Option 6: A World Divided: Superpower Relations 1943-72

Revision Checklist

Key themes and contents coverage

1 Reasons for the Cold War
 Long-term ideological rivalry
 Historical differences and security needs
 War time conferences
2 Early developments in the Cold War, 1945-49
 The War of Words in 1946 – the battle for influence
 Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe
 The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan – the economic battle
 The first military confrontation - Berlin Crisis (1948-9)
 Setting up of NATO
3 The Cold War in the 1950s
 Background developments: the fall of China and the Soviet bomb (1949)
 Korean War (1950-3)- Consequences
 The Arms Race, 1945-62
 Khrushchev and peaceful co-existence.
 The Warsaw Pact.
 Causes, events and results of Hungarian uprising.
4. Three crises – Berlin, Cuba and Czechoslovakia
 The U2 Incident (1960)
 Reasons for construction of Berlin Wall.
o Its effects on relations between East and West and on Germany.
 Cuba, Castro, the USA and Soviet Union.
o Bay of Pigs.
o Kennedy and missile sites.
o Key events of crisis (this includes how it was eventually resolved)
 The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1967-9
o Causes, events and impact
o Brezhnev Doctrine
5. The Era of Détente 1963-1972
 ‘Hotline’
 Test Ban Treaty (1963)
 Outer Space Treaty (1967)
 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968)
 Reasons for détente.
 Nixon Doctrine
 Mao Zedong
 SALT talks and treaty.
 The extent of détente in 1972
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1. Reasons for the Cold War
What was the Cold War?

The end of the Second World War saw the emergence of two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, who
were locked in a struggle, which lasted for 45 years. It never became a direct confrontation of arms
between the two sides, hence the name ‘Cold War’. Part of the reason for that was that both sides
possessed enough weaponry to ensure mutual destruction. The Cold War was therefore a political,
ideological, economic, social and strategic conflict in which each side was deterred from attacking the
other. In 1949, China entered the Cold War as a third power, but only became really influential in the
1960s.

The term Cold War was first used in 1947 to describe the conflict. It was a war of words, of propaganda
and of threat between the USA and the USSR, but it did not involve the two Superpowers in direct
confrontation. They both took part in proxy wars – that is they helped their allies to fight the other
Superpower or their allies but did not become directly involved in the conflict themselves.

Why did the Cold War begin?

The Cold War began due to a mixture of long and short term causes.

Long Term Causes:

 Competing Ideologies: - GESChichte
In 1917 Russia became the first communist country in the world. Both the USA and the USSR
believed that their system was the best way of organising a country and other countries should
follow their example.

o The USSR – Government single party state, no free elections; Planned Economy – industry
and agriculture are state-owned and the government controlled what should be produced.
Society and Culture – the collective (represented by the state) is more important than selfish
individual needs; this entailed strict censorship by the state controlled media.
o The USA – Government - multi-party state, democratic free elections; Economy – free
market, capitalist: industry and agriculture were privately owned and run for profit; demand
controlled production. Society and Culture- the individual should be protected from the
state – entailing a free press and freedom of movement.

The underlying tensions were rooted in different historical experiences and security needs

o Stalin’s quest for security – fundamentally, he did not trust the West and for good reasons:
 The USSR had been attacked previously; Tsarist Russia had been invaded by
Napoleon and by Germany in WWI.
 Lenin predicted that Capitalism would come to an end, but not before and inevitable
‘series of terrible conflicts between the Soviet Republic and the bourgeois states’.
 In 1918, Allied forces had invaded Russia during the Civil War against the Bolsheviks.
 The West had been appeased Hitler in the 1930s - Stalin believed they had wanted to
use Hitler to destroy communism.

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  At Munich in 1938 the British and the French had given in to Hitler’s demands over
Czechoslovakia, without even consulting the USSR.
 The British had been slow to seek an alliance with Soviet Union against Hitler’s
Germany and Soviet attempts to build such an alliance were ignored.
 Hitler had invaded Russia in 1941 and the West did not open a Second Front until
1944.
 Since Napoleonic times, Russia had been invaded four times (Napoleon, Germany
(twice) and the British, French and Russian allies during the Russian Civil War of
1918-1921 when they had supported the Whites against the Reds).
 In 1919 Churchill had been a strong advocate of armed intervention to stop
Bolshevism in Russia and in 1949 he stated that ‘strangling Bolshevism in the cradle’
would have done humanity a great service.
 Stalin therefore believed it was essential to have friendly countries on his border to
prevent this happening again.

o The USA’s quest for security

 America’s response to WWI was isolationism.
 In the 1920s Americans had responded to news of the Bolshevik revolution in
Russia with alarm and experienced its first ‘Red Scare’ in the immediate post-
war years.
 However, American reaction was not to seek war with the Soviets, but merely
to isolate itself from European conflicts. America believed that its two oceans
were enough to protect it from enemies (even if Russia was close on to its
westernmost point).
 Two things were to change that perspective –
 One was economic depression in the 1930s (which even encouraged
American and Russian co-operation for a time),
 The other was WWII.
 After watching dictatorships take over most of Europe and Asia, the USA realized
that
1. Its own economic self-interests could not permit this to happen in future;
2. Dictators had to be confronted not appeased.
 The USA did not want to return to the Depression and wanted to secure markets for
its goods, it did not believe that the communist countries would buy American goods
and so was determined to prevent the spread of communism

WWII background
During WWII, President Roosevelt revived Woodrow Wilson’s universalist language. He defended
America’s policy in terms of the abstract principles of democracy and economic freedom (outlined in the
Atlantic Charter, signed with Britain in 1941 before America entered the war). This moral language
infuriated the Soviet Union in part because it happened to reflect the United States selfish economic
interests. Roosevelt called for an economic policy of the ‘Open Door’ – a free trade and equal access to
raw materials in order to prevent a relapse into the Depression of the 1930s.

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 Atlantic Meeting – August 9, 1941 – between Roosevelt and Churchill
August 9 and 10, 1941 aboard the U.S.S. Augusta in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, to
discuss their respective war aims for the Second World War and to outline a postwar
international system.
They agree 8 ‘common principles’. They both agreed that they would:
1. NOT seek territorial expansion;
And to seek
2. The liberalization of international trade;
3. The freedom of the seas
4. 5, 6 International labour, economic and welfare standards;
7. Self-government for all countries that had been occupied during the war;

The Grand Alliance of World War II was built on the fact that there was now a common enemy that
affected both sides. The immediate threat of Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan temporarily
trumped the ideological considerations and so a ‘Grand Alliance’ was formed. But very soon
ideological differences began to emerge during the conferences themselves. The conference in
effect created the terms on which the future Cold War would be fought.

In reality, both sides feared the other was out to destroy it. Both sides were therefore seeking
security against the other in the post-WWII world. The Soviets believed the west was out to
destroy communism. The West believed Soviets wanted to spread communism around the globe.

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The War Time Conferences

With Germany’s invasion of Russia (22nd June 1941) and Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor (7th December 1941;
Hitler declared war on USA on 10th) both USSR entered the war and formed a ‘Grand Alliance’ with Great
Britain.

Almost immediate the problem of setting up a second front came to dominate the alliance. A second
problem was what to do about Poland – the country over which the war had begun and a source of
Russia’s security fears.

Three key meetings were held between the ‘big 3’ (Stalin, for
Russia; Churchill for Great Britain and F.D. Roosevelt for the
United States) during the War:

Apart from the issue of the Second Front, which was opened
on June 6th 1944, six key issues were the source of negotiation
and tension at these meetings: Poland, Reparations, Eastern
Europe, Japan, a United Nations organization and of course
Germany itself (PREJUG).

Tehran – 28th November- 1st December 1943 –

Background
Held shortly after Russia had won a decisive victory against the German army at the Battle of the Kursk in
Soviet-occupied Iran. At this stage there was no Second Front and Russia bore the full brunt of the war
with Nazi Germany. Stalin was anxious to see this opened up as soon as possible; Churchill wanted that
front to be opened in the Balkans; Roosevelt and Stalin spent much of the conference persuading Churchill
that it should be opened up in France; Churchill eventually agreed. Plans for a second front – Operation
Overlord were discussed

Decisions
 The western allies agreed to a revision of Poland’s Western borders – to be moved to the Oder-
Neisse rivers – but Roosevelt excused himself from these discussions because he worried about
Polish voters in the United States. The agreement was not ratified until the Potsdam conference of
July-August 1945.
 No decisions were taken on other matters – n.b. what to do about
o Reparations (the Soviets were insistent that Germany would have to pay reparations
because it had born the brunt of the war; the Americans and the British on the other hand,
did not want a repeat of Versailles),
o Eastern Europe – how government would be restored in those states;
o Japan (the Soviets had a non aggression alliance with Japan and did not want to risk a war
on two fronts until after Germany was defeated);
o United Nations – conversation opened but nothing agreed;
o Germany – divisions were discussed but not agreed.
Anglo-Russian-Iranian Treaty of 1943 – it was agreed that the Soviet Union would end its occupation of
Iran after the war. (Russia’s failure to do this would cause alarm in the west in 1946).

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Yalta – 4th-11th February 1945 –
Background: A second front – ‘Operation Overlord’ had been opened on 6th June 1944, but Germany was
not yet defeated; a common enemy held the alliance together.

Decisions
 Poland - There was some dispute over Poland – Stalin wanted a ‘friendly government’; the West
demanded ‘free elections’. It was agreed that the Provisional Government established by the Soviet
Union would be reorganised on a ‘broader
democratic basis.’
 Churchill declared that for Great Britain, the
fate of Pland was a question of honour.
 Stalin replied that, for the Soviet Union ‘it is
not only a question of honour but also of
security… not only because we are on
Poland’s frontier, but also because
throughout history Poland has always been
the corridor for attack on Russia… during
the last thirty years our German enemy has
passed through the is corridor twice…it is
not only a question of honour but of life
and death for the Soviet State.
 Reparations – a reparations council would be
established in Russia.
 Eastern Europe -Russia was in a position of strength at the negotiating table because it occupied most
of Eastern Europe where it was agreed that Stalin should have a ‘sphere of influence’. However, ‘Free
elections’ were to be held to decide governments in the countries liberated from Nazi occupation in the
East.
 Japan - Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan once Germany was defeated.
 United Nations - all 3 agreed to join the United Nations. Stalin requested that all of the 16 Soviet
Socialist Republics would be granted UN membership. This was taken into consideration, but 14
republics were denied; Truman agreed to membership for Ukraine and Belorussia while reserving the
right, which was never exercised, to seek two more votes for the United States. Russia agreed to join
the United Nations on the condition that she had three seats on the Security Council, along with USA,
Britain, France and China
 Germany – it was agreed that the unconditional surrender of Germany was a top priority after which
the country would be divided, de-militarised, de-centralized and de-nazified; Nazi war criminals were to
be found, tried and executed; Germany itself would be divided into four zones of occupation (Br, Fr,
USA, USSR) – the French zone being carved out of the British and American zones; Berlin was also to be
divided into four zones, as Germany as a whole.

Potsdam Conference (17th July – 2nd August 1945)

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Background - There were a number of crucial differences between Potsdam and previous conferences that
can be summed up with mnemonic CLASP:

Clash of personalities - The leaders present were Stalin (USSR), Truman

(USA), and Churchill/Attlee (Britain)

Truman, the new President of the USA, was fiercely anti-communist. He was
less willing to negotiate with Stalin. This, in turn, angered Stalin.

Loss of a common enemy – Germany had surrendered defeated on 7th May

1945 (VE day was 8th May) – meant that there was less reason for unity and
more to argue over.

Atomic Weapon -
On 16th July – the da before the Potsdam Conference began - the USA
successfully tested their first A Bomb. Truman had mentioned a ‘new and
powerful weapon’ but did not say more. The effect on Truman was to
embolden him. Churchill said he ‘bossed the meeting’ at Potsdam.

This made Stalin even more suspicious of the West; he had already known
about the Manhattan Project through spies and his scientists would
develop Russia’s own weapon in 1949.

Stalin’s manipulation of Poland

When the Red Army occupied the entire pre-war territory of Poland in January 1945 the pr—Soviet Lublin
Committee was installed as a provisional Polish government and free elections were never held, in defiance
of previous agreements at Yalta.

On 27th and 28th March he had the members of the Polish

underground government arrested and put them on public
trial on charges of collaboration with Nazi Germany, whilst a
Soviet-controlled puppet government was set up.

Stalin expressed his view to Yugoslav Milovan Djilas in April

1945: ‘this war is not in the past: whoever occupies territory also imposes his own social system as far as
his army can reach. It cannot be otherwise.’

Decisions taken at Potsdam:

Poland
 The agreement over Polish borders discussed at Tehran was now ratified. USSR would gain eastern
Poland and Poland to be compensated with some German territory - the German border was
settled at the Oder-Neisse Line. Stalin was still expected to keep to the agreement made at Yalta.

Reparations
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  Reparations - Stalin demanded harsh reparations from Germany for the USSR - demanded $20
billion compensation. This figure was rejected by Truman and Attlee – they did not want to make
the same mistakes as at Versailles.
o But the Soviet Union had borne brunt of the war against Germany, suffering losses
estimated at a ratio of fifty Soviet soldiers killed for every one American.
 It was also agreed that 10% of the industrial capacity of the western zones unnecessary for the
German peace economy should be transferred to the Soviet Union within 2 years. Stalin proposed
and it was accepted that Poland was to be excluded from division of German compensation, to be
later granted 15% of compensation given to Soviet Union
Eastern Europe –
 Stalin signed the Declaration of Liberated Europe, in which he promised that the people of Europe
would be able "to create democratic institutions of their own choice".
 The declaration pledged, "the earliest possible establishment through free elections governments
responsive to the will of the people." This is similar to the statements of the Atlantic Charter, which
says, "the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live."
 Stalin was already breaking his word over Poland and would later break the pledge by encouraging
Communist Parties to take control in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, instead of letting the people
construct their own governments. The countries later became known as Stalin's Satellite Nations.
 Later in 1945- the London Conference of Foreign Ministers – agreed at Potsdam – refused to
recognise the puppet governments aof Romania and Bulgaria.

Japan
 The ‘Potsdam Declaration’ demanded Japan’s unconditional surrender or face ‘utter destruction’.
 Truman had mentioned a ‘new and powerful weapon’ but did not say more. Stalin knew about it
because of his spies at the Manhattan Project.
 Though the Soviet Union was due to join the war against Japan, it seemed clear that the US wanted
to end the war before the Soviet Union had an opportunity to intervene. Within four days of the
end of the conference, Truman would instruct the bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima (6th August).
United Nations
 This was established in the April of 1945. Previous agreement at Yalta confirmed. Agreements
were reached on broader issues of membership and structure of the UN.
Germany
 The Allies issued a statement of aims of their occupation of Germany involving demilitarization,
denazification, democratisation, decentralisation, the dismantling of its industrial capacity to wage
war and decartelization (i.e. transfer of business from a few cartels to a free market).
 Germany was to be divided into 4 zones as agreed at Yalta; and the same was true of Berlin, Austria
and Vienna.
 Germany’s eastern border would be shifted westward to the Oder Neisse Line –in accordance with
the agreement at Yalta, effectively reducing Germany in size by approximately 25% compared to its
1937 borders.
 Nazi war criminals to be tried at Nuremberg.
 "Orderly and humane" expulsions of the German populations remaining beyond the new eastern
borders of Germany were to be carried out; from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, but not
Yugoslavia.
Summary of the 3 conferences: PREJUG!
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 Tehran, 28th Nov-1st Dec. ‘43
Context  Russia was almost alone in Europe
fighting Nazi Germany;
 However, Russia was in a position
of strength at the conference
because of the prestige of the
victory at the Battle of the Kursk.
Poland  Stalin pressed for a revision of
Poland’s eastern border with the
Soviet Union to match the line
set by the British Foreign
Secretary, Lord Curzon in 1920.
 It was agreed that Poland would
be compensated for the loss of
territory by moving the German-
Polish border to the Oder and
Neisse rivers.
Rep- No decisions taken, but Stalin
arations expected compensation for damage
inflicted on Soviet Union and for
fighting the war almost single-
handedly.
Eastern Churchill proposed an invasion of
Europe Southern Europe by the allies –
through the Balkans. Stalin objected
and Roosevelt sided with Stalin.
Japan Russia was currently in a non-
aggression pact with Japan and at
this stage did not want to take the
strategic risk of threatening war on
Japan.
United No decisions taken.
Nations
Germany American and Britain agreed to open
a Second Front against Germany in
France.
2. Early Developments in the Cold War
Yalta, 4th-11th February ‘45
 Germany was not yet defeated
 USA was led by Roosevelt
(friendly with Stalin)
 USSR had occupied Eastern
Europe.
A government of ‘national unity’
to be set up in Poland, including
both communists and non-
communists.
 Germany would pay
reparations, but the actual
amount and form of
reparations was left undecided
(a commission was appointed).
It was agreed that Stalin should
have a ‘sphere of influence’ in
Russia agreed that it would help
the USA against Japan three
months after the defeat of
Germany. In return she was
promised control of the
Manchurian Railway after the war.
Russia agreed to join the United
Nations on the condition that she
had three seats on the Security
Council, along with USA, Britain,
France and China
Germany would be split into four
zones (British, French, Soviet,
American). The French zone would
be carved out of the British and
American sectors.
Potsdam 17th July – 2 August ‘45
 Germany was now defeated (the USA
and USSR were now without a
common enemy)
 USA led by Harry S. Truman
 USA had developed an atomic bomb;
tested on 16th July, the day before the
conference begins.
 The decision regarding the Polish
border was formally ratified, but
Truman was angry because
 Stalin had not stuck to his agreement
about the government of Poland and
arrested the non-communist leaders
of Poland.
 His ‘democratic’ elections had merely
involved allowing voters to choose
between communist candidates (i.e.
no non-communists)
 It was also agreed that 10% of the
industrial capacity of the western
zones unnecessary for the German
peace economy should be transferred
to the Soviet Union within 2 years.
‘Free’ and ‘democratic’ elections to be
held in the countries of Eastern Europe.
Together with US and GB, Stalin signed
the Declaration of Liberated Europe
 The ‘Potsdam Declaration’ demanded
Japan’s unconditional surrender or face
‘utter destruction’.
 Truman had mentioned a ‘new and
powerful weapon’ but did not say more.
Stalin knew about it because of his
spies.
Previous agreement at Yalta confirmed.
Agreements were reached on broader
issues of membership and structure of the
UN.
A major source of disagreement at
Potsdam, but borders of the 4 zones were
finalized
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WWII brought home to Russia that its security involved the erection of a buffer zone around the Polish
corridor. WWII brought home to America that, because of the globalized nature of capitalist economy, it
could not afford for the two main markets – Europe and Asia – to again fall under the control of
dictatorship

When America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima on August 6 th and Nagasaki on August 9th 1945, it
was not only ending the war with Japan in the most economical way (so far as American lives were
concerned), it was sending out a warning to the USSR.

