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Home , Cuban Missile Crisis, Geneva Summit (1955), Soviet Armed Forces

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Revision for Spring Mocks

A of Words In 1947, Stalin and Churchill engaged in a ‘war of words’ which revealed that trust had completely broken down and misunderstandings were shaping policies. Source 1 - Churchill’s ‘’ speech in March 1946 “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an ​ iron curtain has descended across the continent. ​ Behind the line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe… all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in the Soviet sphere and are all subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and ​ increasing measure of control from .” ​

Source 2 - Stalin’s Response to Churchill’s speech, also in March 1946 “Essentially Mr Churchill now adopts the ​ position of the warmonger* and in this Mr ​ ​ Churchill is not alone. He has friends not only in Britain but in the of America as well. A point to be noted in this respect is that Mr Churchill and his ​ friends bear a striking resemblance to Hitler and his friends.” ● A person who wants war

What was the impact of this ‘war of words’? In the light of these speeches, Truman and Stalin were very concerned about the possibility of a new war. Each leader asked for secret reports from their embassies, to help them understand what their opponents were thinking. Both reports were sent as telegrams. These ​ ​ reports were very important because they greatly influenced the thinking and policies of Truman and Stalin.

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Source 3: The Long Telegram Source 4: Novikov’s Telegram This telegram was sent by George This telegram was sent to Stalin by the Kennan, America’s ambassador in Soviet Ambassador in American, Moscow. It reported that Novikov. It reported that: ​ ● Stalin had given a speech in ● Following the death of President Moscow calling for the Roosevelt, the American destruction of . government had no interest in ● There could be no peace with the working with the USSR. USSR while it remained. ● Truman wanted to use its power determined to resist capitalism. and wealth to dominate the ● The USSR was building up its whole world and eliminate power, even though the . Second World War was over. ● The American public would Why would it be doing this if it support its government if a war had peaceful intentions? broke out against the USSR.

How did the USSR become so powerful in Eastern Europe? After the end of the Second World War, the (the army of the USSR) Red Army remained in the Eastern European countries it had occupied. Thi was because Stalin felt the needed these countries to act as a ‘buffer zone. Stalin ​ ​ wasn’t prepared to allow these countries to have free elections and between 1945 and 1948 Stalin installed pro-Soviet ‘puppet governments’ in Poland, , Romania, Bulgaria and . Stalin set up an organisation called ‘’ to control information in these countries. That was to be no freedom of ​ ​ speech and no alternative political parties in the satellite states. Stalin also set up an organisation called in 1949. Its role was to control the economies of the ​ ​ satellite states. Mainly it worked to nationalise and collectivise their agriculture and industries because these were the key features of a communist economy. What was ‘The ?’ As a consequences of the Long Telegram, Truman was determined that America would remain more powerful than the USSR. He was concerned that Stalin would try to extend the influence of communism by offering support to communist groups in European countries. After the war, much of Europe was devastated and people in countries like , , , and even Britain, were suffering great hardships. Truman understood that communism was highly attractive to poor people because it involved sharing the the money and land of a small group of people and and sharing it out amongst the majority. To make sure that there were no more communist revolutions, Truman in March 1947 set out a new policy that soon became known at “The Truman Doctrine”.

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Key Ideas within the Truman Doctrine ● The world had a choice between communist tyranny and democratic freedom. ● America had a duty to fight for freedom and protect the world from the spread of communism, which, he said, was evil. ● America would give military and economic support to any nation which was threatened by a communist takeover because communism must not be allowed to spread to other countries. An example of this: In 1948, the United States gave $400 million to and Greece in an attempt to stop the communists in these countries winning the civil which were being fought between them and pro-Western governments. Why was the Truman Doctrine important? 1. The Truman Doctrine was important because it was a fundamental change in the foreign policy of the United States. This new policy was called ‘’. Before being dragged into the Second World War, America had maintained a policy of ‘isolationism’. Isolationism meant that the United States did not get involved in international affairs unless it absolutely had to. Containment meant that now the United States would do all that it could (apart from actually going to war) to stop the spread of communism. 2. The Truman Doctrine was important was because it formally ended the Grand Alliance and started what became known as the . It was Truman’s way of telling the world that there could be no co-operation between the superpowers so long as the USSR remained a communist country. 3. The Truman Doctrine was important because, ss far as Stalin was concerned the Truman Doctrine was an act of aggression. Stalin saw it as a declaration of war against the Soviet Union, since Soviet Union was the only Communist country at this time (China didn’t ‘turn’ Communist until 1949).

The Death of 1953 Stalin died in 1953; this was bound to lead to some kind of change as he had been in charge of the USSR since the 1920s. How did the death of Stalin affect the relationship between the superpowers? 1. Soviet policies under the new leader, , initially seemed less harsh than Stalin’s. 2. This was known as ‘the thaw’ in the Cold War. 3. Khrushchev said that he was in favour of ‘peaceful co-existence’ ; he met with President Eisenhower of America at the Geneva in 1955. 4. Khrushchev agreed to withdraw Soviet troops from Austria at the same time as the US, France and Britain. He also freed many political prisoners and reduced censorship 5. Finally, in 1959, despite events in Hungary in 1956, he became the first Soviet leader to visit the USA suggesting that the thaw in the Cold War was real.

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What happened in Hungary in 1956? Hungary had suffered a lot under Stalin’s control. Instead of the Soviet Union helping Hungary recover from the effects of the Second World War, food and industrial products were taken FROM Hungary and shipped off to . All non-communist political parties had been banned and Russian officials controlled the government, the police and the army. Matyas Rakosi was made the Dictator of Hungary and the people gave him the nickname ‘the Budapest Butcher’. Under his rule, 387,000 Hungarians were imprisoned and more than 2,000 more were murdered.

In 1956, the new Russian leader, Nikita Khrushchev made a very important speech. Although it was called ‘the Secret Speech’ it didn’t remain secret for long. In this speech, Khrushchev promised an end to the brutality of , under which around 20 million people had died. The people of Eastern Europe looked forward to a far less oppressive style of government. Encouraged by the hope of reform, students in Budapest rioted and attacked the police and army. The police lost control and the protests spread to other major cities. Rather than crush the protest, Khrushchev stopped in and agreed to the replacement of the hated Rakosi by a more liberal leader called . Nagy began to introduce reforms but in November 1956 he want too far. He promised to: ● Turn Hungary into a Western style democracy with free elections. (Nagy was himself a communist but he believed in a less repressive form of communism) ● Withdraw Hungary from the ● Ask the for protection from Russia

What was Khrushchev’s Response?. 1. Khrushchev believed that if he allowed this to happen, other Eastern European countries would copy Hungary and soon the Soviet Union’s ‘buffer zone’ would be gone. He couldn’t allow this to happen so he sent in 200,000 Soviet troops and 5,000 tanks to crush the anti-Communist movement. In the two weeks of bitter fighting which followed around 20,000 Hungarians were killed. Nagy was arrested, put on trial for treason and found guilty. He was hanged in June 1958; Khrushchev said that Nagy’s fate “was a warning to the leaders of all socialist countries”. 2. A new leader, called Janos Kadar who was loyal to the USSR, was installed as leader of Hungary. 3. Kadar promised to: re-establish communist control of Hungary, use Hungarian troops to stop attacks on Soviet troops; keep Hungary in the Warsaw Pact; negotiate for the removal of Soviet troops once the crisis was over.

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Although the West protested, it ignored the pleas of the Hungarians for military help. American President Eisenhower did offer $20 million worth of food and medical aid to Nagy’s government and praised the bravery of the Hungarian people, encouraging them to fight on. However he refused to send actual military support because he said it was ‘a matter of highest priority to prevent the outbreak of war’. You can understand his position because by now both sides had nuclear and a war could lead to the annihilation not just of Hungary, but of the rest of the world. The United Nations response was much the same as Americas.

How did all of this affect the relationship between the superpowers? The Soviet response to the Hungarian Rising showed that, despite the thaw, Khrushchev was prepared to use military force to defend his . America’s response to Khrushchev’s intervention proved that its commitment to liberating Europe from communism did not include offering military support. This discouraged opponents of communism in other Eastern countries from protesting against communist oppression.

