INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Section 4: How did the Cold War Develop?

Transcription

1 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Section 4: How did the Cold War Develop? The widening gulf between the Allies When the Second World War began in 1939, Britain faced Germany with few allies. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Britain and the Soviet Union formed an alliance against Hitler. This alliance was extended when Hitler declared war on the USA after Japan s attack on the USA in December This brought Britain, the Soviet Union and the USA together as allies. These three powers together became known as the Grand Alliance, and their leaders Churchill (Great Britain), Roosevelt (USA) and Stalin (Soviet Union) became known as the Big Three. However, this alliance did not mean close friendship and harmony. There was constant tension throughout the war. There had been distrust between these three countries since the Bolshevik Revolution in Moreover, Stalin always pointed to the fact that the Western Allies had intervened in the Russian Civil War in Furthermore, he suspected that they had encouraged Hitler in the 1930s and sought to use him as a bulwark against communism. He was aware of the intrigue that Britain and France had been a party to in 1939 when they were trying to create defensive alliances. Stalin s view about future decisions was also influenced by the two German invasions of 1914 and He wanted to build a buffer zone against possible future German attacks and this idea of a buffer zone conflicted with the ideas of Churchill, who did not wish to see communism spread into Western Europe. In addition, the distrust was compounded by Stalin s suspicion that the Allies deliberately delayed the opening of the Second Front in France, even after agreements were made about the date. He believed that the USA and Britain had wanted the Soviet Union to destroy itself fighting Germany on its own. He also felt that any weakening of the Soviet Union would leave Britain and the USA in a stronger position than the Soviet Union. Millions of Soviet citizens were killed in the war (by 1945, approximately 25m) and Stalin wanted to avoid a recurrence of this. The mistrust between the wartime allies was not wholly on Stalin s part. The two western allies still believed that communism s aim was to impose that belief-system on the whole world. For many people in the west, communism was a loathsome philosophy and capitalism had to be protected at all costs. Furthermore, Britain and the USA felt that the Soviet Union was being selfish because Stalin did not declare war on Japan in The USA had supplied huge amounts of war materiel to the Soviet Union and the latter was only fighting a war on one front. The decision to attack Japan only after the defeat of Germany confirmed Churchill s opinion of Stalin. 1

2 Checkpoint: Reasons for mistrust Stalin The West The Tehran Conference, November- December 1943 The conference was given its own codename Eureka. Roosevelt hoped that this conference would cement close relations between the leaders. This was the first meeting of the Big Three and the main discussion was focused on opening a second front in Western Europe. The central aim of the conference was to plan the final strategy for the war against Nazi Germany and its allies The photograph below shows Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill at the Tehran Conference, December

3 Decisions reached at Tehran: It was agreed that Britain and the USA would open up a second front by invading France in May The codename given to this invasion was Operation Overlord. There would an operation against southern France. The Soviet Union would simultaneously mount an offensive in the East against Germany. It was agreed that as much help would be given to partisan forces in Yugoslavia who were fighting Hitler. The Soviet Union would declare war on Japan once Germany was defeated. A United Nations organisation was to be set up after the war. Stalin was promised the lands that the Soviet Union had lost to Poland in 1920 and as a result of this Poland s borders with Germany would move to the rivers Oder and Neisse. Churchill did not really want the Second Front to be in the north of France. He wanted an assault from the southern part of the Mediterranean but he was overruled. Roosevelt felt that Churchill was only protecting the British Empire and he was keen to see the end of empires when the fighting eventually ceased. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed that the Axis powers would face unconditional terms of surrender, and that once defeated, the nations in league with the Axis powers would be divided into territories to be controlled by the USSR, the U.S., and the UK. However, no firm decisions were made. Roosevelt was prepared to believe Stalin's promises that he would permit free elections in any countries that the Soviet Union liberated because Stalin said he was prepared to declare war on Japan and to join the UNO. The Yalta Conference, February 1945 By early 1945, Stalin s army had reached the German border and was ready for the final onslaught. Stalin s army now totalled 12 million and this outnumbered the forces under Eisenhower (4 million). Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta in the southern Soviet Union to plan the end of the Second World War. Decisions about the fate of Germany, its Allies and those territories it had absorbed had to be made. Some of the Teheran decisions were confirmed. Roosevelt appeared rather tired and weak at the conference and afterwards some observers accused him of giving in to Stalin s demands. 3

4 A British cartoon showing the Big Three at Yalta helping the world to recover from the war. Differences between the Big Three emerged. Churchill was becoming convinced that Soviet troops would remain in the countries they liberated from German occupation. Churchill s distrust was evident in his letters to Roosevelt when he said that Stalin was a threat to the free world. Nevertheless, both Churchill and Roosevelt needed Stalin's support in case it was necessary to invade Japan. What decisions were made at Yalta? Germany The Allies eventually decided to divide Germany into four zones; each one would be occupied by one of the four allies. Stalin agreed to accept France as one of the powers this was after much persuasion by Churchill. It was also decided that Berlin would be divided into four sectors. (Austria and Vienna were to be divided in a similar way.) In addition, it was agreed that Nazi war criminals would be tried in an international court of justice. However, no agreement could be reached about reparations. Stalin was keen to cripple Germany s so that it could never become a military power and Churchill did not want any punishment to bee too severe as had happened in the peace settlement of However, a figure of $20 billion dollars was put forward. Poland Poland would be given land in the west, which would be taken from Germany and would lose land to the USSR. Stalin saw this acquisition of land as creating his buffer zone. He did agree that some members of the Polish government in exile (the London Poles) would be allowed to join the Polish government that he had set up (the Lublin Poles). Free elections would be held. The other key decisions taken at Yalta clearly indicated the rising tensions and the way in which Stalin sought to increase the power and influence of the Soviet Union. He promised to allow free elections in the countries of Eastern Europe which had been occupied by the Soviet army. However, he had no intention of doing so and hoped to secure control of large areas of land. Roosevelt was happy to put up with 4

5 Stalin s actions and accept his claims because it was clear at this time that the war against Japan could go on for some time. Both the USA and Britain needed the assistance of Soviet intervention. Stalin saw an attack against Japan as another way of acquiring more territory. The Big Three agreed that a conference at San Francisco in April of 1945 should formulate plans for a new world body to be called the United Nations. Its aim would be to promote and keep peace. Roosevelt saw Stalin s acceptance of this body as crucial and thought that this was a successful outcome of Yalta. It should also be noted that by the time of the Yalta Conference, Britain was clearly the third ally and some way behind the other two in the Grand Alliance. The Potsdam Conference, July August 1945 After Yalta, it soon became evident that Stalin was not about to adhere to the promises he had made. By July Soviet forces had occupied most of Eastern Europe: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Poland. In addition, Soviet forces were occupying parts of Germany and Austria. Wherever possible, Stalin and his Soviet forces resisted democracy and tried to ensure that new governments would be loyal to the Soviet Union. However, when President Roosevelt died on 12 April, relations between the USA and the Soviet Union became more strained. He was succeeded by Harry Truman who took a much tougher line with Stalin. When Truman became aware of Stalin s antidemocratic actions in Poland, a message condemning the actions was sent to Stalin. So, by April colder relations between the two countries were already evident. The Potsdam conference was the last of the conferences between the leaders of the allies during the Second World War. During the conference, Churchill was replaced by Clement Attlee, who had become Britain s new Prime Minister following the July general election. On 16 July the USA had tested its atomic bomb, which meant that Truman no longer needed to rely upon the Soviet Union in the war against Japan. The USA did not wish to share the technology which had created the atomic bomb and Stalin saw this as a clear threat to the Soviet Union. What was decided at Potsdam? Germany Ideally, Stalin wanted the permanent partition of Germany, but Britain and the USA were able to resist this. Germany was divided into four zones. Each zone would be occupied by one of the four Allies, Great Britain, France, the USA and the USSR. Berlin was divided into four sectors. Germany was to be de-militarised. All German naval and merchant ships were to be given to the Allies. 5

6 The Nazi Party would be dissolved. War criminals would be tried and punished. Nazis were removed from important positions and leading Nazis were to be put on trial for war crime. These trials were held in Nuremberg during There would be free elections in Germany, freedom of speech and a free press. Germans living in Eastern Europe would be transferred into Germany. Germany would pay reparations for the damage caused by the war. Most of this would go to the USSR, either in money or goods. Stalin was desperate to re-build the damaged Soviet economy. It was agreed that Stalin could take machinery from the Soviet occupied zone and would be allowed some machinery from the western zones (the Soviet zone was primarily agricultural). Poland An extract from a note Stalin sent to Churchill in April 1945 about Poland. Poland has borders with the Soviet Union but does not have any with Great Britain and the USA. I do not know whether a democratic government has been established in Greece or whether the Belgian government is democratic. The Soviet Union was not consulted when these governments were being formed. We did not claim the right to interfere in those matters, because we realise how important Belgium and Greece are to the security of Great Britain. Stalin viewed the issue of Poland as crucial to the security of the Soviet Union. It was to be the means whereby a buffer zone would be created. It was agreed that the Polish frontier was to be moved westwards to the rivers Oder and Neisse. One of the most important decisions at Potsdam was the agreement of the Allies to take part in the United Nations. The UN had emerged from decisions made at meetings in Moscow, Teheran, Washington and finally San Francisco. Despite the progress made about Germany and Poland, there were also many disagreements at Potsdam. President Truman tried to force the USSR to allow free elections in the countries of Eastern Europe, which had been occupied after the end of the war. Stalin pretended to be very angry about not being told about the US development of the atomic bomb. (Stalin s agents in the USA had kept him informed of the whole bomb project.) Thus the Grand Alliance began to fracture and with the defeat of Hitler in 1945, the cement which had kept the Allies together began to erode. This was the beginning of the Cold War. During , Stalin s policies showed that he did not trust the West and he kept control of those countries of Eastern Europe that had been liberated from Nazi rule. This led to Winston Churchill coining the term Iron Curtain. For more information about the Yalta Conference, click here For more information and photographs of the Potsdam Conference, click here 6

7 Checkpoint: Yalta and Potsdam What decisions were reached at each conference? Yalta Potsdam Explain three reasons why differences between East and West had emerged by Potsdam

8 The development of the Iron Curtain Churchill at the end of the Iron Curtain speech US reaction to Churchill s Iron Curtain speech 8