When The Soviet Union refused to withdraw its troops from Iran within six months of the end of the war,
Truman’s secretary of State, James Byrnes, urged the Iranian prime Minister in February 1946 to resist
further Soviet advances in the region.

The War of Words in 1946 – the battle for influence

In 1946 the differences that began to emerge during the War-time conferences became a full blown war of
words. Underlying American suspicions of the Soviet Union emerged in full view of the world in the
Telegram of American ambassador to Washington, George F. Kennan, to Washington, received on
February 22nd. It made the following points:

 The Soviet Union, he wrote, did not believe peaceful co-existence was possible; and wrote that
there was ‘an instinctive Russian sense of insecurity which, combined with Marxist dogma, made
Soviet expansionism more dangerous and insidious than ever before.’
 The USSR was building up its military power not because of what was happening elsewhere in the
world, but because of its own internal politics.
 The Soviets would not listen to reason, but would listen to force.
 Kennan recommended a policy of ‘containment’, which would involve both the threat of force and
aid for those countries whose economic impoverishment might make them vulnerable to
communist propaganda.

Shortly after, at Truman’s invitation, the ex-prime minister and war time leader of Great Britain, Winston
Churchill gave a historic speech on March 5th - at Fulton, Missouri – in which he stated:
 ‘From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the face of
Europe.’
 Countries and cities under the Soviet sphere of influence are subject not just to Soviet influence but
to a very high degree of control from Moscow;
 The threat was not military expansion, but domestic subversion.
 Churchill called for an Anglo-American alliance to meet the Soviet challenge.

Later in the year, the Soviet Ambassador to Washington, Novikov, sent a telegram to his superiors in
Moscow in which stated that:
 America desired to dominate the World
 The American government not interested in co-operation since Roosevelt’s death
 American people are being prepared for war with the USSR

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Western suspicions were prompted by Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe, the failure to withdraw its
armies from Eastern European states, and the establishment of what looked increasingly like communist
dictatorships.

Soviet Expansion in the East

Rigged elections, violence, intimidation and other methods were

used to gain control over Eastern European states including Bulgaria,
Hungary, Poland and Romania.

By 1947 all eastern European states apart from Czechoslovakia had

communist governments (Czechoslovakia came under communist
government in 1948)

No free elections had been held as agreed to at Yalta.

The USSR justified its actions;

- It had created a buffer zone against the West.
- It was afraid of the USA’s A-bomb monopoly.
- It was afraid of an attack by the West in the near future.
- It had created a ‘sphere of influence’ as agreed at Yalta.

The success of the Soviet Union in expanding its political and social
system into Eastern Europe led to widespread fears in the West that
in 1947 perhaps Greece, then Italy, and even France would be the
next to fall.

The threat to Greece

During WW2 the Greek resistance to the German occupation had been divided into supporters of the
monarchy and the communists. At the end of the war British troops had helped to restore the monarchy
but were now under attack from the communists. By February 1947, Britain could no longer afford to
continue to keep troops in Greece and so they asked for help from the USA. The USA provided money to
keep the British troops in Greece. There was a fear that should Greece fall to communism, there was a real
danger that the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa could all become communist.

The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan 1947 – the economic battle

In 1947 President Truman outlined the USA’s response in what became known as the
Truman Doctrine.
 “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.” President Truman 12 March 1947

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  This policy was designed to stop the spread of communism – the policy was later called
containment and signified America’s place as ‘the World’s Policeman’, whose duty it was to protect
democracies from the threat of communism.
 It would do this by providing money, aid, advisors or even weapons to any country threatened by
communism.
 USA showed this policy in action when it installed ballistic missiles in Turkey - the USSR had no
such missiles and therefore saw this action as hostile.
 Within America, Truman ordered loyalty checks on federal employees – and established the Federal
Loyalty Boards in every department to carry out checks on employees background and possible
connections with the Communist Party of the USA. Few genuine suspects were uncovered but it
marked the beginning of an era within America known as the Red Scare.

The Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan is another example of the Truman Doctrine in action

Europe’s economy had been shattered by WW2. Europe had to tackle the devastation caused by the war,
the impact of the bombing, the loss of lives, the destruction of industry, refugees and a mountain of debt.
Europe owed the USA $11.5 billion.

US Secretary of State George Marshall believed that countries suffering from poverty and
unemployment were more likely to turn to communism. The aim of the Marshall Plan was therefore to
rebuild the shattered European economy so that it could resist the spread of communism. A fund of $15
billion was proposed to Congress as finance offered to any nation who applied for it.

The Marshall Plan (or European Recovery Programme) aimed to:

 Raise living standards in Western Europe to reduce the appeal of communism. It would insulate
democracies against the threat of communism by winning over the working classes to their capitalist
liberal regimes.
 To rebuild Germany without allowing German domination, by linking Germany to a European-wide
recovery plan.
 To weaken Soviet control over Eastern Europe
 To help the US economy by increasing US exports to Europe. They did not want a repeat of the 1920s.
 To those in the US who feared a slump in exports and a lapse into depression, the European Recovery
Programme (ERP) offered a way to revive world trade;

Stalin’s Reaction to the Marshall Plan

Stalin called the Marshall Plan ‘dollar imperialism' and claimed the USA was trying to control industry and
trade in Europe. He believed that it sought to undermine communism and to promote the spread of
capitalism across the globe. He refused to accept any economic aid and stopped any Eastern bloc country
applying for it.

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Cominform (1947) and Comecon (1949)
To try to prevent any eastern European countries applying for aid and to strengthen his grip on the
countries on his borders Stalin offered help and support to eastern Europe by setting up two organisations,
Cominform (1947) and Comecon (1949).

Cominform (Communist Information Bureau) was an alliance of European communist parties to help them
plan and to work together and spread Stalin’s ideas. It increased the control Stalin had over these
countries, and limited their independence. Only Marshal Tito, the communist leader of Yugoslavia, would
not accept Stalin’s total leadership and split with Moscow. By the end of 1948, the last non-communist
leaders in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania had been eliminated by what
Matyas Rakosi (Stalin’s dictator in Hungary) called ‘salami tactics’ – a mixture of terrorism, faked trials and
political purges, allowed Stalin to eliminate opposition ‘slice by slice’.

Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Aid), initially called the ‘Molotov Plan’, was set up to coordinate
the production and trade of the eastern European communist countries. They were expected to trade with
each other and not the West. However, it favoured the USSR more than any of its other members. By
forcing each country to specialize its economy, co-operation with other Soviet controlled economies
became necessary.

Czechoslovakia, 1948
By 1948 Czechoslovakia was not under the control of the communists. The government considered
accepting Marshall Aid. Elections were due to take place in Spring 1948 and the communists were expected
to do badly. A communist coup saw the non-communists removed from office, Jan Masaryk, a minister
who supported the west was murdered (by defenestration). The communists took control of
Czechoslovakia.

The Czechoslovkian case was the most shocking to the west because it was believed that it stood in the
middle and could reconcile friendliness with the USSR and western-style democracy. The assassination of
Jan Masaryk and the coup was taken to be decisive evidence that such reconciliation was impossible.

The US Congress endorsed the European Recovery Programme two months later by an overwhelming
majority of 2-1.

Note on Yugoslovia
At end of the Second World War, Yugoslavia was liberated largely without Soviet help. Although its leader,
Josip Tito, was a communist, he did not want to follow Moscow’s leadership and, in 1948, Yugoslavia was
expelled from Cominform. Tito was famous for once writing an open letter to Stalin telling him to stop
sending people to kill Tito, or Tito would have to send someone to kill Stalin.

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The First Military Confrontation – Berlin, 24th June 1948-12th May

Germany’s geopolitical position at the centre of Europe, coupled with

its industrial potential, made it the crucial country in the European and
even global balance of power. Lenin’s dictum ‘Whoever has Germany
has Europe’ still held to be true.

Germany, and Berlin, had been divided in 1945 into zones of

occupation. This was a source of tension, which peaked during the
Berlin Crisis of 1948-49. In 1946 the complicated reparations
agreements between Soviet and Western zones broke down.

British and American Zones were merged into Bizonia in January 1947
as a step towards integrating Germany into the European Recovery
Programme.

On 7 March 1948, all of the governments present approved the

extension of the Marshall Plan to Germany, finalised the economic merger of the western occupation
zones in Germany and agreed upon the establishment of a federal system of government for them.

At no point was the Soviet Union consulted.

