AQA GCSE History: Conflict and Tension - part three

West Berlin

-Freedom, wealth, shops and great variety

-thousands were fleeing from east Germany to the west because of the harsh Communist regime

How did Eastern Germans know what West Germany was like?

The western allies made sure that the East could watch West German television

What did Khrushchev try to get Kennedy to do?

-withdraw US troops from the city

-he was certain that the young president would back down but he didn't

When was the Berlin Wall built?

13th August 1961

Checkpoint Charlie

The one crossing point from East to West that wasn't sealed

Berlin Wall and the lives of Germans

-people were separated from family and loved ones

-people couldn't get to their jobs

-lots of chaos and confusion

Berlin wall

-concrete with barbed wire

-border guards shot anyone trying to defect

Effects of the Berlin Wall on the Cold War

-created a major crisis

-on October 27th, US and Russian tanks were fully armed and faced each other all day in a stand off

-very close to a war

Cuban Missile Crisis

October 1962

-most famous crisis in the Cold War

Old leader of Cuba

Batista - dictator with corrupt and unpopular policies but he hated communism so America supplied him with military and economic support

New leader of Cuba

Fidel Castro

-built up support and defeated Bautista's army

-Castro entered the capital Havana in January 1959 and exiled political opponents

-with a vision for a better Cuba, he quickly won over support

US response to Castro's rule of Cuba

The USA first was okay with it but soon the relationship between the two countries grew worse because Castro was Communist-leaning

Practical issues between USA and Cuba in 1961

-there were thousands of Cubans fleeing from Castro's rule to the US and they formed pressure groups demanding action against Castro

-Castro took over some American businesses in Cuba like agricultural businesses and distributed the land to his supporters

CIA and Cuba

-June 1960, Eisenhower authorised the CIA to investigate ways of overthrowing Castro

-CIA provides support to Cuban exiles

-American companies in Cuba refused to cooperate with any businesses using materials from the USSR

-American media broadcasted a relentless stream of criticism of Castro and his regime

Castro's response to US hostility

-mixed approach

-assured Americans living in Cuba that they were safe and he allowed the USA to keep naval base because he wanted to run Cuba without interference

-however by summer of 1960, allied with Soviet Union and received arms and $100 million from them

Fidel Castro

-political beliefs focused on overthrowing the dictator

-believed in social justice and freedom

-influences by Marxist teachings

-emerged stronger after the Cuban Missile Crisis

The Bay of Pigs

April 1961

-Kennedy supplied arms for 1400 anti-Castro exiles to invade Cuba

-exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs and were met with 20,000 Cuban troops armed with tanks

-Castro captured or killed them all in days, massive failure

Results of the Bay of Pigs

-showed that Kennedy was weak

-showed that USA didn't want to get directly involved in Cuba

-made Castro and Khrushchev very suspicious of US policy

May 1962

The Soviet Union announced publicly for the first time that they were supplying Cuba with arms

July 1962

-Cuba had the best equipped army in Latin America

-thousands of missiles and boats and tanks etc

-5000 Soviet technicians to help maintain the weapons

America's response to Cuba being supplied with arms

-watched with great alarm

-feared that the Soviet Union would dare to put nuclear missiles there

-in September, Kennedy warned the USSR about this and the USSR assured them that it had no need or intention of putting nuclear missiles on Cuba

The crisis, October 1962

-on 14th of October, an American spy plane got photographs of nuclear missile sites in Cuba that were being built by the USSR

-some sites were nearly finished and some were already supplied with missiles

How did Kennedy act during the crisis?

-decides to blockade Cuba on 20th October

-Kennedy delays an attack and just asks that the Soviet Union withdraw their missiles which they do, ending the crisis

Results of the Cuban Missile Crisis

-Cuba stayed Communist and highly armed

-Kennedy came out with a much better reputation

-Khrushchev appeared as a peacekeeper and kept Cuba as a useful ally

-helped the thaw Cold War relations and in 1963 they signed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

1963 nuclear-weapons agreement, which banned aboveground nuclear tests

Why was there opposition in Czechoslovakia?

People examined what had happened in the 20 years of communist control under Novotny and didn't like it

Socialism with a human face

reform movements started by Alexander Dubcek, communists gain the freedoms of press, assembly, worship, the right to strike, and freedom to travel abroad, free elections

Dubcek

-leader of Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring

-communist but didn't believe in a restrictive communism

-assured Brezhnev that they would remain in the Warsaw Pact

Czech opposition

-led by intellectuals who felt that the Communists had failed to lead the country forward

-censorship had been eased so they were able to launch attacks on the Communist leadership on the radio and tv

Prague spring

In 1968, Czechoslovakia, under Alexander Dubcek, began a program of reform. Dubcek promised civil liberties, democratic political reforms, and a more independent political system.

Why was Czech a problem to USSR?

-Czech was one of the most important countries in the Warsaw Pact bc it was centrally placed

-Soviets were worried that the new ideas in Czech would spread to other eastern countries

Soviet response to Czech

-tried to slow Dubcek down by arguing with him

-in July 1968 had a summit conference with Dubcek and got him to agree to not allowing a new Social Democratic Party

-Warsaw countries called on Czech to maintain political stability

-August 1968, to everyone's amazement, Soviet tanks moved into Czech and Dubcek was removed from power

Effect of the Prague Spring on superpower relations

-poisoned them

-the USSR had shown the West that it could not tolerate losing any part of its control over eastern Europe and showed the members of the Warsaw pact that trying to move away would not be tolerated

When was The Brezhnev Doctrine?

1968

The Brezhnev Doctrine

-the Prague Spring gave rise to this, essentials of communism were defined as a one party system and to remain a member of the Warsaw pact

-the Soviet invasion left Czechoslovakia in despair and they became resentful of the Soviet connection but they had been silenced

What happened 20 years after Prague Spring?

-Gorbachev the leader of the USSR questioned the invasion and was himself now spreading the ideas of the Prague Spring

Detente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Factors encouraging Detente

-inflation and huge costs over the Vietnam War were crippling the US economy and so the USSR needed to expand its world trade in order to improve living standards

-both sides had stockpiles of weapons that could destroy the earth

-conflict could disrupt oil supply in the middle east

-both were worried about the growing power of China

-Nixon and Brezhnev were happy to co exist

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

1968, aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear weapons

SALT 1

Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty

-limited number of ICBMs and ABMs on each side

-allowed each side to use spy satellites to check on the other side