P7 - Alliances and shifts

Alliance expansion

Eisenhower saw it as important to develop strong relations, that would allow the encirclement of communist nations

-method could be proposed due to US lack of conventional forces, so need further ground force support from allies

creates a nuclear umbrella - pledge by a nuclear-armed state to use its nuclear weapons to defend a non-nuclear allied state,

Sino - Soviet relations

Nikita Khrushchev provided economic aid and technology to China, to strengthen relations

-also visited them too

led to John Foster Dulles to suggest the formation of a collective defence treaty - SEATO

(SEATO) Southeast Asia collective defence treaty

SEP 1954

members were nations that had a few common borders, being spread out in a wide area:

• FR, GB, USA, Thailand, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines

Federal Republic of Germany

Chancellor of West Germany (FRG) - Konrad Adenauer - aware to rebuild Germany they have to align with western powers

NOV 1949 - joined council of Europe, allowing them to have consulates in other nations + have representation in OEEC

MAY 1952 - General treaty which recognised sovereignty of Germany, to rule themselves as long as limit army and renounce nuclear weapons

MAY 1955 - new member of NATO

• another nation to be used to contain communism + regional alliance made

• led to USSR recognising sovereignty of GDR and form the Warsaw Pact

Warsaw Pact - MAY 1955

With USSR influence in eastern bloc, FRG joining NATO prompted the pact to form

was Soviet union could legitimise influence in Eastern EU and a way to keep political + economic relations

-containing:

• USSR, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia

portrayed it as a collective security strat

New Look policy

Eisenhower saw Truman’s containment as having limited effectiveness , creating stalemates, so adopted this policy in OCT 1953

-Him and Foster Dulles wanted to roll back communism

this idea was presented in methods of:

Massive retaliation

Method in which US would forcibly display its determination to use nuclear arms against an aggressor

-saw this as most cost efficient and effective

-supported with conventional force support provided to Korean war, with leaving no strategic reserve + costly

Brinkmanship

strat designed to convince opposition that there is a risk of war, with one side showing they won’t back down, forcing the other to or conflict to occur

-going to the verge of war using nuclear weapons, would also help in negotiations