9 What was the Cold War? The events of 1945 to 1949 led to what became known as the COLD WAR. This is the name used to describe the hostility between East and West which existed until the late 1980s. It was a war of propaganda and ideas, but there was very little actual fighting. A hot war is a conflict in which actual fighting takes place. A cold war is a war conducted against an enemy by every means without resorting to fighting. At first it was confined to Europe, but during the 1950s and 1960s it spread across world, as the USA and the Soviet Union sought to gain influence and control over as many countries as possible. The iron curtain A map showing the iron curtain In February 1946, President Truman received a note about Soviet foreign policy from one of his advisers. The note stated that the Soviet Union would never co-operate with the USA and its long-term aim was to expand its empire. Thus the Soviet Union had to be contained the policy of containment was born. In March of that year, Winston Churchill made a speech in Fulton, Missouri in 1946, during which he referred to the iron curtain. Churchill said the iron curtain started at Stettin in the Baltic and went to Trieste in the Adriatic. Eventually, the iron curtain became a thousand mile long armed border cutting off the Communist countries of Eastern Europe form the non-communist west. Why did Stalin build the Iron Curtain? He sought to set up a buffer zone of countries in Eastern Europe to protect the USSR against another invasion by Germany he had seen two invasions in his own lifetime and Above all, Stalin was determined to prevent this happening a third time and he wanted to make sure that Germany was kept weak, whereas the western Allies wanted Germany to be allowed to recover from the effects of the war. The western Allies were aware of the mistakes that had been at the Treaty of Versailles and did not want to see History repeat itself. In addition, Stalin was trying to prevent western influence reaching the west and refugees leaving the east for Western 9

10 Europe. Refugees and displaced persons soon discovered that life in Soviet occupied areas was not always pleasant. The remains of the Iron Curtain For more information and photographs of the Iron Curtain, click here Soviet Control of Eastern Europe How did Stalin secure control of Eastern Europe? During the years , all the countries which had been occupied by the Red Army at the end of the war were brought under Soviet control (Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had been absorbed in 1940 and then kept as part of the Soviet Union). In Czechoslovakia the leaders were simply murdered. There was a distinct pattern to the Soviet takeover and control of the countries of Eastern Europe. Firstly, when countries were liberated from the Nazis, Stalin ensured that Soviet troops remained there. Then, Stalin ensured that any new governments were coalitions which meant that the Communist Party would have a say in the running of the country. Gradually, the Communist Party would infiltrate the key areas of government and security organisations. When elections took place, the Communist Party used any means necessary to discredit and frighten opponents. Such tactics enabled the Communist Party to take over the government of the country and then began to establish a one-party country a communist state. Stalin felt justified in establishing military rule in Hungary and Romania because these two countries which had fought on the Nazis side. 10

11 In Czechoslovakia, the Communist Party was the largest party in the coalition government by Stalin ordered Gottwald, the Communist leader to remove the non-communists in the government. In 1948, all communist opponents were removed. Masaryk, a leading opponent of Gottwald was found dead. Having been a member of the coalition for two years, the Polish Communist Party fixed the elections of January The Polish Communist Party set up a government which took its orders from Stalin in Moscow. In Bulgaria, the November elections of 1945 were fixed and the Communists won a majority of seats and in 1946, a one-party sate was established The Hungarian Communist Party secured a large share of the vote and took over the government following the general election of August All other parties were then banned and the Communist leader, Rakosi, established a Stalinist regime. By the November election of 1946, the Romanian Communist Party had won a huge majority and set up a government which then forced King Michael to abdicate in Soviet domination was thus complete. Checkpoint: The Iron Curtain Reasons for building the Iron Curtain Effects on countries to the east 11

12 What was the Allied response to Soviet control of Eastern Europe? The Truman Doctrine The USA began to be concerned about the growth in popularity of the communist parties in France and Italy during the winter of In February 1947 the British government informed the USA that it could no longer afford to support the Greek government against Communist rebels. The USA had seen the spread of communism in the immediate aftermath of the war and now viewed the prospect of further countries becoming communist with great alarm. The US government stepped in with an offer of $400,000,000 to Greece and Turkey. From President Truman s speech to US Congress, 12 March 1947 At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is often not a free one. One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedom. I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. Why was the Truman Doctrine published? By 1947, Truman and his advisers had become convinced that the Soviet Union was trying to spread communism through Eastern Europe and then to the west and beyond. Truman was frightened that if Greece was to become a communist country then this opened the gates to the rest of free Europe. The iron curtain had already cut Europe in two and it was felt that the USA should be seen to be resisting communism. While the Truman Doctrine did not actually mention the Soviet Union, it was obvious that it was intended as a warning to Stalin that Truman was not going to let him get away with any more attempts to take control of Europe. Truman was openly committing the USA to a policy of what became known as containment. Truman argued that the world was becoming divided into two armed camps the capitalist camp, which he claimed was the free camp, and the communist, which was not. The USA would use its economic and military strength to protect the world from the threat of communism. Truman also wanted to help the countries of Europe recover from the effects of the Second World War. He had seen the devastation, which the war had caused and he wanted the USA to play a part in recovery. Marshall Aid was announced at the same time. Truman also hoped that he might be able to persuade some of the countries of Eastern Europe to break away from Communism. 12

13 A German poster for the Marshall Plan; translated, the words read An open road for the Marshall Plan How did Marshall Aid work? Marshall Aid was an attempt to rebuild Europe after the Second World War. It put the ideas of the Truman Doctrine into effect and together the two were called two halves of the same walnut by Truman. In March 1947 President Harry Truman offered grants of American money to all European countries. The plan was named after his Secretary of State George C Marshall who had visited Europe and seen the devastation caused by the war. Truman had also been shocked by the damage caused when he visited Europe for the Potsdam Conference. He had also served as a captain in the US army in Europe in 1918 and wanted to help Europe recover from the effects of a second world war. The USA intended to offer Marshall Aid to all countries in Europe. This would mean that the USA would be able to influence the countries of the east and undermine communism. This was what Truman had hoped would happen. The USSR and other eastern countries did attend the first meetings in 1948, but withdrew when they discovered that they would have to join the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation, the body which was set up to determine how the money would be divided amongst participants. When the Soviet Union realised how much influence the USA would have and that the USA would become close trading partners with members of the OEEC. The Eastern Bloc countries were forced to withdraw applications for Marshall Aid. Poland 13

14 and Czechoslovakia had applied early for Marshall Aid and looked forward to receiving assistance until Stalin stepped in. Altogether seventeen countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Eire, France, Great Britain, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the West s zones in Germany) received a total of $13,750,000,000, which allowed them to recover from the war much more quickly than the countries of the east. Italy, which had been an ally of Germany during the war, received $600,000,000. Marshall Aid was one of the reasons why Stalin tried to force the west out of West Berlin in How did the Soviet Union react to the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan? COMINFORM (Communist Information Bureau) This was established in September It emerged from a meeting about whether to attend US meetings about the Marshall Plan. Its purpose was to co-ordinate the activities of Communist Parties in the world not only in Soviet dominated countries. For Stalin, COMINFORM was a way of spreading his anti-american and anti-british views to communist parties across not only his satellite states, but the world. Essentially, COMINFORM was to indicate how Stalin s foreign policies were to be followed. One of the first messages Stalin put across was that the Marshall Plan was a US policy to enslave European states. Stalin insisted that any Communist state or Party which did not follow the Moscow party-line would be expelled from the organisation. COMECON (The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) Naturally, Stalin, in denying Eastern Europe access to the Marshall Aid, had to create his own economic rescue plan to communist countries in order to help them recover from the effects of the Second World War. He thus set up a Soviet version of Marshall Aid, COMECON, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, on January The founding members were The Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland. East Germany joined in The Soviet Union wanted each member to develop its own specialisms e.g. Romania on agriculture and Czechoslovakia on industry. However, this was not always successful, and some member states objected to the Soviet Union forcing specialisms on them. They especially hated the price fixing which favoured the Soviet Union. COMECON eventually became a major drain on the resources of the Soviet Union and helped to bring about its economic downfall in the 1980s. 14

15 Checkpoint: Marshall Aid Why did Truman offer Marshall Aid? Why did Stalin refuse it? Truman Stalin 15

16 The development of the Cold War, How was Germany governed after the war? The agreements at Potsdam about Germany s future eventually caused the major rift between the wartime allies. At Potsdam it had been agreed that Germany would be divided into four zones, one each for the USA, the USSR, Britain and France. Each of the four allies was to be responsible for its own sector. Decisions affecting Germany as a whole would be taken jointly and it was intended that Germany would be reunited in the future. But the key agreement was that all decisions had to be agreed by the four occupying nations. Berlin the capital of Germany was inside the Soviet Zone, and this was also divided into four sectors. It was governed by the Joint Kommandatura, which contained the military leaders of the four allies. The Berlin Blockade, The Berlin Blockade lasted from June 1948 until May In June 1948, Joseph Stalin ordered that all traffic between West Germany and West Berlin should be stopped. He closed all the road, canal and rail routes, but was not able to prevent the western allies, Great Britain, France and the USA from bringing supplies into West Berlin by air. This was the Berlin Airlift. Why did Stalin blockade Berlin? The main reason for the blockade was that Great Britain and the USA had made it clear that they intended to rebuild the economy in their zones of Germany. In January 1947, the British and US zones were joined together in Bizonia. Stalin said this broke the Potsdam agreements. Moreover, he did not like the prospect of parts of Germany recovering economically his aim still remained - to keep Germany weak. Bizonia would assist in the future economic recovery. His fears increased in April 1948, when the French zone was added to create Trizonia. Once more Stalin said that this broke the Potsdam agreements. Tension continued to increase. Shortly after the creation of Trizonia, the Western Allies announced that they were going to introduce a new currency, the Deutschmark, to help the economy get going again. Stalin yet again said the new currency broke the Potsdam agreements. The Western Allies said the new currency was introduced to prevent inflation and to stop the black market trade and bartering which were still common three years after the end of the war. The new currency would mean that the eastern and western parts of Germany would now be separate economically and would begin to develop at different rates. This angered Stalin and the Soviet authorities. Furthermore, Stalin saw that West Berlin was a temptation to East Berliners. In the west, the Marshall Plan was beginning to make life much better and already East Berliners and East Germans were trying to escape to the west. For more information on the Berlin Blockade, click here 16

17 Checkpoint: Western and Soviet aims in Germany How did the aims of the West and Stalin differ over Germany? West Stalin How did the Allies react to the Blockade? The Western Allies were determined that Stalin should not succeed in his plans to blockade West Berlin. General Lucius Clay, the US commander in Berlin said, If West Berlin falls, West Germany will be next. This seemed to accord with the US view of communism; that once it had a foothold in an area it would spread like in on blotting paper. The Allies believed that if they gave in Stalin would behave as Hitler had in the 1930s, then more and more countries would be taken over. Clay offered to fight his way out of West Berlin, but was ordered not to by Truman. The USA had reduced its army after the war and, by 1948, it had only about 500,000 soldiers. The solution was to fly supplies to the two million citizens of West Berlin. The U.S. action gave the name Operation Vittles and the British gave the name name Operation Plainfare to the airlift.the Airlift began on 28 June 1948.The Allies began to bring supplies into West Berlin by air. 4,000 tonnes were needed every day. Eventually they were bringing in 8,000 tonnes; even coal was brought in by plane. The airlift reached its peak on April 1949 when almost 1400 flights landed nearly 13,000 tons of supplies in 24 hours. On 12 May 1949, Stalin called off the blockade. He had failed to starve the Allies out of Berlin. 17

18 Map showing the Allied flight routes to West Berlin during the Airlift. During the Airlift, more than 320,000 flights were made. Success came with a price, 79 pilots and aircrew were killed as a result of accidents during the Operation. British cartoon, 1948, about the Berlin Airlift..For more information about the Airlift, click here 18

