the USSR
- 1963 - ‘hotline’ was installed between Moscow and Washington so leaders could talk quickly
- Test ban treaty 1963 (however China and France don’t sign so are free to do what want with nuclear weapons)
- changed Kennedy’s opinions, he wanted peace and cooperation with Russia, pivotal momement
Czechoslovakia
1968
In Jan 1968 Dubcek became party leader, he began to introduce changes in a period known as the Prague Spring. Dubcek’s vision was called ‘socialism with a face’
He ended censorship, increased trade with the west, allowed free travel, allowed different factories to compete.
Dubcek promised Brezhnev that Cz would remain in the Warsaw Pact
August 1968 = Brezhnev Doctrine = all warsaw pact communist parties was responsible for keeping communism in every state
500,000 troops invaded cz, Prague radio instructed people to carry our passive resistance as there was no point in fighting. Few died, Dubcek was replaced.
consequences of Prague Spring
- very bitter towards communism, felt like they were invaded by friends (countries in union with them)
- Brezhnev doctrine came about which was significant as there were no uprisings for 21 years
- less violent
- showed west as powerless
Space Race
1957 - sputnik 1 satellite orbited the earth, Sputnik 2 carried Laika the dog. America launch failed and exploded often nicknamed flopnik
1958 - USA launched its first satellite. NASA created
1961 - USSR launched Yuri Gagarin into space who did a single orbit. Kennedy set the goal to have the first man on the moon before the end of the decade.
1963 - USSR launch first woman into space. Kennedy died
1965 - USSR first space walk.
1967 - USSR had problems in space as pilot of soyuz 1 became the first in flight spaceflight fatality. USA and USSR signed the outer space treaty which banned them from placing weapons of mass destruction in Earths orbit.
1969 - Apollo 11 makes Neil Armstrong the first man on the moon
Detente definition
easing of hostility or strained relations = peace. 1970s and 80s
Why did the USSR want detente?
- wanted to spend less money on military weapons, so they could increase living standards
- Brezhnev wanted to persuade the west to accept soviet control over Eastern Europe giving it legitimacy
- needed western trade
- run out of consumer goods
- soviet union had achieved nuclear parity so felt they could negotiate
- needed cheap grain from the west
- relations with china had deteriorated so needed reassurance that if there was conflict in china, the USA would not get involved.
Why did USA want detente?
- wanted as a containment doctrine to check soviet expansion and limit soviet arms build up
- promote trade - plan was to increase trade that would turn the communist countries more capitalist
- improve economy, vietnam war bankrupt America, caused high inflation and economic stagflation
- vietnam war = very embarrassing, wanted to increase relations which would hopefully lead to less soviet support in north korea
Oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
oil was not met by demand meaning they were drawn into middle eastern affairs, America have a shortage after oil prices were raised and soviets have oil
Nixon’s triangular diplomacy
‘Aggression in felt slippers’
west hiding their true intentions through detente, being subtly aggressive
negotiated with china and USSR to try and scare the other into getting better deals and more concessions
SALT 1
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
began in 1969:
- Anti-ballistic missile treaty (ABM) = limited ABM systems to two sides each country. this means MAD was certain, if one struck the other would strike back
- Interim Treaty = limits placed on number of ICBM’s and SLBMs. However this allowed new development of multi independent re-entry vehicles.
- Basic principles agreement = used by both sides to minimize the development of nuclear war
Massive achievement for the time even though not much happened
SALT 2
1977-79
New presidents = Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter
Set equal limits for missiles launched
Carter attempted to achieve further arms reductions but he annoyed Brezhnev by talking about human rights. An agreement was finally reached in 1979 but never happened because Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
Ostpolitik
1969
Willy Brandt = West German chancellor
Wanted better relations with the East and to reduce the negative effect’s of Germany’s division
OSTPOLITIK = the normalisation of relations between the FRG and Eastern Europe, especially the GDR
policies included:
-West Germans could now visit their families over the Berlin wall
-Treaty of Moscow 1970 = FRG and USSR agree they have no territorial claims against each other
- Treaty of warsaw 1970 - FRG agrees to respect Polands border with the GDR
- GDR got loans and it reduced their isolations
-encouraged trade between East and West
- both german states joined the UN in 1973
Helsinki Accords
1975
35 countries met at Helsinki, decided 3 baskets:
1 - all countries accepted the existence of the Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe, including East Germany
2 - trade and technology. USSR agreed to buy US grain and export oil to the west
3 - all countries agreed to improve human rights: freedom of speech, religion and movement
How successful was detente?
- Basic principles agreement 1972 established a framework for USA and USSR to work together
- SALT 1 treaties, reduced weapons
- reduced competition
- US defence spending reduced from withdrawing in Vietnam
- trade
- detente with china meant better trade and relations
- improved economies
- superpower relations stabilised
- travel permits
x Basic principles agreement 1972 some of the agreements came to nothing
x American people remained suspicious of USSR
x imbalance of power, better economically for USA
x immoral policy because they ignored USSR’s violation of human rights
x high tensions between USSR and china
x communist success in Third World countries undermined detente
x some say detente was bad as it did not improve cold war relations but instead just froze them in place/ prolonged the cold war