This was precisely what the Soviet Union feared, since it contained three quarters of Germany’s population
as well as the industrial heartland of the Ruhr and Rhineland-Westphalia and would become attractive to
Germans living n the Eastern Zone. In particular, West Berlin – lying deep inside the Soviet Zone – acted as
a window on the West.

Causes of the Berlin Crisis/Berlin Blockade:

 Britain, France and the USA had merged their zones of West Germany into one in March 1948
 Britain, France and the USA had then introduced a new currency to western Germany, which was
intended to help it become economically stronger.
 Capitalism was drawing many people away from the communist east towards greater opportunities
and freedoms.

As a result:
 Stalin felt threatened by Germany’s growing strength
 Stalin was angry that the west had not consulted him before making changes in their zones of
Germany
 Stalin wanted the ‘cancer’ of west Berlin to be removed from East Germany.
 On 24th June 1948 – the day after the Western Zones had adopted a new currency –Soviet
authorities cut off all passenger and freight road, rail and canal links to West Berlin.
 West Berlin’s 2.4 million inhabitants were at the mercy of the Soviet occupation forces who then
cut off fuel and other supplies.
 Stalin believed that Truman would either have to give up West Berlin or go to war.

14
‘Operation Vittles’
US and British responded by a massive air lift that supplied food, fuel and supplies to Berlin for 10 months,
involving round the clock flights.

Operation Little vittles’

Aircrafts would drop sweets over East Germany for the benefit of children in the Soviet Zone and as a
propaganda measure to demonstrate the bounty of western capitalism.

Stalin’s restraint
Stalin dared no shoot down any planes – it would be an act of war. Soviet restraint was probably
influenced the fact that B-29 bombers, capable of carrying nuclear bombs, had been transferred to British
bases at the height of the crisis.

Berlin became the first crisis in the nuclear age to show the strong tendency on both sides to freeze the
geographical status quo rather than risk military confrontation. The existence of nuclear weapons reduced
the options open to each side and neither took advantage of its particular form of military strength.

Stalin called off the Blockade in May 1949.

Outcomes:
- A propaganda victory for the West - Truman had shown he would not allow the policy of
containment to fail.
- Stalin was humiliated - the USSR had failed to extend its influence
- The division of Germany into two separate states - in May 1949 the new Federal Republic of
Germany (FRG) was set up. In October the eastern zone became the German Democratic Republic
(GDR).
- The formation of NATO.
- Deepened hostility between East and West.

What was NATO?

• In the midst of the crisis, Ernst Bevin, the British Foreign Secretary, saw the need to bring the US
into a Europe shattered by collapse of Germany and the emergence of a well-armed Soviet Union.
• The North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington in April, 1949 creating the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation (NATO) provided the answer.
• It effectively turned the European Recovery Programme into a military alliance.
• The original twelve members of NATO in 1949 were the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada,
France, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
• NATO was a military alliance that committed all members to the defence of all the others.
• The purpose of NATO was in fact psychological – the strategic concept on which the common
defence of Euroep was based was simple – the ability of the US to deliver an atomic bomb.
• NATO threw a nuclear cloak over the western half of the continent.
• No attempt was made to rectify the imbalance of army divisions on each side of the Iron curtain,
estimated to stand at about 125 to 13 in favour of the soviets
In 1949.
• Nonetheless, there were a large number of troops in West Germany. By 1953, 5 divisions of US
troops were permanently based there.

15
 • Stalin, unsurprisingly, saw NATO as a threat to the USSR and Eastern Europe.
3. The Cold War in the 1950s
The year 1949 marks the end of the beginning of the Cold War. In that same year American security would
be rocked by the discovery that the Soviet Union had developed its own Nuclear Weapon (August) – thanks
to the work of spies at the Manhattan Project, and the defeat of the Nationalists in China at the hands of
the Communists under Mao Zedong (October).

The Communist Triumph in China (Background)

You are not expected to know the details of the Communist revolution in
China, but you should be aware that the fact of such a large country
becoming Communist gave the USA further ‘evidence’ that Communism was
a danger and that it was spreading.

The situation in China bears a resemblance to what happened in Vietnam later.

The nationalist forces of the Kwo Min Tang army under Chiang Kai-Shek were defeated by the Communists
led by Mao Zedong. Paradoxically, it was nationalist sentiment rather than communist ideology that won
the communist party its support. Chiang Kai-Shek’s obsession with fighting the communists rather than the
Japanese during WWII and his failure to introduce land reforms for fear of losing the support of
landowners meant that it was the communists that emerged as the true patriots in the eyes of the Chinese
peasant.

For the American public, Chiang Kai-Shek and the nationalists were the obvious political leaders of China
and the Communists were largely ignored. Despite large amounts of American aid, by 1948 the military
initiative had passed to the communist armies in Manchuria and North China. In 1949 the Kuo Min Tang
army retreated to the off-shore island of Taiwan and the new communist government was proclaimed by
Mao Zedong in Beijing on 1st October 1949.

In February 1950 the Chinese signed an alliance with the Soviet Union.

The Truman administration, which had succeeded in containing communism in Berlin, had failed to resist
its progress in China. The ‘loss of China’ debate in the United States affected the presidential election of
November 1948 but Truman won a surprise victory. The Republican party (excluded from office since
1933) ended its support for Truman’s foreign policy.

 The result of the events of 1949 was a crisis of confidence within America that became the ‘Red
Scare’ led by the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover and, above all, by Senator Joseph McCarthy.
 McCarthy declared in a speech in West Virginia in February 1950 ‘I have in my hands 57 cases of
individuals who would appear to be either card-carrying members, or certainly loyal to the
Communist Party, but who nevertheless are helping to shape our foreign policy.’

The effect of the McCarthy witch hunt had two effects of American foreign policy – one was to drive a
whole generation of China/Asia experts out of the Foreign Office. The other was to make it extremely
difficult for the President to prosecute a ‘limited war’ in Korea when large sections of the population were
calling for total victory.

16
The Korean War: 1950-53

Note that you would not be expected to know

the events of the Korean War in detail, nor to
know the causes, but you should know its key
features, and understand that the USSR and USA
were supporting opposing sides in the war and
what the consequences were.

Truman viewed the Korean War as a test of his

policy of containment. It was effectively a proxy
war fought by the UN and North Korea on behalf
of the US on the one hand and the two Soviet
superpowers on the other.

Key Events:

• After the defeat of Japan in 1945, Korea was divided at the 38th Parallel, with the Soviet Union
controlling the North and the US controlling the south.
• By 1948 North Korea was a well-established communist state under the leadership of Kim Il Sung
(his grandson, Kim Jong-un controls the state today).
• South Korea –led by Syngman Rhee, felt anxious in the face of North Korea’s superior armed
strength, but nevertheless, America withdrew its forces in June 1949.
• In Dean Acheson declared South Korea to be outside the US ‘defensive perimeter’.
• In June 1950 Communist North Korea invaded the South and the Korean War began.
• Truman then put pressure on the United Nations to condemn North Korea’s actions. The Soviet
Union was boycotting the Security Council because of its failure to give recognition to Communist
China. As a result the UN Security Council condemned the attack by a 9-0
• Initially, sixteen states provided troops or support to the UN force in Korea, but it was dominated
by the USA.
• UN army arrived under the leadership of American War Hero – General Douglas MacArthur, whose
landing at Inchon took the North Koreans by surprise and resulted in a pincer movement that
destroyed North Korean troops and pushed them back beyond the 38 th Parallel.
• In October 1950, McArthur was given a free hand to carry the war north of the 38 th Parallel.
• Despite warnings from Mao that China would support North Korea, the UN army pressed on into
the North. By October 1950 they had reached the border with China.
• In November, 200,000 Chinese troops joined the North Koreans, bringing with them modern tanks
and planes supplied by the USSR.
• By January 1951 UN forces had themselves been pushed back to the 38 th parallel. MacArthur called
for the use of nuclear weapons against China to stop the flow of troops, putting Truman into a
dilemma, which he resolved by recalling MacArthur who returned to America to a hero’s welcome.
• Fighting continued for another two years, but no progress was made on either side.
• The replacement of Truman by the Republican, Eisenhower in January 1953 and the death of Stalin
in March 1953, helped bring helped bring the conflict to an end though a formal peace was never
signed.
17
 • The armistice was signed in July 1953.

Consequences - JUNCET

The consequences of the Korean War were huge.

• JAPAN - The confrontation in Korea prompted Washington to re-build Japanese economy as fast as
possible so that it could not be targeted by communist subversion. The Korean war transformed
Japan from an impoverished enemy into a prosperous ally. A peace treaty was signed with Japan
formally ending WWII with that country and a security pact was concluded allowing the US forces to
stay indefinitely.
• US tripled its DEFENCE Expenditure
• In EUROPE - In 1952 plans were drawn up to increase the number of NATO divisions from
14 to 50 and agreements were made to set up bases for American ground, air and naval
forces in Europe.
• US took over Britain’s traditional role as protector of the south east Asian area by signing a
security pact with Australia and New Zealand, and concluded another treaty with the
Philippines affirming its air and naval bases there.

18
• CHINA – the Korean war froze Sino-American relations into a state of hatred and mutual
incomprehension for the next two decades.
• EISENHOWER – The stalemate in Korea probably contributed to the election of General
Eisenhower, the first Republican President since 1933.
• Abandonment of Limited War as a strategy: The US lost 33,000 soldiers killed and missing;
105,000 wounded. South Korea lost 415,000 killed and 429,000 wounded; it is estimated
that more than 1.5 million Chinese and North Koreans died.
• John Foster Dulles denounced ‘the negative, futile and immoral policy of containment
which abandons countless human beings to a despotism and godless terrorism’.
• Both Eisenhower and Dulles promised a policy of ‘liberation’ of the people of Eastern
Europe.
• US Abandonment of Containment for ‘New Look’ defence strategy: Eisenhower
represented a shift in strategy from ‘containment’ to what his secretary of state, John Foster
Dulles called ‘massive retaliation’ which emphasized the United States’ commitment to
nuclear weapons. Such a policy would be cheaper in terms of American lives and in military
expenditure, providing a ‘bigger bang for the buck’.
• Eisenhower warned China indirectly through the Indian ambassador that, unless
progress was made at the peace talks, the US would consider using the atomic bomb
against China. In March 1953, Stalin died, and in July 1953 a cease-fire agreement
was signed that set the demarcation line just north of the 38th parallel.
• But when the French suggested the use of tactical nuclear weapons to help them defeat the
Viet Minh at Diem Bien Phu, Eisenhower refused. When American Chiefs of Staff
recommended the use of nuclear weapons to counter Chinese shelling of Taiwanese islands,
Eisenhower point blank refused.
• TAIWAN – the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-Shek received new economic and military
assistance. The US Seventh Fleet remained I the Taiwan Straits interposed between China and
Taiwan. In 1954 the US concluded a treaty of mutual defence with Taiwan.

19
The Arms Race, 1945-62 and the background to 1950 and 1960s Cold War

Key dates
1945 – July 16th: Trinity Test
1945 – August 6th and 9th – Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1949 – USSR tests its first missile
1951 – US Strategic Air Command adopts policy of constant readiness
1952 – November: America tests its first Hydrogen Bomb
1953 – August: the Soviet Union tests its first Hydrogen Bomb
1954 – March: US develops and H-bomb that can be dropped from bomber;
1954 – September: USSR develops H-bomb capable of being dropped from bomber;
1956 – July: US develops U2 Spy plane – designed to photograph targets in Russia so that nuclear weapons
could be delivered by bomber at night.
1957 – May: USSR develops 1st ICBM
1957 – October: USSR launches Sputnik
1958 – January: USSR puts Satellite into orbit
1959 – USA develops Atlas and Minuteman ICBMs; USA also develops Polaris that can be fired from Sub. US
public fear USSR has more weapons than USA. Eisenhower knows this is false but doesn’t tell the
public.
1961 – April: Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes 1st man in space
1961 – October: USSR detonates largest bomb ever seen.
1962 – October: Cuban missile crisis

In 1945, the US believed it had an almost unassailable advantage over the Soviet Union, until the latter
tested its own atomic bomb in 1949, signaling the beginning of an arms race. The US tested its first
Hydrogen bomb – a fission weapon, that required an atomic explosion to start a chain reaction, creating a
weapon that was 1000x more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

 When in 1953 the Soviet Union tested its own hydrogen bomb, America was again shocked at the
speed with which the Soviets had caught up.
 Despite Dean Acheson’s talk of ‘massive retaliation’, therefore, Eisenhower was never remotely
tempted to use nuclear weapons, though he did make such a threat to persuade the North
Vietnamese and Chinese to negotiate a peace in Korea in 1953.
These events set the backdrop for a period of détente in the mid-1950s, since both sides came to respect
the other’s nuclear capability.

The half-decade between 1957 and 1962 has been called the ‘nuclear epoch’, a time when the danger of
nuclear war was greater than since. Much of this was driven by the behavior of the Soviet Union under
Nikita Khrushchev. Here are the key events:

 When the Soviets developed the world’s first Inter-continental Balistic Missiles (ICBMS) the USA
feared that it had fallen behind in the arms race and that the Soviets had gained a strategic
advantage.
 The launch of the first space rocket and satellite increased America’s sense of having somehow
fallen behind the Soviets. These were spectacular scientific achievements that alarmed the United

20
 States, not least because of their military implications. It demonstrated the practical possibility of
an ICBM, and at a stroke the Soviet Union had changed the East-West strategic balance.
 But it was also bad for the US in another sense. The Cold War was a fight for influence across the
world and Russia’s achievements seemed to indicate that the Soviet system was somehow beating
the US at its own game.
 In reality, the Soviet Union had only 4 ICBMs and 145 long-range bombers and the US retained an
overwhelming strategic superiority throughout the 1950s, but he could rely on the fact that the US
had not shown any willingness to use nuclear weapons in any of the conflicts that had emerged
since 1945.
 Khrushchev’s position was not secure in the Soviet Union and he needed a foreign policy success
order to bolster his position; there is a real sense in which his foreign policy adventures in the
period 1958-62 were driven by weakness not by the strength of the Soviet Union in general and of
Khrushchev in particular.
 Khrushchev sparked the Berlin crisis when he issued an ultimatum to the Western Powers
demanding that they end their occupation of West Berlin and its transformation into a ‘free city’.
 If the West did not sign a new treaty with Moscow by May 1959, the Soviet Union would sign its
own separate treaty with the German Democratic Republic which would give the GDR control over
access routes to West Berlin. The Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko, warned that any action
taken against the GDR could start a ‘big war in the crucible of which millions upon millions of people
would perish.’
 In reality, neither side was willing to risk nuclear war. It looked as though détente continued –
when it was obvious that the US would not budge on Berlin, Khrushchev’s decided to back down in
the March of 1959 and to arrange a visit to the US, where he held talks with Eisenhower at Camp
David in September 26-27th. They agreed to meet again at a four-power summit in Paris in May
1960.
 The Schism between the Soviet Union and China, which opened in 1959, with criticism that
Khrushchev was following a ‘revisionist’ foreign policy with the West.
 This had a direct impact on Khrushchev’s foreign policy. More than ever he needed a diplomatic
triumph over the West. An opportunity was provided in May the following year by the U-2 spy
plane incident.

Khrushchev and Peaceful Co-existence

Stalin died in 1953. After a short struggle for power, in 1955 Khrushchev became the
new ruler of the USSR.

At first, the western powers hoped that Khrushchev would be the start of a ‘thaw’ in the
Cold War.

- Khrushchev met western leaders at ‘summit’ meetings and even travelled to the
USA.
- Stalin had made all Communist countries do what he wanted – and he had fallen
out with President Tito of Yugoslavia. But in 1955 Khrushchev went to Yugoslavia, telling Tito that

21
 ‘there are different roads to communism’. Western leaders thought he would no longer insist that
all communist countries take orders from Moscow.
- Khrushchev believed that the situation in Europe had become stable and the Soviet Union could
therefore relax its grip on non-essential areas such as Austria and Finland. Austria was re-united
by the Treaty of Austria in which it was agreed that Austria would become neutral.
- At the Geneva summit of 1955 little of substance was achieved but tit marked the end of the
isolation of the Soviet Union in world affairs.
- In the ‘Secret Speech’ at the Twentieth Party Congress in February 1956, Khrushchev attacked
Stalin, saying that Stalin was a murderer and a tyrant. Khrushchev began to ‘de-Stalinise’ Russia -
political prisoners were set free and the activities of the secret police were reduced.
- Khrushchev said that there were different ‘national roads to socialism’, and said that he wanted
peaceful co-existence with the West. Western leaders hoped this meant the end of the Cold War.

Given hope that Stalin’s era of repression and fear had come to an end, opponents of communism in
Eastern Europe began to make demands.

• However, this was the surface impression. Underneath there were problems. SENTO was created in 19154
and West Germany joined NATO in 1955. The Soviet Union declared that America was trying to
encircle the Soviet Union and created the Warsaw Pact in 1955.

Poland, 1956:

In June 1956 Demonstrators attacked Polish police, protesting about rising food prices and 53 workers
were killed by the Polish army during riots in Poznan. Khrushchev was alarmed and sent troops to the
Polish border.

Wladyslaw Gomulka, a popular leader of the Communist resistance during the Nazi occupation of Poland,
was appointed leader. Gomulka was not hard-line, but Khrushchev accepted this appointment as it would
keep the peace. He replaced the Stalinist Boleslaw Bierut.

There was also agreement that Communists would stop persecuting members of the Catholic Church. The
Red Army left the Polish border.

The Hungarian Uprising, October 1956:

Encouraged by events in Poland, the Hungarian people decided to protest against communist rule –
with devastating results.

The Soviet Union did not intervene militarily in Poland because the Polish Communist Party’s
commitment to its alliance with the Soviet Union was never in doubt. Hungary was different.

When, at the beginning of troubles, the new Prime Minister, Imre Nagy, formed a coalition government
he immediately announced plans to end the one party system and withdraw Hungary from the Warsaw
Pact – a direct threat to Soviet interests. The result was the invasion of 1000 Soviet tanks on 4 th
November and the deaths of 30,000 Hungarian lives. Nagy was arrested and executed.