19 What were the consequences of the Berlin Blockade? The distrust that had been growing between the USA and USSR was now clear for the world to see. It was a sign that relations between the Superpowers were now so bad that some form of military alliance was necessary. The Cold War had started in earnest. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was set up in April During the Berlin Blockade, the USA had become concerned about the military power of the USSR in Europe and set up its own military alliance to counter the threat. Member states were USA, Great Britain, France, Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Italy and Portugal. The members of NATO made it clear that any attack on any part of their territories would be considered an attack on the whole alliance. NATO led to US troops and aircraft being stationed in European countries to protect them against a possible attack by the countries of Eastern Europe. Not only did the Blockade lead to the formation of the military alliance which showed once and for all that the wartime alliance was over. The division between East and West was further confirmed when many East German and East Berlin citizens began to try to escape the Soviet zone and move to the West. Above all, 1949 saw the creation in May of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in October. A map showing the division of Germany in

20 How did the Cold War develop in the period 1949 to 1956? Communism in Asia US fears about the spread of communism were realised in 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong, defeated the Nationalists and established a communist government in China. The USA had been keen to contain the spread of communism in Europe; however, the spread of communism into Asia saw the development of what became known as the domino theory. This was the belief that if one nation fell to communism then it would be followed by many others; the image of a set of dominoes being knocked over one after the other terrified the USA. The domino theory seemed to be confirmed by the Korean War, North Korea was ruled by communist forces, supported by the Soviet Union and China. South Korea had a US-supported democratic government. When North Korean forces invaded South Korea in 1950, the USA saw this as the beginning of communist domination of the whole of Asia. This led to US forces being sent to help South Korea against the invading communist forces. President Truman was able to persuade the United Nations to send forces to help South Korea. At the time, the Soviet Union was boycotting the UN and therefore was unable to block the USA s proposal. The USA sent about soldiers and the UN sent almost 40,000 (comprised from 15 separate nations). After three years a truce was signed and Korea remained divided in two as it had been in A map showing the events of the Korean War 20

21 For more information about the Korean War, click here The beginnings of the arms race During the Second World War, the USA developed the atomic bomb and used it on two occasions in 1945, at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Possession of this devastating weapon gave the USA a clear advantage over the Soviet Union and Stalin pushed for the development of the Soviet bomb immediately he was aware of US technological advances. The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in This led to an Arms Race between the Superpowers. Now that both Superpowers owned atomic weapons, each sought to have more than the other. More importantly, each wanted to develop more destructive weapons and huge amounts of money was spent developing these weapons of mass destruction. Furthermore, each Superpower had increased the number of land-based troops in Europe after Further advances in weapons technology saw the USA test its first hydrogen bomb in 1952 and the Soviet Union test its first hydrogen bomb during the following year. The death of Stalin In March 1953 Joseph Stalin died and was eventually replaced by Nikita Khrushchev. Khrushchev believed in co-existence. Rather than try to destroy the West, the Soviet Union should accept that it had a right to exist. However, the USA had elected a new President in 1952, Eisenhower and his chief adviser, Dulles put forward the idea of brinkmanship. Brinkmanship was the gradual escalation of threats in order to achieve the US s aims. Though he put forward co-existence, Khrushchev still followed Stalin s policy over West Germany; he still saw it as a threat and still wanted to drive the Allies out of West Berlin. In 1955 Khrushchev set up the Warsaw Pact. What was the WARSAW PACT? The Warsaw Pact was set up in 1955 in response to the admission of West Germany (the German Federal Republic) to NATO. This seemed to confirm to Khrushchev that West Germany was becoming a distinct military threat to the Soviet Union. The fear of invasion was never far from the minds of Soviet leaders and this time, as a member of NATO, West Germany had several allies. The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance of the Communist countries of Eastern Europe. It was the communist equivalent of NATO. The full title was the 'Pact of Mutual Assistance and Unified Command'. It was an attempt to protect the USSR by drawing the countries of Eastern Europe even closer together. The members of the Pact were the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and East Germany. The Warsaw Pact had three important features: It created a joint command of the armed forces of the alliance. It set up a Political Committee to co-ordinate the foreign policies of the members. It bound its signatories to come to the aid of the others, should any one of them be the victim of foreign aggression. This was no different to NATO. 21

22 Map showing NATO and Warsaw Pact countries The Pact increased the influence of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe and led to more Soviet troops being stationed there. Although it was stressed by all signatories that the Warsaw Treaty was based on total equality of each nation and mutual noninterference in one another's internal affairs, the Pact quickly became a powerful political tool for the Soviet Union to hold sway over its allies and harness the powers of their combined military. This made the crushing of the Hungarian Rising of 1956 all the easier. Moreover, its forces outnumbered those of the West and an invasion through northern Germany always seemed very likely. The West took the threat from the Warsaw Pact extremely seriously until its demise in Eventually, support for the Pact was financially ruinous for the Soviet Union and was an important factor in the bankruptcy and collapse of the Soviet Union in

23 Hungary: the tightening of Soviet control in Eastern Europe In 1956, there was a serious threat to Soviet control of one of its satellite states Hungary. The threat was only removed only after Soviet troops invaded Hungary. Problems began for the Soviet Union in Poland in 1956 after Khrushchev had made his Secret Speech, in which he criticised Stalin. Rioting, which led to more than 100 deaths, broke out in June 1956, but the real trouble began in October when the rioters were put on trial. Khrushchev was unsure whether to use force or make a compromise. He decided to allow Gomulka to take power and removed some unpopular Stalinists from the government, but Gomulka had to promise that Poland would remain a loyal member of the Warsaw Pact, and the Communist Party remained firmly in control. Much more serious were events in HUNGARY later in the year. What happened in Hungary? The impact of Soviet rule on Hungary Hungary had been an ally of Germany in the war and had fought against the Soviet Union and when Soviet forces went into Hungary, it was as an enemy, not a liberator. In 1945, Hungary s new Provisional Government agreed to pay the Soviet Union reparations of $300 million and this set the tone of relations between the two countries. The Soviet Union was always harsh in its treatment of Hungary. Following the November 1945 elections, the leader of the Soviet forces, Voroshilov, ensured that the Hungarian Communist Party became part of the coalition government. Laszlo Rajk, of the Hungarian Communist Party, was put in charge of the security police. Following the elections in 1947, the Hungarian Communist Party took complete control and established a one-party state. The new leader was Matyas Rakosi. Rakosi followed Stalin s ideas and set up a communist dictatorship and joined COMINFORM (see above). Hungary under Rakosi The economy Hungary was not allowed to receive any Marshall Aid and joined COMECON (see above). The Soviet Union interfered in its economy. Trade was never on a fair basis and exports to the Soviet Union were always below the market price and this created much resentment within Hungary. There was forced collectivisation which was hated by the bulk of the Hungarian population. Moreover, the resentment led to a fall in agricultural output fell as farm workers failed to embrace the changes. In addition, progress in industry was slow and brought little prosperity. Political and social control Rakosi followed Stalin s methods of imposing control on the people which meant that there was a secret police and that control was brutal and universal. The secret police 23

24 AVH (Allamvedelmi Hatosag) was Rakosi s main means of control and became a feared body. More than 2,000 opponents were murdered during his purges and an estimated 200,000 opponents were imprisoned. It has been estimated that a further 150,000 were removed from their jobs. Rakosi controlled communications and the media. A further means of control was the attack on the Roman Catholic Church. Religious education was not permitted in schools and in 1949, Cardinal Mindszenty, the leader of the Hungarian Catholic Church, was imprisoned for life in Mindszenty had been an outspoken opponent of Rakosi s regime and also of the Soviet Union s continued interference in Hungary. Rakosi had difficulty managing the economy and the people of Hungary saw living standards fall. His government became increasingly unpopular. When Joseph Stalin died in 1953, Rakosi was replaced by Imre Nagy who put forward his ideas which were known as the New Course. Nagy brought in a more liberal regime and promised to improve the economy and increase the production of consumer goods. However, the Soviet Union disliked his policies and he was sacked in April Matyas Rakosi Imre Nagy addressing the Hungarian people on 28 th October 1956 The Uprising In October 1956 there were student demonstrations in Budapest which led to fighting between Hungarians and Soviet troops. The students demanded an end to Soviet occupation and the introduction of true socialism. Further demonstration took place the next day and the slogans heard across Budapest included Russians go home and Long Live Nagy. On 24 October Imre Nagy became prime minister of Hungary once again. Nagy set up a new government, which included non-communists..john Foster Dulles, the US Secretary of State, told Nagy - You can count on us. Nagy saw this as a firm commitment from the USA. However, there was fighting between Hungarian and 24

25 Soviet troops. Khrushchev tried to deal with the situation by withdrawing the Soviet troops from Hungary. Photograph of a statue of Stalin, destroyed in Budapest during the Uprising On 30 October, Nagy announced there would be free elections in Hungary. Cardinal Mindszenty and other leading political prisoners were released. The situation was then exacerbated on 2 November, when Nagy declared his intention that Hungary would withdraw from the Warsaw Pact. Khrushchev looked on in horror as he saw one of his satellite states about to create a hole in Eastern Europe and weaken the Warsaw Pact. Khrushchev decided to act and on 4 November he ordered the Soviet army to invade Hungary and crush the uprising. 200,000 Soviet troops and 6000 tanks returned to Hungary. There was bitter street fighting; 7,000 Soviet troops and 4,000 Hungarians were killed. (At the time, it was stated by Western observers that about 30,000 Hungarians had been killed.) A ceasefire was agreed for 10 November but some fighting continued into the next year. Nagy was arrested and executed in Britain and France did not become involved because they were distracted by their involvement in the Suez Crisis, and the USA offered no assistance. For these three, the Suez Crisis seemed more important. For more information on the Hungarian Uprising, click here For photographs of the Hungarian Uprising, click here What were the results of the uprising? Khrushchev was able to keep control of Hungary and a new Soviet-backed leader, Kadar, was installed. Kadar remained leader until However, about 200,000 Hungarians escaped to Austria during the uprising showing the world that they preferred exile than live under a communist regime. Large numbers of Hungarians were put on trial and imprisoned. Some were sent to the Soviet Union. Cardinal Mindszenty was granted political asylum at the United States embassy, where he lived for fifteen years before being permitted to go to Austria. 25

26 For Khrushchev, the Uprising had been a great success. He showed that Soviet satellite states had to comply with the wishes of Moscow or suffer the consequences. Despite the talk of co-existence, Khrushchev showed the uncompromising nature of the Soviet Union. But above all, he had kept the Warsaw Pact intact. President Eisenhower and the USA had shown that they were not prepared to go to war. Furthermore, the United Nations was unable to become involved because the Soviet Union used its veto in the Security Council. As a postscript to the Uprising, the Melbourne Olympic Games were boycotted by Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland as a protest at the Soviet treatment of Hungary. Several members of the Hungarian Olympic team defected after the games. Checkpoint: The Hungarian Uprising Why did the Hungarians want to break away from Soviet control? Why was Khrushchev determined to prevent them? Hungarians Khrushchev 26

