cold war 1960s

• There's a lot of complexity during the Cold War with many incidents happening at the same time
• Cold war historians tend to focus on specific incidents as examples of cold war hostilities to identify patterns of behavior between the great Powers
• The Cold War continues into the 1960s
• Peaceful coexistence


  Nikita Khrushchev's version of Cold War foreign policy, acknowledging the Cold War had settled into an intractable shape and tensions between the US and Soviet Union would be ongoing
• Che Guevara said that to a Marxist, peaceful coexistence does not encompass peace between the exploiters (capitalists) and the exploited
• Events in the Cold War in the 1960s

  1. 1960: Tensions in Germany over Berlin, U2 spy plane shot down

  2. 1961: Berlin Wall constructed, first US/Australian troops arrive in Vietnam

  3. 1961: CIA-backed attempt to overthrow communist government of Cuba fails at Bay of Pigs

  4. 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis brings world close to nuclear war
• The Cuban Missile Crisis is a clear example of Cold War hostilities, with the world moving close to the brink of nuclear war
• The White House and Kremlin established a direct telephone line in 1963 to calm hostilities after the Cuban Missile Crisis
• In 1963, the USA, Soviets and British agree to ban the test of nuclear weapons
• In 1964, China joins the nuclear club with its own atomic weapons test
• In 1965, Australia increases its troops in Vietnam alongside the Americans
• In 1965, the Soviets openly admit to supplying weapons to North Vietnam
• In 1967, the Six-Day War takes place in the Middle East as the cultural revolution expands in China
• In 1968, the Tet Offensive in Vietnam leads to a de-escalation of the war, and the My Lai Massacre occurs
• In 1968, the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia is crushed by Warsaw Pact troops
• In 1969, the moon landing is a moment of global unity amidst the Cold War tensions
• In the 1960s, revisionist historians start to question the orthodox understanding of the Cold War, suggesting the US is not as pure as previously thought