Superpower Relations and the cold war Part 2

what happened in Cuba in 1959

Fidel Castro overthrew the US-backed government of Batista - Castro was a nationalist who wanted US influence out of Cuba

what 3 tension points arose out of Castro’s coup

• the US recognised the new cuban govt but refused to provide any aid

• In ‘59 castro seized all foreign owned land and recompensed former owners but the US refused to recognise the scheme

• in 1960 Khrushchev agreed to by cuban sugar and had a secret arms clause in the deal

what was the ‘bay of pigs’ incident

• 17th April 1961

• 1400 exiles (trained by us govt.) hoped to topple castro

• they’d no backing from civilians and instead were against them

what effect did the bay of pigs incident have on international relations

• the us had called russia out for trying to build an empire in eastern europe - hypocrisy

• cuba and russia were closer now and Khrushchev said he’d trade arms with them

what events occurred during the ‘Thirteen Days’

• Khrushchev puts missiles on Cuba at Castro’s request

• spy planes see missiles and so JFK sets up naval blockade and threatens Khrushchev

• Khrushchev sends 2 letters and says he’ll remove missiles if Cuba leave JFK alone and missiles from turkey have to go

• Publicly kennedy agrees to first letter but also to second one in secret

what were the consequences of the crisis

• a direct phone line was set up between DC and Mscow

• A Test-Ban treaty was signed between US UK and USSR

• in 1968 a non proliferation treaty was signed so countries couldn’t share nuclear tech w oneanother

what causes were there for the prague spring

• few consumer goods for Czechians

• Censorship and a lack of freedom of speech

• Low living standards

what events happened in the prague spring

• Dubcek elected head of czech government

• Censorship was relaxed and criticism of the Govt was allowed

• more power given to regional govt.

• trade boomed with the west

• trade unions had more power

consequences of the prague spring

• Brezhnev disproved of the spring and urged Dubcek to reverse the reforms and not endanger communism

• when ceausescu and tito were in czech on August 20 1968 500k pact troops put down the spring and faced no resistance

What happened to Dubcek after the spring

Dubcek was arrested, sent to moscow and ordered to reverse his reforms then replaced by Husak

What was the brezhnev doctrine

• September 1968

• it said the actions of one communist country affected all of them so if the actions of one country threatened all of them it was everyone’s responsibility

How did the prague spring affect USSR relations with other communist countries

• Yugoslavia condemned the invasion which strained the relations between the two govts

• The communist parties of france and italy cut ties with moscow

• E.Germany and Poland welcomed brezhnev’s actions

how’d prague spring affect USSR/USA relations

• USA and other western govts were angry and strongly protested

• there was an attempt in the UN to formally condone the invasion but USSR vetoed

what was the impact of the arms race on the USA/USSR

As a result of the arms race both the USA and USSR both had enough long distance weapons to destroy the other. the result would be MAD.

What is detente

a period of relaxed tensions between two sides at odds with one another

why did the USA want detente

• they’d been fighting a costly war in vietnam

• in the US there were large protests against the war

• Americans thought America needed to be less involved internationally

• USA had many social issues

why did the USSR want detente

• Economic problems and wanted to cut weapons spending

• Felt now was the time to improve relations

• Poor Living standards

What was SALT 1

• Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty 1

• signed in May 1972

• contained the ABM Treaty, Interim Treaty and Basic Principles Agreement

What did the three treaties of SALT 1 contain

ABM Treaty - ABMs are only allowed at 2 sites and 00 missiles a site

Interim treaty (valid until ‘77) US/USSR limited to 740 SLBMs and USA 1054 ICBMs and USSR 1618 ICBMs

Basic Principles Agreement - laid out the rules for the conduct of nuclear warfare

Impact of SALT 1

major symbolic importance as it showed the USA and USSR wanted to reach an agreement and be public

Weaknesses of SALT 1

• if war was likely then a piece of paper wouldn’t hold the USA/USSR back

• The treaty didn’t cover the latest tech like MIRVs (Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle)

what were the three baskets of the helsinki accords

• European borders

• international coop

• Human rights

how did USA/USSR receive basket 1

• Republicans felt betrayed by the fact the USA was accepting the borders of the east

• The USSR was happy to have their borders become recognised

how did USA/USSR receive basket 3

• acknowledging human rights meant the USSR would have to hold free elections, which threatens their control

• The USA sweats freedom and loved being able to bring it to the east

what was SALT 2

• 18th June ‘79

• Carter and Brezhnev signed treaty which restricted launchers and strategic bombers

Why did SALT 2 never come into effect

while SALT 2 was making its way through congress, the USSR invaded afghanistan, Carter felt he couldn’t continue it and congress never ratified it

what’s a guerrilla fighter

unofficial military fighters using hit and run tactics, stealth and booby traps

Why did Russia invade afghanistan

to stop muslim fundamentalism seeping out of iran and spreading to its borders and so they could have a pro soviet Govt in afghanistan

what happened in the lead up the the invasion

• after Amin deposed the shah he initially had the backing of the USSR

• after hearing that he was allegedly talking to the USA, brezhnev decided to act

• under the pretense they were invited, soviet forces captured and killed amin 27/12/1979

who replaced Amin

Babrak Kamal

How did america respond to soviet invasion of afghanistan

• Carter (POTUS) called it the biggest threat to world peace since WW2

• Arms spending increased

• Carter said the usa would repel by force any threat to american interests in the persian gulf - the carter doctrine

What were the Moscow 1980 boycotts

• in response to what the USSR was doing in afghanistan, the US and 60 others boycotted the moscow 1980 olympics

• the us threatened to revoke the passports of anyone who went

4 years later the USSR and 15 other countries tried the same thing in LA

What were Ronald Reagen’s policies

• the soviet union is an evil empire and the US is a force of good

• Reagen got the govt. to increase military spending and developed new weapons like trident subs

• Reagen Doctrine: The USA would support anti-communist govts and anti-communist parties in communist states

who came into power of the USSR in 1985

Mikhail Gorbachev

What problems did Gorbachev face when he came into power

• economic problems - huge sums of money were spent to compete with the US

• Poor living standards

• growing opposition - the trade union Solidarity posed such a threat it was banned

• Stasi (russia) and securitate (romania) were the only way to keep opposition in check

• poor leadership - since 1982 there had been 4 leaders, (brezhnev andropov chernenko and then Gorbachev)

what is perestroika

Reorganising the state and economy to contain some of the features that makes capitalism succesful (market forces and autonomy for businesses)

what is glasnost

less corruption, people shouldn’t fear the state or fear expressing their opinions. Now the govt could be criticized and let people understand how a country is run

what else did gorbachev do

• withdraw from afghanistan

• drop the brezhnev doctrine

where were the 5 summits between 1985-1989 held

• Geneva in 85

• Reykjavik in 86

• Washington in 87

• Moscow in 1988

• Malta in 1989

what happened in each of the conferences between 1985-1989

• Geneva - nothing but Gorbachev and Reagen established a good working relationship

• Reykjavik - both sides knew the usa couldn’t afford to give up star wars

• Washington - the INF treaty was signed: all land range missiles with a range of 500-5500km were to be destroyed

• Moscow - more complex details of the INF were ironed out

• Malta - George HW Bush was POTUS and this was seen as the end of the cold war

How did

• Poland

• Czechoslovakia

• Romania

• Bulgaria

Break free from communism

Poland - In June 1989 Solidarity is legalised and wins by a landslide in elections

Czechia - Nov 1989 The velvet revolution overthrows their communist govt. and Vaclav Havel is elected President

Romania - Dec 1989 Demonstrations were lead against the govt and then ceausescu was tried and killed

Bulgaria - Dec 1989 Peter Mlandenov resigned on live TV and free elections were held the year after

How did

• East Germany

• Yugoslavia

Break free from communism

East Germany

• In Sept 89 swathes of east germans cross to west thru austria

• Oct 89 Gorbachev declines to help squash demonstrations in east germany

• in Nov germany is unofficially reunited

Yugoslavia - The slovenians voted to be free in a referendum. Yugoslavia split into Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia + 2 more

when did the berlin wall fall

9th Nov 1989 - the symbolic ending of the cold war

Why did Gorbachev resign

• a coup was unsuccessfully staged against him

• this weakned his power and standing so

• he resigned on christmas day 1991