Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

The cold war > Three cold war crises 1958-1970 > Flashcards

Three cold war crises 1958-1970 Flashcards

1
Q

during the period from after the Berlin airlift, until the construction of the Berlin wall, how many people are estimated to have left East Germany for West Germany?

A

4 million

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

why did people leave East Berlin after 1949?

A

life in the East was dominated by the communist party

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

what was life like in East Germany and East Berlin?

A
  • The communist party exercised greater control than in any other eastern European state.
  • No other political parties were allowed
  • Elections involved selections from a list of candidates supplied by the communists.
  • Freedom of expression was restricted
  • Consumer goods were limited and often of poor quality
  • Sales of foreign goods were restricted
  • Foreign travel was difficult
  • People were subject to the secret police
  • The communist party controlled the media
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

what were the secret police in East Germany?

A

The secret police of East Germany (STASI) were established with Soviet help. It was responsible for both domestic political surveillance and espionage. Eventually the STASI employed 85,000 and had hundreds of thousands of informers so that it could monitor the population. The STASI operated for 40 years

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

what did the STASI keep information on?

A

The STASI collected a vast amount of information about the people of East Germany. They had information on about 6,000,000 people out of a population of 16,000,000. They collected security information, information and details on drinking habits, debts and sexual preferences which were used to blackmail unwilling individuals

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

what did the communist party controlling the media in East Germany mean?

A

There were no legal means of finding out about what was happening in the world on the other side of the iron curtain. Newspapers and television could only report the official versions of the news

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

why was controlling the media harder for the communist part in East Germany than other parts of Eastern Europe?

A

Because of the ease of movement into West Germany through Berlin. It was this issue in particular which began to worry the East German and Soviet leaders leaders in the 1950’s

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

pros of living in Eastern Europe?

A

Everyone had a job
Prices were controlled at a low level
Rent, electricity, gas and telephone charges were minimal by Western standards
Public transport was cheap and reliable

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

why did people want to escape to West Germany and the West

A

the possibility of greater freedom as well as much higher earnings and standard of living in the West

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

what did many Berliners do?

A

Work in one part of the city and live in another

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

how many East German refugees escaped to West Germany between the years 1948-61?

A

2.7 million

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

what was a defector?

A

This was the word used for the refugees who fled East Germany, these defectors were often highly skilled and well educated engineers, scientists, teachers, doctors and lecturers

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

why did the East German government want to stop refugees leaving for the West?

A

As many of the people leaving were highly skilled professionals, this became known as the Brain Drain, the government did not want these people to leave because the communist bloc was currently trying to modernise its industry and agriculture- the defectors were the people who could help them do this

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

what did defectors make it difficult for Krushchev to prove?

A

That the east was better than the West

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

by the summer of 1961, how many defectors were there per week?

A

10,000

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

what was Krushchev’s ultimatum?

A
  • Berlin should be demilitarised and Western troops withdrawn
  • Berlin should become a free city (in reality he wanted it controlled by the Soviet union)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

how long did the West have to make the changes demanded in Krushchev’s Ultimatum?

A

6 months

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

what did Krushchev threaten if his ultimatum was not agreed to?

A

he would hand over control of all routes in Berlin to the government of East Germany, this would force the West to recognise East Berlin as an official country

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

when did Krushchev demand that the West should officially recognise East Germany as an independent country?

A

November 1958

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

what happened as a result of Krushchev’s ultimatum?

A

The West was outraged, they saw Krushchev’s ultimatum as trying to spread communism. Krushchev believed that he was trying to stop the brain drain. Neither side wanted this to escalate to war, so talks were held to try and solve the problem.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

why did the West refuse to recognise East Germany as an independent country in 1958?

A

They believed that Germany could be reunited

22
Q

what would East Germany being declared an independent country achieve?

A

It would make it harder for East Germans to leave for West Germany

23
Q

when and where was the Geneva summit held?

A

Switzerland, May 1959

24
Q

who attended the 1959 Geneva summit?

