U2 Spy Plane Incident Flashcards
What was the U2 plane?
The U2 planes were fit for spying because they could fly 75,000 feet above the earth, which would be too high to be intercepted by soviet aircrafts even if soviet radar detected it. They carried high tech cameras that could take clear accurate images of military sites. They used it to spy on Russia.
Why did they invent the U2 spy planes?
The USA were suspicious of Khrushchev after the mid 1950s because they thought he was lying about how far he had got in the arms race. It turned out he had less bombs and missiles than he claimed to have.
What happened in May 1960?
The U-2 plane was shot down and the pilot Garry Powers was arrested and interrogated. He admitted he was spying for USA. The plane was found with having images of military base sites.
What were the options that the USA could have chosen after the plane crash?
1- own up and apologise to the USSR.
2-cover up and make out the plane had an ulterior motive to spying.
3-refuse to apologise, Khrushchev had no right to demand this.
4- threaten the USSR with war if they do not return Garry powers.
Pros and cons for option 1:
Pros
Won’t interfere with the Paris peace summit
Still chance to improve relations
Might gain trust from USSR
USA being honest shows the world to participate in peaceful co-existence.
Cons
Can’t spy on them anymore
Might looks weak to other countries
Pros and cons for option 2:
Pros: No increase in tension Paris summit will still be held Avoid conflict USA would keep their good strong reputation
Cons
Quite obvious that the plane was designed to spy on them
There were photos of military sites in plane
Could cause trust issues and increase in tension is they found out USA were lying.
Pros and cons for option 3:
Pros
Shows USA will not give into their demands
Keeps USAs strong reputation
Cons
Increase in tension
Interfere with Paris peace summit
Makes USA look stubborn and arrogant
Pros and cons for option 4:
Pros
USSR might forget about what happened and move on
Garry powers would come back safe
Shows USAs authority over USSR.
Cons
Could turn into a nuclear war
If ussr told the truth the other big three may not like America
If war broke out there would be mass destruction
What decision did Eisenhower make?
He lied to to the USSR. He did not know Garry powers had admitted to spying so told the world that one of their weather planes had gone missing over turkey and must have gone off course. It proved to Khrushchev they were lying. He announced to the world on the 7th May the proof of USA lying and demanded an apology.
What year did Eisenhower replace Kennedy?
1953-1961
Once Khrushchev told the rest of the world what did Eisenhower do?
He refused to apologise claiming he had no right to demand this. He claimed the USA has needed to carry out these espionage protect themselves by keeping an eye on soviet rearmament.
Cold War tensions increased and the suppose ‘thaw’ ended.
What was the results of U2 crisis for Garry Power?
He was arrested and put in trail in the USSR for spying he was found guilty and given a 10 year sentence.
Powers only served 17 months of his sentence and in February 1962 he was exchanged for a top soviet spy caught by Americans and sent back to USSR.
What was the results of U2 crisis for The USA?
In the presidential election at the end of 1960 Eisenhower did not run for office and his republican Vice President was defeated by Kennedy.
Eisenhower and his Republican Party received criticism from abroad for their actions.
American were bale do for the crisis and their reputation shattered.
What was the results of U2 crisis for the USSR?
This was another event which brought them and China closer as communist superpowers. The Chinese became convinced that peace with the USA would never be achieved.
This could be seen as a propaganda victory to Khrushchev and the USSR.
What was the results of U2 crisis for Cold War tension?
Peaceful coexistence ended as Khrushchev had proved the USA had been spying on them
The USA placed their armed forces on alert as they expected a retaliation form the USSR. This led to the building of nuclear missile sites around the world.
The Paris peace summit was cancelled which aimed to solve some of the Cold War problems like the Berlin issue.
The lack of the meeting of the big 4 meant progress towards peaceful solutions were halted. There was no test ban treaty on nuclear weapons and neither side disarmed.
This meant both countries were trying to find new ways for spying.
Tension built as both sides had mutual distrust
Because the Berlin issue was not discussed this led to Khrushchev building the Berlin Wall.
