Cold war

• East Germany


  Lay in the heart of the Soviet zone
• The western powers ignored demands regarding East Germany, and Khrushchev did not enforce them
• A summit was to be held in Paris between the USSR, USA, Britain, and France to improve East-West relations

  1960
• Khrushchev visited the USA in 1959 and felt confident to discuss the Berlin issue again
• On 1 May 1960, a U2 American spy plane flown by Gary Powers was shot down over the USSR by a Soviet missile
• Powers was captured and films and tapes were recovered from the plane
• When the Soviets announced the shooting down of the plane, the USA denied it was spying
• The Soviets produced evidence and stated that Powers would be put on trial
• Eisenhower had to admit that the USA had been spying
• Eisenhower refused to apologize
• As a result, Khrushchev walked out of the summit, leading to its abandonment
• Tensions and mistrust were heightened again
• In 1961, the Berlin Wall was built, marking the Fourth Berlin Crisis
• Factors leading to the building of the Berlin Wall

  • The Refugee Issue
  • The Bay of Pigs Incident
  • Khrushchev's position
• Since 1949, 3 million refugees had fled to the West, mostly skilled and economically active people
• By 1961, 10,000 people per week were leaving for the more prosperous West
• The East German government and the USSR wanted to stop the exodus
• The Bay of Pigs Incident was an embarrassment to the Kennedy administration and increased tensions between the Superpowers
• Khrushchev needed to make a stand regarding Berlin to consolidate his position in the USSR
• JFK was determined to gain the upper hand with regard to the Berlin issue
• Kennedy refused to 'give up' Berlin
• Building the Berlin Wall

  1. East German troops sealed off West Berlin with roadblocks and barbed wire

  2. They constructed a concrete wall around the Western zones of the city

  3. The wall was manned 24 hours a day by machine gun posts and searchlights
• The building of the Berlin Wall divided Berlin physically and ended free access from East to West
• The wall stopped the flow of East Berliners to the West, and the East German economy started to recover
• Those attempting to escape were arrested or killed
• Although Khrushchev solved the problem of East Berliners defecting, his policy of peaceful co-existence was
• The flow of East Berliners to the West came to an end
• The East German economy started to recover
• Although Khrushchev had solved the problem of East Berliners defecting, his policy of peaceful co-existence was destroyed
• Kennedy did not want to risk war, so US troops did not tear down the wall despite speaking out against it
• Military alliances


  • NATO
  • Warsaw Pact
• Military alliances resulted in the division of Europe into two hostile armed camps and worsened relations between West and East
• NATO Members

  • Britain, France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, USA, Canada, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, Greece, Turkey, West Germany, Spain
• West felt threatened due to communist expansion in Eastern Europe and wanted a safeguard against Soviet "encroachment"
• USSR conventional military forces were stronger than those of Western Europe unless supported by the USA
• The United Nations was powerless to solve global problems due to the use of the VETO
• The confrontation over Berlin (Blockade and airlift) increased tensions significantly
• NATO was established

  April 1949
• NATO was a defensive alliance entered into by North America and Western Europe for mutual protection
• NATO Military bases

  • Britain, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey