Unit 2: Topic 2 - Three Cold War Crises: Berlin, Cuba and Czechoslovakia (1957 - 69) Flashcards
The Berlin Crisis: a divided city
Since Berlin was located in Eastern Germany, capitalism was located in a sea of communism. Capitalism appeared to be the more rewarding ideology, presenting refugee problems in Eastern Germany as well as East Berlin.
- East German Government was very unpopular. Between 1949 - 61, 2.7 million high-skilled refugees fled to West Germany. This was a massive problem in Berlin because there was nothing stopping people from entering West Berlin.
- This was a propaganda failure for Khrushchev as it showed that capitalism was the preferred belief.
- In November 1958, Khrushchev declared that Berlin officially belonged to East Germany. Khrushchev gave American troops 6 months to withdraw.
The Berlin Crisis: negotiation and stalemate
Because Eisenhower did not want to lose Berlin, he held an international meeting to discuss Berlin’s future.
4 SUMMITS
1st Meeting:
GENEVA (May 1959)
Outcome: No solution as of yet but did allow talks between each other presidents face-to-face.
2nd Meeting
CAMP DAVID, USA (September 1959)
Outcome: Still no solution, however there was to be another summit and Khrushchev withdrew his ultimatum.
3rd Meeting:
PARIS (May 1960)
Outcome: DISASTER for USA. American spy plane shot down over Russia and captured the pilot. Khrushchev walked out when Eisenhower refused to apologize.
4th Meeting:
VIENNA (June 1961)
Outcome: John F. Kennedy replaced Eisenhower. Both were stubborn and Khrushchev gave the USA a six-month ultimatum again.
KENNEDY PREPARES FOR WAR
- Despite the ultimatum, Kennedy refused to withdraw troops from Berlin and spent $3.2 billion on defense spending and $207 million of fallout shelters. Stalemate had been reached.
The Berlin Crisis: The Berlin Wall
Khrushchev could not win nuclear war but could not back down. He also had a refugee crisis to deal with.
12 August 1961, a barb wire was erected around the whole of West Berlin. The fence was then reinforced in the coming months.
Tanks were deployed on the 27 October, causing a day-long stand-off until 18 hours later, tanks pulled back.
IMPACT:
- Stopped East Germans escaping to the west ending refugee crisis.
- Allowed Khrushchev to avoid total war while still appearing strong.
- Powerful symbol of the division of Germany and the Division of Europe (Iron Wall).
But West Berlin was seen as a symbol of freedom.
The Cuban Missile Crisis: Origins
USA were very concerned at the rate of USSR production of nuclear bombs. For example, the TSAR BOMB was the most destructive bomb ever.
USSR’s concern was how close USA’s missiles were compared to their own. In 1961, USA distributed nukes to UK, Italy and Turkey. These could be fired at specific targets, such as Moscow. USSR could launch bombs from further away, but this was detrimental to the accuracy.
USSR had few missiles and no means to attack them with, but nonetheless USA were frightened. This was because USSR launched the Sputnik-1 satellite on to the moon, demonstrating the soviet’s sophistication of technology. USA believed that missiles could be placed on to the moon.
CUBAN REVOLUTION
In short, USA owned Cuba as one of their satellite states, however in 1959, the Cuban Revolution overthrew the Pro-American government. Castro was the new leader who wanted independence from USA.
USA banned all trade with Cuba, because he made deals with the USSR. Castro nationalized all US businesses and continued trade with USSR. USSR agreed to give economic trade to Cuba.
BAY OF PIGS INCIDENT (17th April 1961)
CIA attempted to assassinate Castro multiple times but failed, because the Americans did not want a communist state next to them.
The next plan was to place Batista (previous leader) back in charge and organize a ‘revolt’ to take back Cuba. It failed because:
- It was not secret.
- Cubans hated Batista
- The first airstrike on Cuba was a failure.
- They had 1,400 troops compared to Castro’s 20,000.