27 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Section 5: Three Cold War crises: Berlin, Cuba and Czechoslovakia c Berlin: a divided city A map of East and West Berlin; The thick black line shows the Wall around the western part of the city, After World War II the city of Berlin was divided into four sectors. The American, British and French sectors were part of the western system and the Soviet sector was part of the communist system in the East. Until the erection of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961 Berlin citizens were allowed to cross the city s border sectors from West to East or East to West. Berlin. Why did Khrushchev order the building of the Berlin Wall? The impact of the Second World War After 1945, the British, French and American zones of Germany and Berlin were given economic assistance. Eventually, the three zones amalgamated to form 1

28 Trizonia and with the introduction of the common currency (the Deutschmark) economic recovery began. Stalin wanted to push the Allies from their Berlin occupation zones because they were situated in the Soviet occupation of Germany. As prosperity returned to the city, Stalin did not want a visible example of economic recovery when those citizens of East Berlin and the Soviet zone were still experiencing hardships. The influx of Marshall Aid only served to highlight the growing gulf between the two areas. The situation over Berlin came to a head in 1948 when Stalin blocked all land and water communication between the Allied zones in Germany and their zones on Berlin. The result was the Berlin Airlift. For almost one year the Western Allies flew in supplies to feed the 2 million citizens of their Berlin zones. In May 1949, Stalin called a halt to the Blockade. However, the diplomatic situation had now changed the wartime alliance was now clearly over and a key result of the Blockade was the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Many East Germans did not like life under communist rule and fled to the West through Berlin. It has been estimated that during the period after the Airlift until the construction of the Berlin Wall, about 4 million East Germans moved to West Germany. Stalin did not want this gap in the Iron Curtain and sought to block it after the Airlift. The Soviet Union became convinced that the USA and Britain used West Berlin as a base for spying. What was life like in East Germany and East Berlin? People left after 1949 because life in the East was dominated by the Communist Party. In East Germany the Communist Party exercised greater control than in any other East European state. East Germany was the only Communist country that had, in effect, been created from nothing and it became the model which the other Soviet satellite states were expected to follow. As in all other communist states, no other political parties were permitted and elections involved a selection from a list of candidates supplied by the communists. Freedom of expression was restricted. Consumer goods were limited and often of poor quality. Sales of foreign goods were restricted. Foreign travel was difficult and currency sales were strictly controlled in an effort to obtain foreign exchange. The Communist Party controlled the media, which meant that there was no legal means of finding out about what was happening in the world on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Newspapers and the radio and television could only report the official version of the news. This was rather more difficult in East Germany because of the ease of movement into West Berlin. It was this issue in particular which began to exercise East German and Soviet leaders in the 1950s. People were subject to the secret police. Such organisations operated outside the law and there was little that an ordinary citizen could do about their actions. The Secret Police of East Germany (STASI Staatssicherheit translated - State Security) was established with Soviet help. It was responsible for both domestic political surveillance and espionage. Eventually, it employed 85,000 and had hundreds of thousands of informers so that it could monitor the population closely. 2

29 The Stasi operated for more than forty years and collected a vast amount of information about the people of East Germany. When its archives were taken over by the Federal Government, they were found to contain 122 kilometres of paper, including 46.5 kilometres on microfiche, 360,000 photographs, 600,000 negatives, 24,000 slides, 3,850 videos, 730 films and 99,500 sound recordings. Altogether, the Stasi had information on about 6,000,000 people, out of a total population of 16,000,000. In addition to security information, there were also details of debts, drinking habits and sexual preferences. These were used to blackmail unwilling individuals. What were the benefits of life in the East? All citizens of the countries of Eastern Europe had a job. Prices were controlled at a low level. Rent, electricity, gas and telephone charges were minimal by western standards. Public transport was very cheap and very reliable. But these advantages were outweighed by the possibility of greater freedom as well as much higher earnings and a much higher standard of living in the West. Checkpoint: East and West Why did so many people try to leave the East? Negative aspects of the East Attractions of the West 3

30 The refugee problem East Germans fled to the West because they were dissatisfied with the economic and political conditions of a communist society. The forced collectivisation of agriculture and the end of private trading were not popular among the people of East Germany. Moreover, there were shortages of consumer goods, which could be easily bought at low prices in West Berlin. The people of East Berlin and East Germany could readily see the prosperity of the West. It had always been possible for Berliners to travel from one part of the city to another. Many worked in one sector and lived in another. It was easy for them to see what life was like on the other side. Wages were much higher in the West and there was a much higher standard of living. In the West there were no secret police and no censorship. In West Berlin all of these advantages could be clearly seen. Eventually defectors (the word defector eventually replaced the term refugee) were well-educated engineers, scientists, teachers, doctors and lecturers. They were just the sort of people that the Communist Bloc could not afford to lose as it tried to modernise its industry and agriculture. Defectors also made it very difficult for Khrushchev (Stalin s successor) to prove that the Soviet system was better than the West. He needed to stop the brain drain (the term given to the loss of highly educated professional people) if East Germany was to catch up with the West. By the summer of 1961, the number of defectors rose to 10,000 per week and Khrushchev knew that he would have to step in and prevent such a continued exodus of skilled people. In November 1958, Khrushchev had demanded that the three Western powers should leave West Berlin. He put forward the idea of creating one neutral city from the four original occupation zones. President Eisenhower of the USA was prepared to discuss the future of the city and it was agreed that he would meet Khrushchev in May However, the summit conference was tarnished by events following the shooting down of an American U2 spy-plane on 1 May The U2 Crisis, May 1960 Relations between the Soviet Union and the USA were worsened by the U2 incident, when a US spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union on 1 May President Eisenhower said he would stop all future U2 flight over the Soviet Union, but he would not apologise for the incident. He claimed that the U2 was carrying out weather reconnaissance and was not in fact spying. He did this because he was assured by his aides that if the plane had been shot down, it would have been destroyed and the pilot would have been killed. In fact, the pilot, Gary Powers, was alive and was put on trial in Moscow. The plane had largely survived the crash landing and was evidence that the USA had been used for spying. This came in the middle of a Summit Meeting in Paris and on one occasion Khrushchev famously stormed out of talks with Eisenhower; grabbing the headlines of the world s press as he did so. Khrushchev was able to use the U2 incident to embarrass the USA who had initially lied about the plane. The summit meeting collapsed and relations between the USA and Soviet Union worsened dramatically. For more information about the U2 incident, including film, click here 4

31 The Berlin Wall Photograph of the building of the Berlin Wall, August 1961 After the U2 Crisis, the situation in Berlin did not improve. In 1960, the number of defectors rose to 199,000 and in the first seven months of 1961, about 207,000 left East Germany. In September 1960, East Germany forced West Berliners who wanted to travel to East Berlin to obtain a police pass. This was the first time that any restriction had been placed on travel between the four sectors in Berlin. It was clear that the West was not going to leave West Berlin of its own free will. The only way to plug the gap in the Iron Curtain was to cut off West Berlin from East Germany. At the Vienna summit in June 1961, Khrushchev told the new President Kennedy that the Soviet Union was considering signing a peace treaty with East Germany and this would give East Germany control of all communication links between West Germany and West Berlin. This would break the wartime agreements. Kennedy felt that he stood up to Khrushchev in Vienna, but when later asked about the meeting he said Khrushchev, he beat the hell out of me. By the early summer of 1961, East German President, Walter Ulbricht, told the Soviet Union that an immediate solution was necessary and that the only way to stop the exodus was to use force. This presented a delicate problem for the Soviet Union because the four-power status of Berlin specified free travel between zones and specifically forbade the presence of German troops in Berlin. East Germans, seeing the crisis worsen, fled to West Berlin in even greater numbers than ever. In July 1961, alone there were some 30,000. 5

32 The construction of the Berlin Wall started at 2:00 A.M. on August 13, 1961 when access routes were blocked by barbed wire. Two days later, the first concrete blocks being put in place and the barrier separating the two parts of the city was constructed in earnest..the Wall effectively sealed off the best escape route open to disenchanted East Germans, thus halting the mass movement of people to the West. After its construction, the number of refugees entering West Berlin and West Germany fell drastically Data about the Berlin Wall Total border length around West Berlin: 155 km Border between East and West Berlin: 43.1 km Border between West Berlin and East Germany: km Concrete segment wall: 3.6m high, 106 km Wire mesh fencing: 66.5 km Anti-vehicle trenches: km Contact or signal fence: km Column track: 6-7 m wide, km Number of watch towers: 302 Number of bunkers: 20 Persons killed on the Berlin Wall: c. 300 Persons injured by shooting: c. 200 For more photographs of the Berlin Wall, click here To visit the Wall Museum at Checkpoint Charlie, click here Why did Khrushchev believe that he could get away building the Wall? Khrushchev believed that he could get away with building the Wall because John F Kennedy, the US president, had been made to look foolish over the Bay of Pigs (see below). Following the Vienna meeting, Khrushchev decided that Kennedy was inexperienced and could be easily pushed around. What were the consequences of building the Berlin Wall? In some ways it made relations between the superpowers better. Khrushchev did not have to worry about defectors and there was also a clear dividing line between East and West. There was less confrontation between the two sides in Berlin. But many Berliners were caught on the wrong side of the Wall and were cut off from their families. Although visits across the Wall began in 1964, it was impossible to reunite families until Many people tried to escape from the East and 300 people were killed trying to cross the Wall President Kennedy ordered three increases in the US defence budget in the next two years. He realised that he could not afford to lose out again. He would have to stand up to Khrushchev the next time. In 1963 he visited Berlin and made a speech to hundreds of thousands of West Berliners. In it he said, Ich bin ein Berliner. This was meant to show that he was sharing their difficulties, but it actually meant I am a doughnut. Berliner was a slang term for a doughnut. 6

33 Part of Kennedy s speech in Berlin, Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we never had to put up a wall to keep our people in. All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, 'Ich bin ein Berliner. Kennedy hoped that his words would echo around the free world, but was probably puzzled by the slow response of his audience at the time. He was unaware that a Berliner was slang for a type of popular pastry and had therefore described himself as a doughnut. It is important to understand that the pictures of the Wall that are published in books often give a very false impression of its appearance and construction. In many parts of Berlin it was something of a ramshackle structure, which was continuously improved. In fact, for some years, the Wall hardly existed at all in some areas of the city and was patrolled by East German Border Guards to stop people escaping. In Bernauer Strasse, the site of the Wall Memorial, the Wall ran along the front of houses on the south side of the street. It actually ran through some of the houses, so people could escape by going from one room to another. The Wall was continuously being improved and there were at least four different stages of work. The fourth generation of the Wall was made of reinforced concrete blocks with a rounded top. This was intended to make escape over the Wall very difficult. But these sections are not regarded as being the Wall proper and the only genuine piece remaining is at the Wall Memorial. The main Wall was completed by 1974, when it had 1053 watch-towers and 493 underground bunkers. There were many attempts to escape across the Wall. Some of the more notable include: On 4 August 1984, Josef Hlavaty, a Czech, and his wife and three sons all escaped in a home made aircraft. It was fitted with an engine that came from a Trabant (an East German car) and it flew for 100 km. A couple who put a wreath on top of their car and said they were going to lay it at the Soviet memorial in West Berlin. They were waved through the first barrier and then smashed their way through the second. One tunnel was 120 metres long and was dug by nine people. There were six men aged 81, 76, 70, 58, 57 and 55, and three women aged 68, 48 and 46. The earth that they removed was hidden in a disused hen-house. One girl escaped by hiding in the gap hollowed out between two surfboards, but the most spectacular escape of all was by two families on 6 September They built a hot air balloon which measured 20 metres by 28 metres and all stood on a plate 1.4 metres square. Their flight lasted 28 minutes in which time they covered 22 km at a speed of 50 kph. 7