A

Krushchev and Eisenhower

25
what happened at the 1959 Geneva summit?
The foreign ministers of various countries met and put forward proposals but were unable to agree on a solution to the problem. Eisenhower invited Krushchev to the USA for further talks
26
what summit was held in September 1959?
Camp David summit
27
when and where was the camp David summit held?
September 1959 in the USA
28
what happened at the 1959 Camp David summit?
Krushchev and Eisenhower still did not agree about Berlin, but the USSR did agree to drop the ultimatum. Relations seemed to be better and more talks were planned for summer
29
when was the Paris summit?
May 1960
30
what was the U2 crisis?
a US spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union on May 1st 1960. President Eisenhower said he would stop all future flights over the area but did not apologise as he claimed the plane had been carrying out weather reconnaissance- he had been assured by his aids that the pilot would have been killed and the plane destroyed when it was shot down.
31
what happened after Eisenhower lied about the U2 spy plane?
The pilot had not in fact been killed when the plane was shot down, and the plane had also largely survived the crash. The pilot, Gary Powers was put on trial in Moscow. The plane provided evidence that the USA had been spying. This news came in the middle of the 1960 Paris summit meeting and Krushchev famously stormed out of talks with Eisenhower
32
what happened as a result of the U2 crisis?
Krushchev was able to use the U2 incident to embarrass the USA who had initially lied about the plane. The summit meeting collapsed and relations between the USA and the USSR worsened dramatically
33
describe what happened at the 1960 Paris summit?
Just before the conference, the USSR shot down an American spy plane and captured its pilot, Gary Powers. Krushchev was enraged by what he saw as the USA's attempt to discover Soviet secrets and walked out in protest when Eisenhower refused to apologise for the incident.
34
what happened after the breakdown of talks in Paris over the U2 crisis?
The situation in Berlin did not improve, in the first 7 months of 1961, 207,000 left East Germany
35
What did East Germany force West Berliners to do in September 1960?
West Berliners who wanted to travel to East Berlin were forced to obtain a police pass. This was the first time any restriction had been placed on travel between any of the 4 sectors of Berlin
36
when and where was the Vienna summit?
June 1961 in Vienna, Austria
37
who attended the 1961 Vienna summit?
Krushchev and Kennedy
38
what happened at the 1961 Vienna summit?
Krushchev said that the Soviet union was considering giving East Germany control of all communication links between West Germany and West Berlin, this would break war time agreements. At this summit it was clear that neither side was willing to back down over the US presence in Berlin. Krushchev saw Kennedy as an inexperienced president and therefore weak. He was confident that Kennedy would back down if he pushed him, and so he told the USA to withdraw their troops from Berlin within 6 months or there would be war
39
what did the soviet union think was the only way to plug the gap in the Iron curtain?
Cut off East Germany from West Berlin
40
What did the 4 power status of Berlin specify?
people must be free to travel between zones and specifically forbade the presence of German troops in Berlin
41
what did Kennedy refuse to do in 1961?
He refused to back down. He said he would not remove US troops from German soil and he started preparing the US for war, committing the US government to an extra $3.2 billion on defence spending. He also spent an additional $207 million on building nuclear fallout shelter
42
Differences between Soviet and American nuclear weapons in 1961?
The USA had 20x more nuclear weapons than the USSR. USA weapons could also reach the USSR from America, whilst USSR missiles could not reach the USA from the Soviet union
43
what was Krushchev's solution to the refugee problem?
He built the Berlin wall, a wall which separated East Berlin from West Berlin, making it impossible for East Germans to escape to the West
44
when was the Berlin wall built?
On the night of 12th August 1961, East German troops secretly erected a barbed wire fence around the whole of West Berlin
45
What did Kennedy comment about the Berlin wall?
"its not a very nice solution, but a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war"
46
how many watch towers were there on the Berlin wall?
302
47
how many bunkers were there along the Berlin wall?
20
48
how many people were killed on the Berlin wall?
300
49
how many people were injured by shooting on the Berlin wall?
200
50
why was the Berlin wall significant?
- It stopped East Germans escaping to the West and therefore ended the refugee crisis - It allowed Krushchev to avoid war with American while still appearing strong - It became a powerful symbol of the division of Germany and Europe that lasted nearly 30 years
51
how did the Berlin wall improve superpower relations?
- Krushchev did not have to worry about defectors -

The cold war (3 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions