Three cold war crises 1958-1970 Flashcards
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?
4 million
why did people leave East Berlin after 1949?
life in the East was dominated by the communist party
what was life like in East Germany and East Berlin?
- 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
what were the secret police in East Germany?
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
what did the STASI keep information on?
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
what did the communist party controlling the media in East Germany mean?
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
why was controlling the media harder for the communist part in East Germany than other parts of Eastern Europe?
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
pros of living in Eastern Europe?
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
why did people want to escape to West Germany and the West
the possibility of greater freedom as well as much higher earnings and standard of living in the West
what did many Berliners do?
Work in one part of the city and live in another
how many East German refugees escaped to West Germany between the years 1948-61?
2.7 million
what was a defector?
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
why did the East German government want to stop refugees leaving for the West?
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
what did defectors make it difficult for Krushchev to prove?
That the east was better than the West
by the summer of 1961, how many defectors were there per week?
10,000
what was Krushchev’s ultimatum?
- 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 long did the West have to make the changes demanded in Krushchev’s Ultimatum?
6 months
what did Krushchev threaten if his ultimatum was not agreed to?
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
when did Krushchev demand that the West should officially recognise East Germany as an independent country?
November 1958
what happened as a result of Krushchev’s ultimatum?
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.
why did the West refuse to recognise East Germany as an independent country in 1958?
They believed that Germany could be reunited
what would East Germany being declared an independent country achieve?
It would make it harder for East Germans to leave for West Germany
when and where was the Geneva summit held?
Switzerland, May 1959
who attended the 1959 Geneva summit?
Krushchev and Eisenhower
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
what summit was held in September 1959?
Camp David summit
when and where was the camp David summit held?
September 1959 in the USA
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
when was the Paris summit?
May 1960
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.
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
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
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.
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
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
when and where was the Vienna summit?
June 1961 in Vienna, Austria
who attended the 1961 Vienna summit?
Krushchev and Kennedy
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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”
how many watch towers were there on the Berlin wall?
302
how many bunkers were there along the Berlin wall?
20
how many people were killed on the Berlin wall?
300
how many people were injured by shooting on the Berlin wall?
200
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
how did the Berlin wall improve superpower relations?
- ## Krushchev did not have to worry about defectors