22
Causes of the Hungarian Uprising
1. Poverty
Hungarians were poor, yet much of the food and industrial goods they produced was sent to Russia.
2. Russian Control
The Hungarians were very patriotic, and they hated Russian control – which included censorship,
the vicious secret police and Russian control of what the schools taught.
3. Catholic Church
The Hungarians were a religious people, but the Communist Party had banned religion, and put the
leader of the Catholic Church in prison.
4. Help from the West
Hungarians thought that the United Nations or the new US president, Eisenhower, would help
them.
5. De-Stalinisation
When the Communist Party tried to de-Stalinise Hungary, things got out
of control. The Hungarian leader Matyas Rakosi asked for permission to
arrest 400 trouble-makers, but Khrushchev would not let him.

Key Events:
- 23 October: Riots of students, workers and soldiers. They smashed up the
statue of Stalin, and attacked the Secret Police and Russian soldiers.
- 24 October: Imre Nagy took over as Prime Minister. He asked Khrushchev
to take Russian troops out of Hungary.
- 28 October: Khrushchev agreed, and the Russian army pulled out of
Budapest.
- 29 October – 3 November: The new Hungarian government introduced democracy, freedom of
speech, and freedom of religion (the leader of the Catholic Church was freed from prison). Nagy
also announced that Hungary was going to leave the Warsaw Pact.
- 4 November: At dawn, 1000 Russian tanks rolled into Budapest. By 8.10 am they had destroyed the
Hungarian army and captured Hungarian Radio – its last words broadcast were ‘Help! Help! Help!’
Hungarian people – even children – fought them with machine guns. Some 4000 Hungarians killed
fighting the Russians.
-Khrushchev put in Janos Kadar, also a liberal, as Prime Minister, but he was expected to the toe the
Russian line.
-Nagy was executed, as a ‘lesson to all soviet leaders’

Causes of the Soviet Invasion

 It seems likely that Khrushchev trusted Hungarian leaders to begin with and Imre Nagy’s
appointment as prime minister and Janos Kadar as General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist
Party instead of hardline communists like Matyas Rakosi and Erno Gero reflected his de-
Stalinisation policies.
 Khrushchev had implemented de-Stalinisation policies and had installed Imre Nagy as leader in
Hungry – his policies went further than Khrushchev expected…
 Khrushchev came under criticism within Russia – Molotov in particular criticized Khrushchev’s
policies and there had been four days of rioting in Georgia from hardline supporters of Stalin when
de-Stalinisation began.
23
  In addition, Khrushchev came under severe criticism from Mao Zedong in China since the latter had
modelled himself on Stalin and pursued Stalinist policies. Khrushchev’s political attack on Stalin was
therefore effectively an attack on Mao himself. This represented the beginning of the Sino-Soviet
split.
 Finally, it was Nagy’s decision to try to get Hungary to leave the Warsaw Pact that proved the final
straw for Khrushchev. It was one thing to reform domestic policies, but quite another to risk Soviet
security. It Hungary left, what was to prevent other states from leaving?

Outcomes/Consequences of the Hungarian Uprising:

1) 200,000 Hungarian refugees fled into Austria.
2) Russia stayed in control behind the Iron Curtain.
3) People in the West were horrified – many British Communists left the Communist Party.
4) It was clear to Eastern Europe that the West would not come to their aid to help them overturn
communism.
5) However, whilst they would not intervene in countries that were within the Soviet sphere of
influence, Western leaders became even more determined to ‘contain’ communism.

The year 1956 was a watershed in international Politics. Both the Western and the Soviet Systems
suffered deep shocks at their most vulnerable points. In the case of Britain and France, the Suez crisis
marked the end of their imperial power and left a power vacuum in the Middle East that would be filled by
the US and the Soviet Union.

24
The U-2 spy plane incident – May 1960

• US had asked the Soviets for an ‘open skies policy’ in 1955 but the Soviet Union which did not
possess the technology to run such flights, refused.
• Eisenhower wanted such a policy for a good reason – the only way the US could deliver a nuclear
weapon to the USSR was by plane. Given that these would be shot down easily if they flew by day,
they would have to fly by night, which required a pinpoint accurate map of terrain and targets. This
was the purpose of the U2 spy plane.
• The USA built up a large arsenal of weapons – the American Strategic Air Command kept a fleet of
12 B52 bombers armed with nuclear weapons in the air 24 hours a day.
• America flew secret U2 flights (capable of reaching the edge of the earth’s atmosphere – out of
reach of Soviet rockets and with lenses so powerful that they were capable of taking photographs
of newspapers on the ground).

Key events:
May 1960: The U-2 Incident
 On May 1, 1960, the Soviets shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance jet flying over Soviet territory. Since
June 1956, Eisenhower had approved secret over-flights of Soviet territory, and gained valuable proof that
the Soviets had not gained missile superiority over the Americans. Not knowing that the Soviets had
captured the pilot and gotten a confession confirming the spy mission, Eisenhower claimed the aircraft was
merely a weather plane. Khrushchev presented the pilot as proof that the American President had lied.

May 1960: Paris Summit

 Eisenhower, Khrushchev, British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan,
and French President Charles de Gaulle met from May 16-17, 1960,
in Paris. However, the meetings collapsed when Khrushchev walked
out after Eisenhower refused to apologize for the U-2 incident.

 The Soviets had scored a propaganda victory.

September-October 1960: Nikita Khrushchev made his second and final visit to the USA, but this time unofficially
after he appointed himself as head of the USSR delegation to the UN. He was restricted to Manhattan and to a USSR-
owned estate on Long Island. It was during a meeting of the General Assembly in October that the alleged ‘shoe-
banging incident’ occurred.

Cold War tension between the super powers reached a peak during this period of history. There were some people
in the American government who believed a policy of brinkmanship was needed to call the Soviets’ bluff and
challenge them to back down in any Cold War confrontation. These people were generally known as hawks because
of their aggressive stance. On the other hand there were people who believed that the right approach was to avoid
military confrontation, and that the two sides should try to negotiate a solution to any disagreements. These people
were known as doves because of their peaceful stance.

After John F Kennedy was sworn in as President in January 1961, the

Cold War landscape changed. Kennedy promised an
uncompromising attitude towards the Soviet Union and
international communism, positioning himself as a hawk, while
criticising Eisenhower as a dove.

One of the first challenges of his presidency was a new crisis in

Berlin.
25
 The Berlin Crisis – 1961

June 1961: Vienna Meeting

President John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev met in Vienna in June 1961, primarily to discuss the status of Berlin.
Other topics of discussion included the conflict in Laos and disarmament. The leaders were unable to resolve the
most vexing questions pertaining to Berlin, but agreed that further discussions on Laos should be continued at the
Foreign Minister level.

Causes: Why was the Berlin Wall built?

Berlin had been a source of tension between the superpowers since

1945. In 1961 it again reached crisis point.
 The Brain Drain: Throughout the 1950s thousands of East
Germans had fled to the West through Berlin, leaving behind
the harsh political climate and economic hardship of life
under communism. At a rate of 1000 East Germans a day, it
was estimated that 3 million people had crossed from East to
West Berlin between 1945 and 1960. Many of these were
young, skilled, professional people – the East suffered a ‘brain drain’ as these educated men and women left to
make new lives in the West. It seemed likely that this would continue if their exit route through West Berlin was
not blocked.

 Lure of the West: During the 1950s travel was relatively easy between the Eastern and Western sectors of Berlin.
People living under communism in the Eastern sector could visit the West and see what capitalism offered. There
was better housing, shops full of goods and relative freedom: all provided by the Western Allies. The high
standard of living in West Berlin contrasted sharply with the condition in communist East Berlin – it continually
reminded people in the eastern areas that communism was not a successful system to live under.

 Espionage: Berlin was a Western island in a communist sea – an ideal place for American spies to gather
intelligence on the Soviet military. Khrushchev also suspected the USA of sending spies into East Berlin and from
there into the Eastern bloc through West Berlin. This seemed very likely, given the U-2 spy plane incident of 1960.

 Asymmetry of the Cold War: Khrushchev was very aware of the imbalance between the two sides in the Cold
War, and nowhere was this more obvious than in Germany, where the eastern part was always weaker than the
prosperous west. Berlin was the one place where the west was vulnerable, because they were surrounded by the
eastern bloc. For Khrushchev, pressurising Berlin was a way of evening up the balance in the Cold War.

Events: What happened?

 13 August 1961 – The East Germans began building a wall around West Berlin. This was initially a
barbed wire fence, which was gradually
replaced with concrete.
 All movement between East and West was
stopped.
 For several days Soviet and US tanks faced
each other across the divided Berlin streets.

26
Once the Wall had been constructed, the US decided to test how far they could push the USSR. Foreigners were still
allowed to cross the Wall, and the US regularly sent troops and diplomats into the Soviet sector through Checkpoint
Charlie, one of the guarded crossing points between East and West. Both sides were entitled to do this under the
Four Powers Agreement made after the Yalta Conference.

On 27 October 1961 Red Army tanks pulled up to Checkpoint Charlie and refused to allow Americans to pass into the
Eastern sector. All day long the two sides, with tanks and soldiers at the ready, faced each other in a tense stand-off.
The nail-biting crisis lasted for 18 hours until a diplomatic agreement was reached and both sides began to slowly
back down.

Once again it was very clear that the US would not take military action against the Soviet Union in its own
geographical and political sphere of influence, and risk open conflict between the two nuclear superpowers. There
was no attempt at roll back in Berlin, and the East was allowed to remain cut off and isolated from the West.

