The Cold War 1960s

May 1960-Paris Meeting

-The USA and USSR met in Paris to continue negotiations over Berlin.

-Prior to the meeting, a US spy plane flying over the USSR was shot down.

April 1961- Bay of Pigs Invasion

-The CIA attempted and failed to remove Castro in the Bay of Pigs invasion, despite the help of 1,500 Cuban exiles (La Brigada)

-Castro publicly declared himself a Communist by the end of the year.

June 1961-Vienna Meeting

New US President John F Kennedy attended the Vienna meeting and refused to give in over Berlin.

13th August 1961-Construction of the Berlin Wall

-Construction of the Berlin Wall began. Movement between East and West became impossible without risk of being killed.

-This drastically reduced the flow of refugees and the wall became a symbol of division between East and West.

-The wall was 27 miles long and included barbed wire, guard towers and land mines.

October 1962-Cuban Missile Crisis

-14th October, American U2 spy plane spotted nuclear missile sites in Cuba, with Soviet nuclear missiles being set up.

-Kennedy ordered for a 500 miles naval blockade around Cuba in response.

-Despite threatening to smash through the blockade, Khrushchev turned his ships round.

-The final agreement between the two sides involved both USA and the USSR removing their nuclear missiles from Turkey and Cuba respectively, but the USA would remove theirs in secret.

-Following the crisis, a hotline telephone was established between Moscow and Washington and various treaties were signed.

1963-Limited Test Ban Treaty

-As a consequence of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed.

-The USA and USSR agreed to only test nuclear weapons underground.

1963-’Ich Bin eine Berliner’

Kennedy visited West Berlin following the building of the wall. In his speech in front of 200,000 Berliners, he declared ‘Ich Bin eine Berliner’.

1967-Outer-Space Treaty signed

-Another treaty was signed after the Cuban Missile Crisis: The Outer-Space Treaty was signed.

-Both superpowers said they would not have nuclear weapons in space.

April 1968-Prague Spring Reforms

-Alexander Dubcek (replacing Novotny as the leader of Czechoslovakia) introduced the Prague Spring Reforms, including the end of censorship and the right of Czech citizens to criticise the government.

-By August, newspapers had produced scathing reports of the government and of Communism.

-20th/21st August-Brezhnev and 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia.

-Dubcek was replaced and the Prague Spring Reforms were ended.

-72 protesters died in the fighting.