topic 2

• the berlin crisis ( 1961)

  • berlin is a loophole for escaping communism
  • 1949-61 - 4 million eastern Berliners fled to West Berlin
  • east = poor economy, political repression
  • "brain drain" - many intellectuals were fleeing
  • berlin was a gap in the iron curtain
  • Khrushchev - accused west of breaking Potsdam agreement
  • arranged a summit meeting in 1960
• Paris summit ( 1960)


  • Khrushchev and Eisenhower - due to meet may 1960
  • 9 days earlier soviets shot down a u2 spy plane
  • Khrushchev demanded an apology and to end the flights
  • Eisenhower didn't apologise
  • at a preliminary meeting Khrushchev stormed out
  • Eisenhower didn't attend the planned visit USSR
  • the summit didn't take place
• Vienna summit (1961)


  • Khrushchev fixed a new meeting with new president, thought he could push Kennedy arround
  • Kennedy however re-asserted Truman doctine
  • in the summit Khrushchev demanded allies leave , Kennedy refused and increased military spending by $3.5 billion
  • Khrushchev increased defence spending by 30%
  • led to tension increase
• the Berlin Wall ( 1961)


  • 13 august 1961 - Khrushchev closed border between east and west Berlin
  • since the wall was in the east the allies did nothing
  • minefields and garrison points were used to stop people crossing
  • eventually the temp wall was replaced
  • the new wall had machine guns, flood lights, trip wire and soldiers
• impact of Berlin Wall

  • checkpoint Charlie became a stand off zone
  • Kennedy promised If soviet troops left so would American
  • families were separated
  • Berliners were angry with soviets- broke agreement on how wall is run
  • berliners were angry with Kennedy as he didn't go to war over berlin
  • the wall made both leader look successful;
  • Khrushchev - beaten US, refugee movement stopped
  • Kennedy - US still in berlin , wall made communism look weak
• crisis over Cuba (1959)


  • 90 miles from us mainland
  • Batista was unpopular but supported by USA
  • cuban revolution saw Castro overthrow Batista
  • Castro removed us capitalist companies
  • us banned sugar imports (could bankrupt Cuba)
  • Castro had connections to communism, Castro turned to soviets for help
  • Khrushchev now had an ally close to America , sent weapons to Cuba
  • led to bay of pigs
• Bay of Pigs 


  • CIA trained cuban exiles called la brigada
  • 1,500 members
  • vs 20,000 cubans
  • US didn't do a 2nd round of bombing air force
  • this allowed them to fight the next day
  • casto was popular , castro was aware of plan
  • pushed Cuba closer to communism
  • declared conversion to communism
  • soviets placed bases in Cuba like us had done. with Italy and turkey
• the cuban missile crisis - events

  • military build up - soviets installed missiles in Cuba, u2 spy plane got photos of bases
  • naval blockade - Kennedy decided to stop all weaponry entering Cuba
  • oct 1962 - 18 soviet ships turned around
  • Khrushchev sent 2 letters the first stating Id the blockade was removed so would the missiles from cuba
  • the second stated that is the blockade was removed as well as removing the missiles from turkey the soviets would removed the missiles from Cuba
  • Kennedy ignored the terms of the 2nd and agreed to the first
• cuban missile crisis - consequences

  increases rivalry - china criticised Khrushchev. soviets saw him as weak. Kennedy appeared a great statesman

  the hotline - means of easier communication between Whitehouse and Kremlin

  the treaties - limited test ban treaty -1963

  - outer space treaty - 1967

  - nuclear non-proliferation treaty - 1968
• czechslovakia - novotny's fall

  • Czech had been a model satellite since 1948
  • Novotny was unpopular as he was a hard-line communist and was slow to follow de-Stalinisation
  • Czech economy was declining as well as living standards due to soviet control
  • Novotny was replaced by Dubcek as 1st secretary of the communist party - supported by Brezhnev
• Czechoslovakia - Prague spring reforms

  • dubcek introduces ' socialism with a human face'
  • wanted greater political freedom
  • removal of travel restrictions
  • reduce power of secret police
  • led to encouragement of opposition of communism
  • soviets were suspicious of the changes
  • Brezhnev was worried Czech would leave Warsaw pact
  • Brezhnev was under pressure from gomulka and ulbricht to end the reforms as they were a direct threat to communism
• Czechoslovakia - the invasion 


  • soviet tanks remained in Czech after military exercises
  • June 1968 - Warsaw pact met over events in Prague - Dubcek reassured pact
  • august 1968 - Bratislava declaration- faith in communism
  • august 1968 - Tito enthusiastic reception during Czech visit
  • august 1968 - Brezhnev shouted at Dubcek over the phone telling him his actions in Prague would bring down the Warsaw pact
  • august 1968 - USSR invaded Czechslovakia