As a result, Castro declared himself communist and USSR assured military ‘protection’ i.e place missiles in Cuba.
The Cuban Missile Crisis: The 13 days
On the 16th of October 1962, Kennedy is informed that Khrushchev has plans to place nuclear missiles on Cuba.
On the 22nd, Kennedy imposes a Naval blockade around Cuba to prevent missiles reaching its final destination.
He also publicly addresses this issue and this shocked the world. Many Americans panicked and started building nuclear shelters.
Soviet and American letters were delivered over the next 3-4 days.
Khrushchev proposes a deal: the USSR will withdraw missiles from Cuba if the USA will agree to never invade Cuba and withdraw missiles from Turkey.
Robert Kennedy, Chief Adviser accepts this proposal only if the withdrawal of missiles from America in Turkey is kept secret.
Khrushchev accepts this secret deal.
HAWKS AND DOVES
Hawks and doves were advisors for both Kennedy and Khrushchev. Hawks had an aggressive policy, whereas the doves offered a diplomatic approach.
The Cuban Missile Crisis: Immediate and Short-term consequences
SHORT-TERM
- A reduction in Khrushchev’s authority because the removal of missiles in Cuba made him look weak.
- ‘Hot-line’: In June 1963, a direct communications link was set up between the two presidents because the Cuban missile crisis highlighted the fragility of international peace.
- The Limited Test Ban Treaty (first): All missile testing was banned except the testing in underground.
The Test Ban Treaty was first done because it opened the path to limiting stockpiles.
President Kennedy first expressed his beliefs saying that both superpowers needed to focus on ‘common interests’. This speech was the beginning of DETENTE.
LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES
- In 1965, the doctrine was realized of MAD. Mutually Assured Destruction gave both superpowers an excellent reason to avoid war.
- The French left the NATO. If the superpowers went to war. All NATO members would be obliged to fight alongside America. Charles De Gaulle was appalled an started creating their own nuclear missiles.
Czechoslovakia: ‘Prague Spring’
There are strong similarities between Hungary 1956 and Czechoslovakia 1968.
Both were brutally ran by the secret police and were part of a declining economy. Standard of living dropped.
The leader of Czechoslovakia was sacked due to his unpopularity and Alexander Dubcek became the Communist Party Leader: the most powerful man in Czechoslovakia.
He was good friends with the Russian president, Brezhnev who gained rule in 1964. He was a naturally committed communist leader and he wanted a popular form of communism. He called it ‘Socialism with a human face’. The goal was to get rid of the oppressive parts of Communism.
He introduced the following reforms:
- Relaxation of ‘censorship’
- Legalization of opposition of other political groups
- Government toleration of political opposition groups
- More power to regional governments
- More power to Czech governments
- Reintroduction of capitalist elements in Czech economy.
This was welcomed by many students and intellects.
Older communists were shocked by ‘Prague Spring’
Czechoslovakia: The Brezhnev Doctrine
From April to July, Brezhnev was in contact with Dubcek and attempted to persuade him to take his reforms back.
By late August 1968, Brezhnev had ordered a full-scale invasion and ordered to overthrow Dubcek.
On the 20 August, Dubcek ordered the Czechoslovakians to not respond with violence. Nevertheless, there was a great deal of non-violent civil disobedience.
Dubcek was arrested and taken to Moscow where Brezhnev had told him he had betrayed socialism. Dubcek was force to sign Moscow Protocol, which committed the Czech government to ‘protect socialism’ by reinstating previous policies.
Czechoslovakia: International Reaction
America condemned the invasion but could not offer military support. The same with other Western governments.
Communist parties in France and Italy were outraged.
Yugoslavian and Romanians condemned the invasion. Yugoslavs and Romanians formed alliance with China, dividing Communist further.
German and Polish governments welcomed the Soviet response. These Pro-Moscow leaders might lose their jobs if reforms spread to other Eastern Bloc countries.
