The Cold War 1958-1970

• Nikita Khrushchev


  Leader of the USSR
• Dwight D. Eisenhower


  President of the USA
• Khrushchev and Eisenhower


  Had a begrudging respect for each other, partly due to Eisenhower's reputation as a military leader during World War Two
• Personal relationships between Soviet and American leaders


  Affected events and the success of every summit held during the late 1950s and early 1960s
• In the late 1950s, issues around Berlin sparked off one of the biggest of the Cold War crises
• Brain drain


  The movement of young, often well-educated, professionals from one country to another
• Between 1949 and 1961 an estimated 2.7 million East Germans left for West Germany, and Berlin was the centre of this process as defectors had easy access to its Western sectors
• Defector


  Someone who leaves their own country or political ideology, often to join a rival one
• Walter Ulbricht


  Hard-line communist leader of East Germany
• Khrushchev's speech in Moscow - November 1958


  Khrushchev gave the West an ultimatum, demanding that the Western powers withdraw their troops from Berlin within six months
• Eisenhower did not want to give in to Khrushchev's demands


  Believed a military presence was necessary to protect West Berlin's freedom
• Geneva Conference - May 1959


  The two leaders were seeking a new agreement on Berlin, but no solution to the ultimatum was found
• Relations between Khrushchev and Eisenhower improved

  Khrushchev agreed to consider a trip to the USA for another summit meeting the following year
• Camp David Summit - September 1959


  Eisenhower invited Khrushchev to the official US presidential residence, demonstrating the respect the two leaders had for each other
• Although no agreement on the long-term fate of Berlin was reached, the ultimatum on Berlin was withdrawn by Khrushchev, and it was agreed that further negotiations would take place in Paris the following year
• U2 crisis


  Incident where a US U2 spy plane was shot down over the USSR in 1960, just before the Paris Summit
• The Paris Summit and the U2 crisis occurred

  1960
• The U2 spy plane was piloted by Gary Powers
• The USA claimed the U2 was a weather monitoring plane that had lost its way, but film retrieved by the Soviets showed Powers had been on a spying mission
• When Eisenhower refused to apologise for the U2 mission


  Khrushchev walked out of the Paris Summit
• The Paris Summit ended in failure - there was no agreement on a Test Ban Treaty
• America was embarrassed as it was shown to have lied about the U2 plane's mission and to be using methods of espionage which were morally suspect
• The relationship between the USA and the USSR deteriorated even further, heightening Cold War tensions
• The issues of Berlin and Cuba remained major sources of tension in the Cold War
• The U2 incident would lead the young John F Kennedy to campaign as a tough anti-communist warrior in the 1960 presidential election campaign
• Just as the 1960s started swinging, a new US President entered the White House. The Cold War was about to enter it's most critical phase, when the world would be pushed to the brink of nuclear war.
• President John F Kennedy took office in January 1961 promising an uncompromising attitude towards the Soviet Union and international communism.
• In 1959 Khruschchev's ultimatum on Berlin had been withdrawn, but Khrushchev believed he might be able to dominate the younger and inexperienced Kennedy. He reissued the ultimatum on Berlin at a conference in Vienna in June 1961 and once again gave the US six months to withdraw.
• Kennedy refused to withdraw the American troops and in fact increased defence expenditure in Berlin in case of a conflict with the USSR.
• At the Yalta Conference of 1945, Germany and its capital Berlin were both divided into four zones of occupation. Berlin lay well inside the Soviet zone of occupation and was a source of tension throughout the Cold War.
• This had first become apparent in 1948 with the crisis over the Berlin Blockade.
• On 13 August 1961, the Soviet authorities in East Germany sealed off East Berlin – their zone of occupation - by constructing a huge barbed wire barrier. This was soon replaced by a concrete wall, complete with lookout towers and armed guards who had orders to shoot anyone trying to cross into the Western sector.
• Reasons for building the Berlin Wall

  • The Brain Drain - thousands of East Germans had fled to the West through Berlin, leaving behind the harsh political climate and economic hardship of life under communism
  • Lure of the West - people living under communism in the Eastern sector could visit the West and see what capitalism offered
  • Espionage - Berlin was a Western island in a communist sea – an ideal place for American spies to gather intelligence on the Soviet military
• Alarmed by the building of the Berlin Wall, President Kennedy sent his Vice-President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and US General, Lucius D Clay to Berlin
• Once the Wall had been constructed, the US decided to test how far they could push the USSR
• Foreigners were still allowed to cross the Wall, and the US regularly sent troops and diplomats into the Soviet sector through Checkpoint Charlie
• Checkpoint Charlie


  The main crossing point in the Berlin Wall between the East and West Berlin
• There was a standoff between American and Soviet tanks at Checkpoint Charlie when the wall was first built in 1961
• Fearing the US tanks might try to break down the Wall or pass into its sector, the Soviets responded with an equal show of force and Red Army tanks pulled up to their side of Checkpoint Charlie
• The nail-biting crisis lasted for 18 hours until diplomatic negotiations agreed that both sides would slowly withdraw