34 A photograph of East German soldier, Hans Conrad Schuhmann, leaping across the barbed wire fence to West Berlin and freedom, 14 August 1961, two days after East Germany closed the border and began erecting the Berlin Wall. Photograph of East German soldiers carrying the body of Peter Fechter, 18 back into East Berlin. Fechter was the first person killed trying to escape over the Berlin Wall, He was shot and left to bleed to death. For an interactive history of the Berlin Wall, click here 8

35 Checkpoint: The Berlin Wall; better or worse? The Wall made relations better The Wall made relations worse 9

36 Cuba: The world on the brink of war How close to war did the world come over Cuba in 1962? In 1959 Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba. Until then Cuba had been under US influence and many companies had invested heavily in the country. The USA cut off all aid to Cuba and reduced imports of sugar by 95%. Castro nationalised all businesses, which were mostly US owned. He was not at first a Communist, but US actions forced him to accept aid from the Soviet Union. In 1960 the Soviet Union signed an agreement to buy 1,000,000 tonnes of Cuban sugar every year. This tied the two countries closely together. There was now a Communist country in the western hemisphere. In the coming years the CIA tried to murder Castro. There were at least fourteen attempts, all of which failed. The Bay of Pigs, April 1961 A map showing Cuba, the Bay of Pigs and the Florida peninsula Towards the end of his presidency, Eisenhower gave the go-ahead for a plan to train Cuban exiles in preparation for an invasion of Cuba. In January 1961, relations between Cuba and the USA became more strained when the USA broke off diplomatic relations. When Kennedy became president, he decided to allow the plan to continue. The exiles were men who had left Cuba in 1959 when Castro had seized control from Batista. They aimed to remove Castro. Once they had been trained by the USA would invade Cuba and then begin a national uprising which would topple Castro. The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was granted a large amount of money to train the exiles and bases were set up in Florida and Central America. The exiles soon numbered abut 1,

37 The exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on 17 but were met by Castro s forces numbering about 20,000. The whole episode was a disaster. A ship carrying all of the ammunition for the expedition was sunk and the invasion was all over within three days. The exiles were all either killed or captured. Kennedy, who had known about it but had not been involved, was made to look foolish. For photographs of the Bay of Pigs, click here For more information about the Bay of Pigs, click here In December 1961, Castro announced that he was a communist. There was now a communist country within 90 miles of American soil. The USSR began to offer more and more aid to Cuba. During the summer of 1962, rumours began that the Soviet Union was sending military aid to Cuba. These were confirmed on 14 October 1962, when a US spy plane took photographs which showed Soviet missile bases being built on Cuba. This meant that all US missile defence systems were now useless. Why did Khrushchev decide to put missiles on Cuba? Khrushchev s foreign policy of Peaceful Co-Existence was an attempt to challenge the west and prove that the Soviet system was better than capitalism. He had already sent the first man into space in 1961 and Soviet athletes had performed remarkably at the Rome Olympics in 1960; what better way could there be of proving Soviet superiority than by insulting the USA in its own backyard. Khrushchev also saw Kennedy as a soft touch ; after the Vienna Summit he appeared to come to the conclusion that Kennedy was inexperienced and could be pushed around. He was also annoyed that NATO missiles had been stationed in Turkey on the borders of the Soviet Union and wanted them removed. The Crisis The US spy plane took photographs which showed Soviet missile bases being built on Cuba. This immediately created great concern within the USA because the bases meant that almost all US cities could now be attacked by Soviet rockets. A Map showing the range of the Soviet missiles based on Cuba. 11

38 From 16 October, Kennedy spent one week asking his defence chiefs for possible reactions and considering alternatives in Excomm. There were several options and none was looked with great optimism. An immediate choice was to attack Cuba with nuclear weapons but this might cause a nuclear war. If conventional bombers attacked the bases there was a distinct possibility that Soviet advisers would be killed and this in itself would be a cause for war with the Soviet Union. Some advisers suggested that the United Nations be called in but others pointed out that the UN was often slow, not always effective and also that the Soviet Union would use its veto to block any US move. Doing nothing was not an option. There was also the idea of placing a naval blockade around Cuba was. Kennedy decided on a blockade (quarantine) because it would halt the build up of the sites and it was not an act of war. The problem with deciding on the blockade was that there was a Soviet fleet moving towards Cuba. There was the possibility of fighting when the ships met. Recently discovered recordings of the discussions in Excomm have revealed that President Kennedy and his brother Robert were the only members of the committee who opposed the use of force. All others present wanted to tackle the crisis by military action. From the book 13 days, written by Robert Kennedy and published in 1968 The general feeling in the beginning was that some form of action was required. Most felt at that stage that an air strike against the missile sites could be the only course. It was during the afternoon and evening of 16 October that we began to discuss the idea of a blockade. On Wednesday a photograph showed that the missiles were being directed at American cities. The estimate was that within a few minutes of their being fired 80,000,000 Americans would be dead. Missile crews were placed on maximum alert. Troops were moved into Florida. The Navy sent 180 ships into the Caribbean. The B52 bomber force was ordered into the air fully loaded with atomic weapons. On 22 October, President Kennedy addressed the people of the USA on television. We will not needlessly risk world-wide nuclear war in which even victory would be ashes in our mouths but neither will we shrink from that risk when it must be faced. I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations. I call upon him further to abandon this course of world domination, and to join in an historic effort to end the perilous arms race and to transform the history of man. He has an opportunity now to move the world back from the abyss of destruction--by returning to his government's own words that it had no need to station missiles outside its own territory, and withdrawing these weapons from Cuba - by refraining from any action which will widen or deepen the present crisis - and then by participating in a search for peaceful and permanent solutions. 12

39 Photograph showing the missile sites. The blockade came into effect on 24 October after Kennedy had given Khrushchev a warning on 22 October. From a broadcast made by President Kennedy on US radio and television on 22 October 1962 All ships bound for Cuba will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. Any missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western hemisphere will be regarded as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States. I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt this reckless and provocative threat to world peace. 180 ships were used including a fleet of nuclear submarines was made ready for action and 156 ICBMs were made ready for combat. In addition, Kennedy ordered the air force to be combat-ready. This meant that there were bombers were in the air on patrol throughput the crisis. The US army was placed on combat alert. The USA had the following nuclear missiles ready for launch against the USSR during the crisis 104 Polaris, 103 Atlas, 105 Thor and Jupiter and 54 Titan together with 600 IRBM and 250 MRBM. The air force was preparing 21,600 long-range bombers. A photograph of a U.S. patrol plane flying over a Soviet freighter during the Cuban missile crisis 13

40 Khrushchev s response to the blockade was a statement accusing the USA of interfering in Cuba s internal affairs. But, the Soviet ships sailing to Cuba slowed down and even began to sail in circles. Khrushchev now sent two letters. One in public was defiant, the second offered a compromise. The second said that the missile sites would be destroyed if the USA guaranteed to leave Cuba alone. From a letter by Khrushchev to President Kennedy on 26 October 1962 If assurances were given that the President of the United States would not permit an attack on Cuba and the blockade would be lifted, then the question of the removal and destruction of the missile sites in Cuba would be completely different matter. This is my proposal. No more weapons to Cuba and those within Cuba withdraw or destroyed, and you respond by ending your blockade and also agreeing not to invade Cuba. On 27 October Kennedy agreed to Khrushchev s offer in the second letter. I have read your letter of 26 October with great care and welcome your desire to seek a prompt solution to the problem. You would agree to remove these weapon systems from Cuba and to halt the further introduction of such weapon systems in Cuba. We on our part would agree to remove the blockade measures now in force and to give assurance against an invasion of Cuba. At the last minute agreement was almost prevented when a U2 was shot down over Cuba, but Kennedy immediately apologised. The blockade was removed, the sites were destroyed and Cuba was left alone. The sites and Soviet weaponry were removed by 20 November. In a secret meeting between Robert Kennedy and the Soviet ambassador on 28 October, the US government agreed that US missiles would be removed from Italy and Turkey. However as these were in a NATO force it could not be announced immediately. They were removed three months later. Kennedy also suggested that the two leaders should begin talks on arms reduction. For more photographs of the crisis, click here What were the results of the crisis? When the crisis began, Kennedy realised that he had to make a stand. He had already resolved that he could not allow Khrushchev to make any further progress after the disasters of the U2 incident and the Bay of Pigs. Kennedy had also felt humiliated after the Vienna Summit in June 1961 and the building of the Berlin Wall; whatever happened next, he was determined not to give in. What happened next was the most serious crisis of the Cold War. However, Kennedy was careful not to sound too belligerent but at the same time he showed that he would remain firm. He offered Khrushchev a way out by guaranteeing that in the future the USA would not interfere in Cuban affairs. This allowed Khrushchev to claim a victory of sorts. 14

41 From the book The Brink, written by a US historian in 1980 John F Kennedy had won. The Soviet government was backing down. It had agreed to dismantle its missile bases and take them home. They took everything away and bulldozed the installations to rubble. It should be noted that three months after the crisis, the United States removed all its missiles from Turkey and Italy. In his memoirs written in 1970, Khrushchev, wrote The Caribbean Crisis was a triumph of Soviet foreign policy and a personal triumph in my own career as a statesman. Today, Cuba exists as an independent Socialist country, right in front of the open jaws of predatory American imperialism. Nevertheless, Khrushchev lost prestige; he was seen to have failed and the Soviet Communist Party removed him from office in Mao Zedong of China criticised Khrushchev for backing down and it is from this point that relations between the Soviet Union and China begin to deteriorate. On the other hand, Kennedy won praise from all over the western world. He was seen as the man who had at last challenged the Soviet Union and won. US cartoon published 29 October,

42 Most importantly, the two leaders were aware of how precarious negotiations had been during the crisis and they agreed to set up a tele-printer hotline to talk to each other directly in any future crisis. During the missiles crisis, there was no direct link between the White House and the Kremlin. Consequently, it had been impossible for the two leaders to communicate directly. There is no evidence that this link was used however until the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, but it was an important symbol that relations between the superpowers were improving. The crisis focused the minds of the leaders of the Superpowers on their responsibilities. In August 1963, the Superpowers signed the Test Ban Treaty. This banned all nuclear tests except underground ones and it was to stay in force without time limit. Five years later, there followed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which was designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. Those countries signing agreed not to develop nuclear weapons. Talks about limiting arms began in 1969 and these led to the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty in For an interactive account of the Cuban Missiles Crisis, click here Checkpoint: The Cuban Missiles Crisis Why did Khrushchev put missiles on Cuba? Why did the crisis end peacefully? Khrushchev Peacefully 16

43 Czechoslovakia: The Prague Spring Czechoslovakia after the Second World War After the Second World War, Czechoslovakia fell under Soviet control. The communists infiltrated the government, police and civil service; the foreign minister, Jan Masaryk was apparently murdered in 1948, when he was thrown from a window and President Benes resigned later in the year. Many Czechs never forgot the way the Soviet Union imposed its control in 1947 and Yet, Czechoslovakia gained the reputation of having the most successful spy network of all the communist countries and of being the most successful industrial country behind the Iron Curtain. Nevertheless, there was a low standard of living, as a very high proportion of government spending went on the armed forces. Otherwise, life in Czechoslovakia was very similar to life in any country of the Eastern Bloc. The Czech Communist Party had complete control of public life, the armed forces, the media and education. There was extremely strict censorship and a low standard of living, as a very high proportion of government spending went on the armed forces. President Novotny became leader in 1957 and he rigidly followed Stalinist policies so that there was little hope of change in the light of Khrushchev s de-stalinisation speech. When he did introduce change, it was rather slow and did less than some of the other Soviet satellite states. In addition, Czechoslovakia began to experience economic stagnation and this added to the climate of disappointment within the country. What was the Prague Spring of 1968? The growth of opposition to Novotny In 1965, Novotny tried to improve the situation by restructuring the economy when he introduced the New Economic Model. This failed to bring any visible improvements. The main problem was that Czechoslovakia was an advanced industrial country, whereas most of the other communist countries were relatively weak. Consequently, the Czechs were being held back by a Soviet plan to provide support to other countries behind the Iron Curtain. At the same time there were calls from some writers for greater freedom and for the first time, Novotny experienced widespread opposition. Novotny's poor record concerning housing, living standards and transport was sharply attacked. Alexander Dubcek, leader of the Slovakian Communist Party openly challenged Novotny and then invited Brezhnev, leader of the Soviet Union, to visit Prague. Following Brezhnev s visit, Novotny was replaced as First Secretary of the Czech Communist Party by Dubcek on 5 January Novotny then gave up his role as President being replaced by Ludvik Svoboda. 17

44 Socialism with a human face Alexander Dubcek Leonid Brezhnev In early February 1968, one of Dubcek s closest supporters published an article in the Communist party paper, Rude Pravo (Red Justice) calling for the removal of obstacles which were preventing the introduction of economic and social reforms. The article also called for the elimination of everything that had distorted socialism and had caused the Czech people to lose faith and enthusiasm. By March 1968, the Czechoslovak leadership was criticised by five iron curtain party leaders; Brezhnev (Soviet Union), Gomulka (Poland), Kadar (Hungary), Ulbricht (East Germany) and Zhivkov (Bulgaria). Ulbricht and Gomulka demanded that Dubcek launch an attack on those who sought to reform communist life in Czechoslovakia. Kadar pointedly remarked that the situation in Czechoslovakia was strikingly reminiscent to the start of the Hungarian problems in Dubcek put forward his ideas more clearly in his Action Programme in April. It also came to be known as socialism with a human face. Dubcek was committed to socialism but wanted to remove the worst aspects of communist rule. He was careful to explain how any reforms would take place under the rule of the Czech Communist Party. Dubcek announced a series of reforms. These included: Political reform which would result in a multi-party state and a new form of democratic socialism. the abolition of censorship and the right of citizens to criticize the government. Newspapers began publishing revelations about corruption in high places. free speech - it was the duty of party members to act according to his conscience. It criticized the traditional view of members being forced to provide unconditional obedience to party policy. 18

45 the creation of works councils in industry, increased rights for trade unions to bargain on behalf of its members and the right of farmers to form independent co-operatives the rehabilitation of victims of the purges of 1950s freedom of movement was to be guaranteed freedom of assembly and religion a reduction in the powers of the secret police The re-establishment of Soviet control An extract from Hope dies last, Dubcek s autobiography, 1992; here he was describing about an interview with Brezhnev in July Brezhnev accused me of returning to capitalism. I responded that we needed a private sector to improve the market situation and make people s lives easier. Brezhnev immediately snapped at me, Small craftsmen? We know about that! Your Mr. Bata used to be a little shoemaker, too, until he started up a factory! Here was the old Leninist canon about small private production creating capitalism every day and every hour. There was nothing one could do to change the Soviets' dogmatic paranoia. Neither my allies nor I ever contemplated a dismantling of socialism, even as we parted company with various tenets of Leninism. We still believed in a socialism that could not be divorced from democracy, because its essential rationale was social justice. We also believed that socialism could function better in a marketoriented environment, with significant elements of private enterprise. One problem for Dubcek was that there were many now in Czechoslovakia who demanded further and more rapid change. This alarmed the Soviet Union just as much as Dubcek s reforms did. In July 1968, Dubcek was summoned to attend conferences in Warsaw and Moscow, but refused to go. The whole Soviet Politburo then visited Prague to try to persuade Dubcek to reverse the reforms. Brezhnev feared any reforms in Czechoslovakia because he could see a potential break from the Warsaw Pact. Czechoslovakia was geographically strategic and if it left the Warsaw Pact would leave a wedge which NATO would be more than ready to fill. Moreover, he did not want Czechoslovakia to act as an example to other Warsaw Pact members on the other hand, he was being pushed by East Germany and Poland to step in to prevent the reforms. 19

46 Checkpoint: The Prague Spring Why were reforms introduced? Why did Brezhnev intervene? Reforms Brezhnev 20

47 From an open speech by Brezhnev directed at Dubcek, 5 May 1968 In your country at a May Day demonstration the American flag was waving freely. What does that imply? Does it mean that the Czechoslovak people and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia are now willing to stand by this flag? And I won t even bother to mention the threats that are made against us, the calls for us to get out of Czechoslovakia, and so on. All this shows that counter-revolutionary forces exist in your country and are becoming more active. Finally, the economic links that Czechoslovakia was trying to establish with West Germany added to the Soviet Union s concerns. The fear was that West Germany and then other capitalist countries might come to dominate the economy of Czechoslovakia and then the remaining satellite states. Brezhnev then took the decision to invade Czechoslovakia. On August 1968, about 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and several thousand tanks poured into Czechoslovakia. The Czech army did not resist, but many ordinary citizens did. About 100 civilians died. President Johnson of the USA, speaking on 21 August 1968 about the Soviet invasion It is a sad commentary on the communist mind that a sign of liberty in Czechoslovakia is deemed a fundamental threat to the security of the Soviet system. Citizens of Prague attacking a Soviet tank, 21 August 1968 Dubcek disappeared but reappeared in Prague on 27 August and announced that the reforms had been stopped. In October 1968, all reforms were reversed and a temporary Soviet military occupation was announced. The following year, Dubcek was dismissed from the Central Committee of the Czech Communist Party and was sent as Czech ambassador to Turkey. Gradually, all Czech leaders were purged and the new leader, Gustav Husak, re-established a strong communist state. 21

48 For more photographs of the events in Czechoslovakia, click here What were the consequences of the Soviet invasion? The Soviet invasion had important consequences for the Soviet Union and its satellite states. In November 1968, the Soviet Union issued what became known as the Brezhnev Doctrine: When forces that are hostile to socialism try to turn the development of some socialist country towards capitalism it becomes not only a problem of the country concerned, but a common problem and concern of all socialist countries. However, there was some opposition to the Soviet Union, President Ceaucescu of Rumania refused to send troops to Czechoslovakia and began to forge his own independent policies. There were some protests from the USA but 1968 was the height of the Vietnam War and there were many domestic upheavals which diverted President Johnson s attention. Postcript On 16 January 1969, Czech student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square, Prague in protest at the Soviet occupation of his country. Two further protests against Soviet occupation occurred when Jan Zajic burned himself to death in the same place, followed in April of the same year by Evzen Plocek in the town of Jihlava. The funeral of Jan Palach, January 1969 For more photographs of the funeral, click here 22

49 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Section 6: Why did the Cold War end? The invasion of Afghanistan (1979) to the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991) The collapse of détente the effects of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Background to detente In 1963, following the Cuban Missiles Crisis, the Hot-Line was set up. This was a direct tele-printer between the Kremlin and the White House and was eventually replaced by a direct telephone link. It was hoped that this would speed up communications between the Superpowers in the event of another crisis. In the past, both sides had either relied on communication by wire or letters, as had been the case over Cuba. Further progress was made in 1963 when the Test Ban Treaty was signed. This stopped nuclear tests above ground. Nevertheless, this progress did not mean that the USA and Soviet Union were growing too close. In 1964, the Soviet leader, Khrushchev, was forced to resign and was replaced by Brezhnev. Khrushchev fell from power because colleagues around him felt that he had suffered a great diplomatic defeat over Cuba and had compromised the Soviet Union. Brezhnev began to build up the Soviet Union s long range weapons. The arms race continued and the Soviet Union did not want to fall behind. The Cold War continued in earnest and the arrival of US combat troops landed in Vietnam in 1965 showed how far President Johnson was prepared to go in order to halt the spread of communism. The Soviet Union s intentions were laid bare when, in 1968, Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia to put an end to Dubcek s Prague Spring. The Brezhnev Doctrine In a speech on 13 November 1968, Brezhnev stated: When forces that are hostile to socialism try to turn the development of some socialist country towards capitalism it becomes not only a problem of the country concerned, but a common problem and concern of all socialist countries. This became known as the Brezhnev Doctrine. It meant that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in any neighbouring country where it felt that socialism was being threatened. In effect it meant that the Soviet Union would define socialism and any threat. Brezhnev used the Doctrine as justification for Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces invading Czechoslovakia. The Brezhnev Doctrine was also to be the basis for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in

50 Checkpoint: Détente How did each of the following affect moves towards Détente in the 1960s? The Hotline The Test Ban Treaty The Vietnam War Czechoslovakia Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty 2

51 Moves to détente after 1968 The moves to détente were never linear. The open hostility over Vietnam and Czechoslovakia seemed to be contradicted in 1968 when the Superpowers signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Superpowers guaranteed not to supply nuclear technology to other countries. There was even more progress when Richard Nixon became President of the USA in Nixon had promised to end the war in Vietnam. By the late 1960s, both Superpowers had spent huge amounts on the arms race and were looking for ways to reduce spending. The result of Soviet spending on arms was that by the early 1970s the USSR had a distinct advantage in ICBMs USA ICBMs SLBMs Soviet Union ICBMs SLBMs (SLBMs were Submarine-launched Ballistic Missiles) Brezhnev now wanted to reduce Soviet military spending so that he could sort out the problems facing the Soviet economy. The most obvious way was by cutting expenditure on arms. So in 1970 Brezhnev agreed to begin Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with the USA. The talks soon became known as SALT, and later SALT I following the second agreements in the late 1970s. Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty 1972 (SALT I) The SALT talks led to the signing of the SALT I treaty in This limited the increase in numbers of nuclear missiles. There would be a five-year delay on the building of more missiles. At the end of the five-year period a further agreement would be necessary. The figures agreed were, USA Soviet Union ICBMs SLBMs A separate treaty restricted the number of ABMs, Anti-Ballistic Missiles. These were missiles that could be used to shoot down ICBMs. At the same time the two sides agreed to begin Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction Talks (MBFR). These continued until the 1980s, by which time there had been more than 300 meeting with almost no agreements. SALT I was the first time that the Superpowers had reached an agreement on arms limitation, but the talks only dealt with strategic weapons, 3