Outcomes: What were the consequences?

 The flow of refugees was reduced to a trickle. Between 1961 and 1989 (when the wall came down), only
5000 people managed to escape across it.
 Western nations were given a propaganda victory, as it seemed that communist states needed to build a wall
to stop their citizens leaving.
 The wall became a symbol of the division of East and West. Kennedy visited Berlin on June 26th, 1963 and
made a speech in which he claimed that Berlin was a symbol of
freedom. (He also claimed that he was a Jelly Donought, but that’s
another matter).

Ultimately, the Wall solved the refugee problem, but it was

something of a propaganda defeat – because it became a symbol
across the world of Soviet repression. Khrushchev withdrew his
threat to make a separate treaty with at Germany and the crisis
came to an end. But it drew fierce criticism from China, which saw it
as capitulation. Khrushchev was still searching for a foreign policy success.
The Cuban Missile Crisis – 1962

Both the U-2 spy plane incident (which had humiliated the USA) and the non-resistance of the West to the
building of the Berlin Wall made the USSR believe that they were in a strong position.

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The Background – the Cuban Revolution

 Fidel Castro, a socialist, had overthrown

the American-backed leader Batista in
1959. The USA were suspicious of Castro
and wanted to remove him from power.
 Cuba was only 90 miles off coast of
America – they didn’t want a socialist (or
worse, a communist) country ‘in their
backyard’.
 USA tried to ruin Cuba by refusing to buy
their main export – sugar. Facing financial
collapse, Castro did a deal with the USSR –
they would buy Cuba’s sugar crop.
 Cuba nationalised American companies
and sold off US-owned property without
offering compensation.

Bay of Pigs

  In a move planned under Eisenhower and executed under JFK, America sent in 1400 exiled Cuban
rebels to overthrow Castro in April 1961 but they were easily defeated.
 The so-called ‘Bay of Pigs’ ends in fiasco: Of about 1,500 commandos, 114 died and 1,189 were captured and
sentenced to 30 years in prison.
 This was a humiliation for the USA, and just encouraged Castro to turn to the USSR for protection.
USSR started shipping weapons and equipment to Cuba.
 November 30 1961 President Kennedy authorises Operation Mongoose – a secret program of
propaganda, psychological warfare, and sabotage against Cuba to remove Castro from power.
 February 1962 – US economic blockade of Cuba becomes an almost total embargo
 As a result, Castro, needed some leverage with America and he gladly accepted Khrushchev’s
suggestion that he state Nuclear Ballistic Missiles in Cuba.
 They began to arrive on September 8th 1962.

14 October 1962 – American U-2 spy planes photographed Soviet missile sites on Cuba.

Why did Khruschev want to put nuclear missiles on Cuba?

 To close the missile gap: The Soviet leader, Khrushchev, knew the USA had medium and long-range nuclear
missiles aimed at the USSR based in Turkey, just on the USSR’s ‘doorstep’. At the time of the crisis the Soviet
Union had only a handful of ICBMs, while the United States had 144 missiles positioned on Polaris
submarines, as well as 294 ICBMs. By placing the cheaper, medium- and intermediate-range missiles
on Cuba the Soviet Union could double its first-strike nuclear capacity at relatively little expense.
 Domestic politics: Khrushchev wanted to strengthen his political position in the USSR and show his
government that he wasn’t soft on America.

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  To protect Cuba: Khrushchev wanted to support the new communist country in ‘Uncle Sam’s backyard’, and
ensure that the Americans would not attempt another incident like the Bay of Pigs and attempt to overthrow
Castro.

Kennedy's dilemma

After talks with EX-Comm (his team of advisors), Kennedy was faced with a range of options to deal with
the Soviet threat in Cuba.

 ignore the missiles

 get the UN involved
 blockade Cuba
 invade with soldiers or launch air attacks

President Kennedy did not dare to invade Cuba, because that action could have started a world war - yet
he could not let the missile sites be completed. With his advisers, he decided on a naval blockade to
prevent Russian ships delivering the missiles for the Cuban sites.

Kennedy’s response: the naval blockade of Cuba - the Thirteen Days

Kennedy’s final decision was a US blockade of Cuba, which Kennedy called a ‘quarantine zone’, and which
could stop further Soviet missiles coming to Cuba buying him time to negotiate with the Soviets.

Khrushchev warned that Russia would see the blockade as an act of war. Russian forces were put on alert;
US bombers were put in the air carrying nuclear bombs; preparations were made to invade Cuba.
 For 10 days the world was on the brink of nuclear war.

There was massive tension in both Washington and Moscow. Everybody thought the world was going to
come to an end. Secretly, the Americans suggested a trade-off of missile bases - US bases in Turkey for
Russian bases in Cuba.
The Russians made the first public move. The ships heading for Cuba turned back, and Khrushchev sent a
telegram offering to dismantle the Cuban bases if Kennedy lifted the blockade and promised not to invade
Cuba. Then, as though having second thoughts, he sent a second letter demanding the dismantling of the
Turkish bases. At the vital moment, a US U2 spy plane was shot down.
However, Kennedy ignored the U2 attack and agreed publicly to the first letter, and secretly to the second.
The crisis was over.
 28 October Khrushchev removed the missiles and the crisis was over

The reasons the Cuban Missile crisis did not lead to war:
 The USA agreed to remove missiles from Turkey
 Khrushchev refused to break the blockade
 Kennedy refused to bomb Cuba
 Khrushchev never intended to cause war
 Kennedy wanted to avoid war.

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Outcomes:
 Khrushchev seemed to have failed – he had backed down in the face of American pressure. The
public did not know that Kennedy had secretly agreed to remove US missiles from Turkey.
 Kennedy became the hero of the Western world;
 China broke off diplomatic relations with Russia
 Khrushchev’s days were numbered: he was replaced by Brezhnev.
 Telephone ‘hot line’ set up between Moscow and Washington so that the leaders could speak
directly. This was to try and head off any future crises before they became serious.
 The two powers realised how close they had come to nuclear war. Arms talks began and the
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed in 1963.
 It also stimulated discussions that led to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,
signed in 1969.

Czechoslovakia, 1967-9

Czechoslovakia had been a communist country, controlled by Moscow, since the end of World War Two.
In 1968 the Czech people attempted to exert some control over their own lives and reform the
Communist system to create 'Socialism with a human face'. That meant keeping the socialist model of
government but guaranteeing a better delivery of goods, services and freedoms to the Czech people. This
attempt, known as the Prague Spring, lasted for four months until it was crushed by the Soviet Red Army.

Causes of the Prague Spring

1. The Czechs hated Russian control, especially:

o Over the economy: many Czechs were bitter that the USSR controlled their economy for its
own benefit. Czech farmers had to follow Communist Party guidance on what to produce
and efforts to modernise farming were discouraged.
o The hard-line communist leader, Antonin Novotny, was unpopular. His rule was
characterised by censorship of the press and a lack of personal freedom for ordinary
citizens.
o the censorship and lack of freedom
2. The policy of détente encouraged the uprising. Romania had also broken free of Russian control, and
was improving relations with the West.
3. Some Czechs thought the USA would help them.

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Events of the Prague Spring

In 1967 Czech students began peacefully demonstrating against Novotny’s rule. Novotny asked the Soviet
leader, Brezhnev, for help to crackdown on the protests, but Brezhnev refused, and in early 1968 Novotny
was replaced as Communist Party Secretary by Alexander Dubcek.

1. There were no riots or demonstrations but, during 1967, students and writers were complaining
about the lack of freedom, and the poor performance of the Czechoslovak economy.
2. But when Antonin Novotny, the Czechoslovak president, asked Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader,
for help, Brezhnev did not support him.
3. Novotny fell from power and on 5 January 1968, Alexandr Dubcek - a reformer - took over as leader
of the Communist Party (KSC).
4. In April 1968, Dubcek's government announced an Action Plan for what it called a new model of
socialism or ‘Socialism with a Human Face’ - it removed state controls over industry and allowed
freedom of speech.
 Censorship was relaxed and criticism of government actions allowed;
 Trade unions were given wider powers and government control of industry was reduced;
 More power was given to the Czech regional governments.
 Trade with the West was increased.
 Czech people were given greater freedom to travel abroad.
 The idea of having multi-party elections was discussed, though Dubcek and other communist
leaders made it clear that this would not happen for many years.

5. For four months (the Prague Spring), there

was freedom in Czechoslovakia. But then the
revolution began to run out of control.
Dubcek announced that he was still
committed to democratic communism, but
other non-communist political parties were
set up.
6. Also, Dubcek stressed that Czechoslovakia
would stay in the Warsaw Pact, but in August,
President Tito of Yugoslavia, a country not in
the Warsaw Pact, visited Prague.
7. At a meeting in Bratislava on 3 August 1968,
Brezhnev read out a letter from some
Czechoslovakian communists asking for help.
He announced the Brezhnev Doctrine - the
USSR would not allow any Eastern European
country to reject communism.
8. On 20 August 1968, 500,000 Warsaw Pact
troops invaded Czechoslovakia. Dubcek and
three other leaders were arrested and sent to Moscow.

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 9. The Czechoslovakians did not fight the Russians. Instead, they stood in front of the tanks, and put
flowers in the soldiers' hair. Jan Palach burned himself to death in protest in Prague’s Wenceslas
Square.
10. Brezhnev put in Gustav Husak, a supporter of Russia, as leader of the KSC.

Outcomes

 Dubček was arrested and taken to Moscow. The pro-Soviet, Gustav Husak, was installed as the Czech
leader to be Brezhnev’s lapdog. Husak reversed Dubcek’s reforms and Czechoslovakia remained a
communist country inside the Warsaw Pact.
o In Moscow on August 26, after he was threatened and suffered from fainting spells, Dubček
signed the 15 doctrines of the Moscow Protocol, paving the way for the rigid era of
normalization that would restore Communist order in Czechoslovakia.
o When Dubček came back to Prague a day after signing the document, he was still serving as
First Secretary. Then, on March 21 and March 28, the Czechoslovak ice hockey team
defeated the Soviet Union in the World Cup in Stockholm. Czechoslovak fans destroyed the
offices of the Soviet airline Aeroflot and other Soviet institutions.
o Shortly thereafter, Dubček was forced to resign as First Secretary. But Dubček was not
totally out of the picture – yet. He was reelected to the Federal Assembly as Speaker. Then,
during 1969 and 1970, he served as the country’s ambassador to Turkey, but he was not
allowed to take his children with him. The Communists hoped he would emigrate, but he
disappointed them again. Between 1970 and 1985 he worked for the Forestry Service.
 As in Hungary in 1956, the Western powers did nothing to actively support the Czechs in their ‘Prague
Spring’. The US accepted that the Soviets were taking this action in their own sphere of influence, and
the US was not going to consider any intervention that would constitute roll back of communism in
Eastern Europe.
 China was deeply critical of Russia’s behaviour during the Prague Spring and accused it of invading a
communist ally. The ‘schism’ between Russia and China was largely complete.
 Russian reprisals were kept secret. But after the revolution of 1989 it was reported that about five
weeks after the Soviet-led invasion put an end to the reforms championed by Dubcek, 82 people
had been killed, 300 seriously injured and 500 otherwise injured by the five invading Warsaw Pact
armies.

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The Era of Détente 1963-1972

Détente (a French word meaning release from tension) is the name given to a period of improved
relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that began tentatively in 1971 and took
decisive form when President Richard M. Nixon visited the Chairman of the Chinese Communist
Party in February 1972 and the secretary-general of the Soviet Communist party, Leonid I.
Brezhnev, in Moscow, May of the same year.

Agreements before détente really got going:

 Hotline, 1963– a key outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis – a supposedly direct link was set up
between the two leaders to prevent misunderstandings in future.
 Limited Test Ban Treaty, 1963 – between USSR, USA and Britain – agreed not to carry out any
nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion, ‘in the atmosphere, under water, or
in outer space, or in any other environment if the explosion would cause radioactive debris to be
present outside the borders of the state conducting the explosion.’ A further 113 countries signed
the treaty after 1963.
 The Outer space Treaty, 1967 – exploration and use of outer space should be carried out for benefit
of all countries; States should not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in
orbit
 Moon and other celestial bodies should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.
 The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, 1968 – Signed by the Soviet Union, Britain and 59 other
states. The treaty divided countries into two categories: nuclear and non-nuclear. It agreed that
NWS would work towards disarmament and that NNWS would not develop them.

Causes of détente
1. America was shocked by the Vietnam War. There were mass protests between 1967 and 1972 over
America’s participation in Vietnam, particularly its bombing campaigns. Nixon had been elected in
1968 on the promise that he would get America out of Vietnam. Since China and Russia had both been
supplying North Vietnam, Nixon believed that China and Russia were the key to ending the conflict in
Vietnam. As a result, the United States retreated from Containment under the Nixon Doctrine (also
known as the Guam Doctrine), first put forth during a press conference in Guam on July 25, 1969 by US
President Richard Nixon and later formalized in his speech on Vietnamization on November 3, 1969. Nixon
stated that "the United States would assist in the defense and developments of allies and friends", but would
not "undertake all the defense of the free nations of the world." This doctrine meant that each ally nation
was in charge of its own security in general, but the United States would act as a nuclear umbrella when
requested. The Doctrine argued for the pursuit of peace through a partnership with American allies. The
Nixon Doctrine implied the intentions of Nixon shifting the direction on international policies in Asia,
especially aiming for "Vietnamization of the Vietnam War."
2. Willy Brandt, the chancellor of West Germany, wanted to reduce tensions with the east and began a
policy of Ostpolitik (Eastern Policy) which encouraged greater cooperation and communication
through the Iron Curtain.

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3. Domestic economic and social Pressures.
Both America and USSR were keen to reduce
the costs of the Cold War so that they could
concentrate expenditures on domestic
matters. America in particular had
experienced major social disturbances in 1967
and 1968, partly arising from Vietnam, partly
arising from anger about social deprivation.
The Watts riots in Los Angeles in 1965 and the
disturbances that broke out across America in
1968 following the assassination of MLK were a
response to social inequality. The Soviet Union
was experiencing its own disturbances – in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The Soviet Union’s economy was
in trouble, and was falling behind the more technically advanced USA. Brezhnev hoped that the
United States might share some of its technology with the USSR.
4. Kissinger’s policy of Triangulation. Henry Kissinger recognized an opportunity in Russian and Chinese
enmity. China shared a long frontier with Russia. The USSR and China had major political
disagreements despite both sides being communist. Relations
with China declined alarmingly, resulting in armed conflict along
the Ussuri River in March 1969 and along the Soviet-Sinkiang border
in August. The two sides agreed to negotiate their differences, but the
Soviets strengthened their military presence along the Chinese
border. The emergence of the Sino-Soviet split also made the idea of
generally improving relations with the United States more appealing
to the USSR. The ‘schism’ in the Communist world, between Russia
and China gave Nixon and his adviser, Henry Kissinger an opportunity.
They pursued a policy of
‘triangulation’. If the US
could go against
ideological barriers and
get closer to either one of
them, the other would have to follow suit because they
could not afford to have two unite against them,
diplomatically or otherwise.
A. Nixon’s trip to China, in February 1972 was
calculated to drive an even deeper wedge
between the two most significant Tell Comrade Brezhnev that we have
rounded up those responsible for the
communist powers. The United States could
missile test launch
use closer diplomatic relations with China as
leverage in dealing with the Soviets, particularly on the issue of Vietnam. In addition,
the United States might be able to make use of the Chinese as a counterweight to
North Vietnam. Despite their claims of socialist solidarity, the China and North
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 Vietnam were, at best, strongly suspicious allies. As historian Walter LaFeber said,
“Instead of using Vietnam to contain China, Nixon concluded that he had better use
China to contain Vietnam.” One result was that Russia invited Nixon to Moscow.
B. On May 22 1972 Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Moscow. The trip to
Russia, like his historic trip to China a few months earlier, permitted Nixon to keep
public attention focused on his foreign policy achievements rather than his domestic
problems. Nixon’s trip to China had also heightened the Soviets’ interest in détente;
given the growing antagonism between Russia and China, Brezhnev had no wish to
see his most potent rivals close ranks against him.
C. Nixon and Brezhnev signed seven agreements covering the prevention of accidental
military clashes; arms control, as recommended by the recent Strategic Arms
Limitation Talks (salt); cooperative research in a variety of areas, including space
exploration; and expanded commerce. The salt treaty was approved by Congress later
that summer, as was a three-year agreement on the sale of grain to the Soviets.

Major agreements of 1972

SALT I –Negotiations for SALT I began in 1969 in Helsinki, but were only concluded in 1972. It comprised
several agreements.

 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty – ABMs allowed at only two sites in each country and should have a
maximum of 100 missiles each;
 INTERIM Treaty – placed restrictions on the number of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
froze each side’s number of ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) at current
levels for five years, pending negotiation of a more detailed SALT II.

But the treaty did not deal with Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicles – MIRVs –
 The total number of missiles held by the United States had been static since 1967 at 1,054 ICBMs
and 656 SLBMs but there was an increasing number of missiles with multiple independently
targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) warheads being deployed.
 MIRVs carried multiple nuclear warheads, often with dummies, to confuse ABM systems, making
MIRV defense by ABM systems increasingly difficult and expensive.

The extent of détente in 1972.

1. The Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 did not stop other countries developing nuclear weapons (eg
China, and perhaps South Africa and Israel).
2. Table tennis and Summit meetings were just one-off propaganda stunts aimed at both domestic
audiences and the government of the USSR (in the case of Nixon’s meeting with Mao).
3. Neither Russia or America kept to the SALT1 agreement. Neither side reduced their conventional
weapons.
4. SALT II began in 1972 to discuss this problem but was only concluded in 1979.
5. In the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, America supported Israel, and Russia supported Egypt and Syria.
6. In June 1973, Brezhnev visited the United States for Summit II; this meeting added few new
agreements, but did symbolize the two countries’ continuing commitment to peace.
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7. Summit III, in June 1974, was the least productive; by then, the salt talks had ground to a halt,
several commercial agreements had been blocked in Congress because of Soviet treatment of
Jews, and the Watergate investigation was approaching a climax.

THE END

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