52 long-range nuclear weapons. They did not cover multiple warhead missiles or battlefield weapons (tactical nuclear weapons). In fact the USA continued to produce multiple warheads, at the rate of three a day, throughout the 1970s. President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signing the SALT treaty, 26 May, 1972 in the Kremlin in Moscow Nixon visited Brezhnev, again in Moscow, in July 1974 and, as well as agreeing to relax tensions throughout the world; they said they would try to promote increased understanding between their two countries. In addition, the USA also signed a trade deal to export wheat to the Soviet Union and both sides agreed to develop artistic and sporting links. In 1975 Soviet and US astronauts linked up in Space for the first time. Détente in spcae - astronaut Donald K Slayton (left, upsidedown) and cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov (right) in the Soyuz spacecraft, July

53 The Helsinki Agreement on Human Rights Détente soon covered other areas, however, when in 1975 the USA and the Soviet Union, along with 33 other countries signed the Helsinki Agreements. Helsinki was seen as not only a significant step toward reducing tensions but also a major diplomatic victory for the Soviet Union. Helsinki included clauses which accepted the borders of countries and for the first time acknowledged the boundaries created by the Second World War. Leonid Brezhnev and President Gerald Ford, Helsinki, 1975 The signatories at Helsinki guaranteed that they would: respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. However, President Carter complained about Soviet violations of the 1975 Helsinki agreements. Carter criticised the Soviet Union s poor record on free speech and freedom of movement. Follow-up meetings in Belgrade ( ), Madrid ( ), and Ottawa (1985) were marked by strong criticism of Soviet human-rights abuses and by Soviet rebuttals. For the Soviet Union, its hopes of securing acceptance of its territorial gains made during the Second World War had become marred because of its poor human rights record. By now, more countries in the world were prepared to criticise the actions of the Soviet Union SALT II SALT II talks began in 1974 and continued until Agreement was reached on further reductions in strategic weapons, which were to last until

54 President Carter and Leonid Brezhnev shaking hands after signing SALT II, June 1979 Weapons allowed USA Soviet Union ICBMs SLBMs Checkpoint: Détente in the 1970s Positive Moves Negative Moves 6

55 But even before agreement was reached on SALT II, relations between the Superpowers began to break down. In 1977 President Carter of the USA criticised the Soviet Union s human rights record at the Belgrade conference. He wanted to link the issue of human rights to arms reduction. The Soviet Union was not prepared to do this. Moreover, the USA s recognition of the People's Republic of China in December 1978 proved annoying to the Soviet Union and led them to delay the arms control process. The Soviet Union feared that the United States would exploit its new ties with China to their disadvantage and wanted to prevent a closer Chinese- American relationship. In addition, in the late 1970s, officials in the Carter administration wanted to use arms control to curb Soviet activities in the Developing World. They hoped to check the Soviet Union s involvement in conflicts in Southern Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia by tying further progress on arms control to Soviet restraint in those regions. Relations between the Superpowers were damaged following revelations of a Russian combat brigade in Cuba in September The real crisis in Superpower relations, however, came in December The effects of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Why did relations break down between the USA and the Soviet Union in 1979? A series of events made it seem as if the USA was at last being overshadowed by the Soviet Union. There was a revolution in Nicaragua where Communist guerrillas seized power. In Iran, the Shah, who was pro-western, was overthrown and an Islamic republic was set up. Furthermore, the US embassy was attacked and hostages seized in Teheran. Cuba sent armed forces to Africa to help rebels in Angola. The Cold War began to heat up in Europe when new Soviet SS-20 missiles were sent to Eastern Europe, and conventional forces of the Warsaw Pact were increased. In response, NATO announced that Cruise and Pershing missiles would be deployed in Europe. However, the situation worsened on Christmas Day 1979 when Soviet forces entered Afghanistan. The president, Hafizullah Amin, was arrested and executed, and a pro-communist government was set up. President Brezhnev announced that the Soviet Union 'had responded to an urgent request from the Kabul government for help'. Babrak Kamal became the new president. Why did Soviet forces invade Afghanistan? Soviet tanks invading Afghanistan,

56 In 1978, a Marxist government had come to power in Afghanistan and a twenty-year treaty of friendship had been signed with the Soviet Union. In September of the following year, Nur Mohammed Taraki, the Marxist president of Afghanistan, was deposed and murdered. The post of president was taken by the Prime Minister, Hafizullah Amin. The Soviet Union feared that this would lead to a collapse of the Marxist government and intervened, citing the Brezhnev Doctrine. This stated that the Soviet Union was entitled to use force to protect socialism in any country where it was under attack. However, the situation in Afghanistan was more complex than the Soviet Union realised. In the summer of 1979, Muslim resistance groups had been set up to oppose land reforms and educational changes. When the Soviet forces invaded, the Mujaheddin, as they became known, continued their resistance not only to communist reforms but also to Soviet occupation. What effects did the invasion have on relations between the Superpowers? US reaction to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Since the late 1960s, there had been some clear improvements in relations between the Superpowers. However, almost immediately after the invasion, the good relations between the USA and the Soviet Union broke down. The US reaction was swift and immediate. Exports of US grain to the Soviet Union were stopped and the US Congress refused to ratify SALT II. In addition, President Carter took a very firm line with the Soviet Union and his policy towards the Soviet Union became known as the Carter Doctrine. He made this clear in his State of the Union speech to the people of America, 23 January Carter was making it clear not only to the people of the USA but also the world, that the USA would again challenge the spread of communism. The Carter Doctrine The region which is now threatened by Soviet troops in Afghanistan is of great strategic importance: It contains more than two-thirds of the world's exportable oil. The Soviet effort to dominate Afghanistan has brought Soviet military forces to within 300 miles of the Indian Ocean and close to the Straits of Hormuz, a waterway through which most of the world's oil must flow. The Soviet Union is now attempting to consolidate a strategic position, therefore, that poses a grave threat to the free movement of Middle East oil. The situation demands the participation of all those who rely on oil from the Middle East and who are concerned with global peace and stability. And it demands consultation and close cooperation with countries in the area which might be threatened. Let the US position be absolutely clear: an attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force. 8

57 Checkpoint: Afghanistan Why did the Soviet Union invade? How did the USA react? 9

58 Reagan and the US reaction The deterioration in Superpower relations was made worse by the election of Ronald Reagan as president of the USA in 1980 and by illness of President Brezhnev and the deaths of his two successors, Andropov and Chernenko. For five years there was almost no progress in negotiations between the two countries. The Olympic boycotts, 1980 and 1984 President Carter announced that the USA would boycott the Moscow Olympic Games if the Soviet Union failed to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. President Carter put pressure on the US Olympic Committee to boycott the games and hoped this would encourage other nations to follow the USA. In all, 62 countries refused to participate and some of those who boycotted the games held alternative ones called the Liberty Bell Classic. In 1984, Chernenko, leader of the USSR, announced the Soviet boycott of the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Chernenko stated that chauvinistic sentiments and an anti- Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States. He also stated that the USA could not guarantee the safety of Soviet competitors. Thirteen other communist countries joined the Soviet boycott and as in 1980, alternative games were held. They were called the Friendship Games. The USA was not too concerned about the boycott, because the games were the largest ever held and China participated for the first time since Why did the Soviet forces lose the war in Afghanistan? The Soviet forces were initially successful; they were able to take control of the cities, but increasingly were unable to counter the guerrilla tactics of the Mujaheddin and lost control of the mountainous countryside. Many of the Soviet troops sent to Afghanistan were young conscripts, unprepared for the fighting that they were exposed to. Their heavy weapons could not be used effectively and they were subject to constant and sudden attacks. Increasingly there was little appetite for the war amongst the Soviet troops. Afghanistan did not seem worth fighting and dying for. Their opponents, on the other hand, believed that they were fighting for their religion, their country and their freedom. Mujaheddin troops preparing for an attack on Soviet forces,

59 What effects did the Afghan War have on the Soviet Union? Within the Soviet Union, there was increasing opposition to the war as casualties mounted. It was clear that a Superpower was being humiliated by a group of guerrillas. People began to see the comparison with the USA and the Viet Cong. Moreover, the financial cost of the war was colossal and played a significant part in the bankruptcy of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. This in turn led to the attempts by Mikhail Gorbachev to reform the Soviet economy after he became leader in The role of Ronald Reagan Reagan became president in 1981 and throughout his campaign, made no secret of his hatred for the Soviet Union. He called it The Evil Empire. He made it clear that he was prepared to discuss arms limitation, but was only prepared to negotiate from strength. If things did not work out, he was not prepared to compromise. In a speech to the House of Commons, 8 June 1982, Reagan said - We're approaching the end of a bloody century plagued by a terrible political invention - totalitarianism. Optimism comes less easily today, not because democracy is less vigorous, but because democracy's enemies have refined their instruments of repression. Yet optimism is in order because day by day democracy is proving itself to be a not at all fragile flower. From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea, the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had more than thirty years to establish their legitimacy. But none- not one regime - has yet been able to risk free elections. Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root. Reagan was keen to let the world know that the USA was still a Superpower. This meant restoring confidence in the USA and showing that the defeat in Vietnam was a thing of the past. For Reagan, this meant challenging communism. He wanted to show the people of the USA that he was not frightened of the Soviet Union. When Reagan put forward his defence programme for the USA, he indicated he would spend one trillion dollars. Furthermore, US policy with regard to a nuclear war began to change Reagan s advisers persuaded him that the USA could win a limited nuclear war. This became known as - (Nuclear Utilization Target Selection NUTS). Despite Reagan s posturing, he did offer the Soviet Union some concessions when talks on Intermediate Range Missiles (SS-20s and Cruise) began in He put forward the Zero Option, whereby both Superpowers would dismantle and remove their weapons from Europe. Brezhnev refused. Relations did not improve when the crisis over Poland developed. The Soviet Union interfered when the trade union Solidarity led by Lech Walesa, held strikes and began demanding a more democratic state. The Soviet Union supported the Polish government when martial law was introduced. Reagan s reaction was to stop high technology exports to the Soviet Union. 11

60 Even though there were Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) in 1982, little progress was made and it seemed as if there was a new Cold War. All talks soon became deadlocked. Reagan s hatred of communism and intention to prevent its spread was seen in 1983, when he ordered US forces to land in Grenada to crush a Communist takeover. Any hopes of improving relations were made rather difficult during the years Brezhnev died in 1982, and the new leader Andropov soon became ill and on his death in 1984, was replaced by Chernenko. Chernenko died just over one year after becoming leader of the Soviet Union and was succeeded by Gorbachev. It was difficult for Reagan to develop any kind of relationship with the Soviet Union as a result of these changes because of the lack of continuity. It was only when Gorbachev took over that progress was made between the Superpowers. The Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI or Star Wars ) In 1983 Reagan announced 'Star Wars', the Strategic Defence Initiative. This was a plan to shoot down Soviet missiles using lasers in Space. This was not a serious proposition in 1983, but it had the effect of putting pressure upon the Soviet leaders. The Soviet response to the announcement of SDI was to accuse Reagan of warmongering and he was portrayed as the man who was prepared to start a nuclear war and emerge as victor but of a world which would be a nuclear wasteland. Andropov, the Soviet leader, knew that if SDI was possible then the Soviet Union could not compete in the technological research because the Soviet economy was in dire straits. Diagram of the SDI system as developed by

61 Checkpoint: How did Reagan try to put pressure on the Soviet Union? Why were Soviet leaders unable to respond? Reagan Soviet Leaders 13

62 Gorbachev and Eastern Europe The role of Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev came to power with four slogans PERESTROIKA (RESTRUCTURING), GLASNOST (OPENNESS) and DEMOKRARTIZATSIYA (DEMOCRATISATION) and USKORENIYE (ECONOMIC ACCELERATION). Perestroika referred to economic restructuring in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev believed that the Soviet Union could only survive if the economy was completely rebuilt, doing away with the command economy which had existed since Stalin. Glasnost referred to new sense of openness, both within the Soviet Union and also with the West. The powers of the KGB were restricted and criticism of the government was allowed. Free elections were eventually held in Demokrartizatsiya referred to his aim to make the Soviet Union a more democratic state. He wanted to separate the Communist Party from the government and above all give greater political choice to the people of the Soviet Union. Uskoreniye referred to the acceleration of economic development. He was aware that the Soviet Union could not compete with the USA or most of the West. He had to ensure that changes to industry brought incentives and even the profit motive. When he became leader, Gorbachev indicated that the Soviet Union would no longer follow the Brezhnev Doctrine. Above all, Gorbachev realised that the Soviet Union s survival depended upon the West. He needed investment, new technology, but most of all arms agreements which would allow him to reduce the Soviet Union s massive defence spending. Why was the Soviet Union bankrupt? For forty years it had supported Communist regimes not only in Europe but around the world through COMECON. In 1977 Cuba had joined. Cuba depended almost totally on the Soviet Union for aid. Prices in the Soviet Union were controlled and subsidised and this placed a tremendous strain on the government. The Space programme had been very ambitious and very expensive. Huge amounts had been spent on trying to outdo the USA yet, though the Soviet Union had secured many firsts in the space race - first man, first woman but it did not won the race to the moon. The USA achieved this in Military expenditure had continued to rise and this also helped to cripple the Soviet Union s economy. This stopped spending on consumer goods and in the end led to discontent the citizens of the Soviet Union, who saw that their American counterparts had access to a wide range of goods. No Soviet leader dared offend the military in case he was overthrown by a coup. The Afghan War was merely the final straw for the Soviet economy. 14

63 The Soviet Union had increasingly come to rely on imports of food and technology from the West. This had to be paid for in foreign currency. The Soviet Union was desperate for foreign currency. Sales of roubles were strictly controlled and foreign visitors were allowed to buy in Beriozka shops which contained goods which were not available to Soviet citizens. Soviet exports were usually of poor quality; Ladas, cheap Qualiton records, for example. There was little incentive to workers to raise standards as everyone was guaranteed not only a job, but cheap housing and public services. Officially the last person to be unemployed in the Soviet Union had found a job in 1932! As a result of the many economic problems, there was an immense black market in western goods and currency. Tourists would be offered roubles at three or five times the official exchange rate. Tourists returning to Europe would tell of Soviet citizens asking to buy the clothes such as Levi jeans that they were actually wearing. Gorbachev knew that if the Soviet Union was to survive, he had to reduce expenditure on arms and space technology. But Gorbachev also needed foreign aid and new technology in order to compete. The only way of getting it was by making agreements to reduce arms with the West. Checkpoint: The Soviet economy Explain four reasons why the Soviet economy was so weak

64 Reagan and Gorbachev: the changing relationship between the Superpowers The summit conferences and the end of the Cold War Gorbachev was radical in his approach to the USA. He was prepared to reduce nuclear weapons and also conventional arms. He knew these would not be popular with many in the Soviet Union but he also knew that failure to take such steps would mean the end of the Soviet Union. It is ironic that in attempting to save the Soviet Union from complete collapse, he helped to bring about its end. The West saw how determined Gorbachev was when he announced the end pf the Brezhnev Doctrine. In a period of just over three years, Reagan and Gorbachev met at several summit conferences and eased the tension of the Cold War. In 1989, Gorbachev and President George Bush were able to announce the end of the Cold War. During the period of the summits Gorbachev made several visits to European countries. Wherever he went, he was greeted by huge crowds. The term Gorbymania was coined and he was mobbed every where he went - it was as if he was a pop star. The world came to expect a great deal from him. In addition, even the wives of the two presidents also played important roles. Raisa Gorbachev was lively and outgoing and liked to dress fashionably. She was quite different from the wives of previous leaders. Nancy Reagan persuaded her husband to moderate his opposition to the Soviet Union. The two women got on well and their friendship wore off on their husbands. Geneva Summit, 1985 Gorbachev and Reagan held their first summit meeting in Geneva in November 1985 and Reagan still insisted that the USA would develop Star Wars. There were few firm decisions were made, but it seemed that the two leaders liked each other and they met without advisers and aides this was unprecedented between the leaders of the Superpowers. As a result of the conference, the Geneva Accords were published which indicated that arms limitation talks and human rights were key concerns of the two Superpowers. Reykjavik Summit, 1986 There were initial agreements but the fundamental differences over SDI caused the talks to break down. Gorbachev, in a news conference, painted a bleak picture of U.S.-Soviet relations said that the talks had ruptured over the fundamental differences between the superpowers on the Strategic Defence Initiative and the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. He said Reagan's insistence on deploying SDI had frustrated and prevented the opportunity for an agreement. 16

65 Reagan speaking about the summit as he was leaving Reykjavik While both sides seek reduction in the number of nuclear missiles and warheads threatening the world, the Soviet Union insisted that we sign an agreement that would deny to me and to future presidents for 10 years the right to develop, test and deploy a defence against nuclear missiles for the people of the free world. This we could not and would not do. Washington DC Summit, 1987 Despite the failure of Reykjavik, another summit conference was arranged for Washington DC in December It turned out to be a great success. President Reagan speaking at the end of the summit This summit has lit the sky with hope for all people of goodwill. And as we leave, it is up to both sides to ensure that the lustre does not wear off and to follow through on our commitments as we move forward to the next steps in improving the relations between our countries and peoples. The Intermediate Range nuclear Force (INF) Treaty was signed. For the first time, the Superpowers were to destroy nuclear weapons. By 1991, as a result of INF, the Soviet Union destroyed 889 of its intermediate-range missiles and 957 shorter-range missiles, and the U.S. destroyed 677 and 169 respectively. The Treaty included remarkably extensive and intrusive verification inspection and monitoring arrangements to check that weapons were being destroyed. It was this acceptance by the Soviet Union that convinced the USA that the two countries could trust each other. Reagan and Gorbachev at the Washington DC Summit, December

66 Moscow Summit, 1988 At this conference, the INF Treaty was formally ratified. Yet, despite the friendship between Reagan and Gorbachev, Reagan still felt able to criticise the Soviet Union on its poor record of human rights. At the conference, Gorbachev indicated that he would withdraw Soviet forces from Afghanistan. Further talks were held to discuss the reductions in armaments and also conventional forces. The talks were known as Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START). New York Summit, 1988 This was the last summit between Reagan and Gorbachev and it was also attended by President-elect George Bush Snr. Gorbachev indicated he was going to speed up arms reduction wanted to complete the START Treaty before Bush became president. However, President-elect Bush and his own advisers were less trusting of Gorbachev than Reagan and this seemed to slow negotiations during the summit. Malta Summit, 1989 This summit was between George Bush, the new President of the USA, and Gorbachev. Gorbachev assured Bush that he would never start a hot war against the USA. Observers were quick to point out that if Yalta (1945) was the beginning of the Cold War, then Malta (1989) was the end of it. At the press conference which closed the summit, Gorbachev said The world is leaving one epoch and entering another. We are at the beginning of a long road to a lasting, peaceful era. The threat of force, mistrust, psychological and ideological struggle should all be things of the past. Washington DC Summit, 1990 President Bush and Gorbachev discussed Strategic Arms Reduction (START) and this eventually produced the Treaty for the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START I). It was signed on 31 July This meant reducing 25 to 35 per cent of all their strategic warheads. The U.S. and U.S.S.R. would set a ceiling of 1,600 strategic nuclear delivery aircraft and 6,000 warheads for each country if the treaty was ratified. Following the work of the previous summits, the representatives of NATO and the Warsaw Pact signed the Conventional Armed Forces Treaty (CFE) which led to the reduction of weapons based in Europe. 18

67 Checkpoint: The Summits How did the mood and relations between the leaders change at each summit

68 The loosening Soviet grip on Eastern Europe By the late 1980s, Gorbachev was not prepared to use force to try to keep the countries of Eastern Europe under control, and in any case the Soviet Army was unwilling to act. Its morale had been destroyed in Afghanistan and many soldiers did not always receive regular payments. Gorbachev quickly rejected the Brezhnev Doctrine and therefore the satellite states of Eastern Europe knew that there would not be the kind of response seen in 1956 (Hungary) and 1968 (Czechoslovakia) if there were challenges to Soviet authority. Moreover, Gorbachev openly accepted that the countries of the Warsaw Pact could make changes to their own country independently. This became known as the Sinatra Doctrine from the song My Way. The phrase was coined on 25 October 1989 by Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov, a Soviet spokeperson who was appearing on a US news programme. Each state was eventually permitted to follow its own political path. There then followed a chain of events in Europe that no one could have foreseen. Firstly, Communist rule in Poland collapsed during 1989, and Lech Walesa became President in 1990 after the first free elections since the end of the Second World War. During September 1989, Hungary opened its borders with Austria and East Germany opened its borders with Austria. Massive numbers of refugees began to flood west. This then became the signal for change because it now seemed that the iron curtain could no longer hold back those who opposed Soviet domination. The Collapse of the Berlin Wall, 1989 When Gorbachev visited East Germany in October 1989 he indicated that he would no longer interfere in events within that country. Unrest then began to grow in East Germany and at the beginning of November 1989, the demonstrators demanded changes to the system of government. The demonstrations increased in intensity and atone meeting it was estimated that there were more than one million protestors. The East German government tried to defuse the situation by opening the border with West Germany. This served only to allow hundreds of thousands of East Germans to swarm into the West to visit relatives. East Germans then began attacking the Berlin Wall and the world saw startling images of the Berlin Wall being dismantled. The date was 9 November The end of the Berlin Wall, 1989 Memorial to those killed trying to escape 20