The in the 1950s and 1. 1957: The Soviet Union test fired the first Intercontinental (ICBM) and launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first satellite; it was now winning the Arms Race as ICBMs meant that the USSR could launch a nuclear missile attack on the USA and could use Sputnik 1 to spy on the USA. 2. Later in 1957, the USA’s Atlas ICBM was launched and in 1960 it announced the development of Polaris, the first submarine-launched ICBM. 3. By 1967 the USA had 1,000 ICBMs but the USSR began to catch up as America became increasingly entangled in . The point was, both sides now had enough nuclear weapons to destroy each other many times over. 4. As well as the Arms Race, the costly was continuing. The USSR got the first man in space - Yuri Gagarin in 1961 but the USA was the first to get men on the moon in 1969. Was this a draw??

THE CONTEXT TO THE OF 1962 When and why did become a problem for the USA? In 1959, - a man who had always expressed support for communist ideas - successfully overthrew the corrupt Cuban government led by an American backed dictator called . Cuba was only 100 miles from the USA and while Batista had been in power (1952-1959) he had allowed American businessmen and the Mafia to make huge profits in a country where most people lived in poverty. Castro’s first attempt to overthrow Batista in 1956 had failed but he was successful the second time, in 1959.

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Castro shut down the gambling casinos and the brothels and nationalised the ​ ​ American owned sugar mills. Compensation was offered to the previous owners but the US government refused to agree and stopped buying Cuban sugar. This forced Castro to find a new market for Cuba’s sugar so, in February 1960, he made an agreement with the USSR. The Soviet Union would buy Cuban sugar and would also provide economic aid. There was also a secret clause saying that Cuba would receive military help from the Soviet Union. President was horrified by this turn of events and, in 1961, he agreed to support a CIA trained invasion of Cuba by pro-American Cuban rebels. Remember, Cuba is just 100 miles away from the US mainland so this friendship between Cuba and the USSR seemed a very worrying development.

‘The Bay of Pigs’ Incident The began when a group of CIA-financed and-trained Cuban refugees landed in Cuba intending to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro. The attack was an utter failure. In March 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the CIA to train and arm a force of Cuban exiles for an armed attack on Cuba. John F. Kennedy inherited this program when he became president in 1961. Kennedy gave the go-ahead for the attack. On April 17, 1961, around 1,200 exiles, armed with American weapons and using American landing craft, waded ashore at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The hope was that the exile force would serve as a rallying point for the Cuban people, who would rise up and overthrow Castro’s government. The plan immediately was a complete failure; over 100 of the attackers were killed, and more than 1,100 were captured. This invasion pushed Castro into the arms of the USSR as it made him feel that Cuba needed Soviet military assistance. Castro used this attack by the “Yankee imperialists” to consolidate his power and he requested additional Soviet military aid. Also the botched mission left young President Kennedy looking vulnerable and indecisive.He knew he would have to deal more impressively with whatever crisis should happen next.

What was the Cuban Missile Crisis? The Cuban Missile Crisis (, 1962 – October 28, 1962) was a major stand off during the Cold War between the USA and the USSR. For a week, the world held its breath as it looked as if a nuclear confrontation between America and the Soviet Union was inevitable. Following the Bay of Pigs incident, the relationship between Cuba and the Soviet Union became even closer. Castro announced that he was a communist and asked Khrushchev to help him defend Cuba against any future from the USA.

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In September 1961, Khrushchev announced that he would provide arms to Cuba. This was a nightmare for John F. Kennedy. If the Soviet Union placed nuclear weapons on Cuba, the USA would be under direct threat. Kennedy warned Khrushchev that it would not tolerate the Soviet using Cuba as a base for nuclear weapons and Khrushchev assured he had no intention of doing so. in October 1961 Kennedy discovered that Khrushchev had lied. An American U-2 spy plane captured photographs of what looked like launch pads for medium- range ballistic missiles, which could carry nuclear warheads capable of causing terrible damage to US cities. More bad news followed immediately; intelligence agencies informed Kennedy that a fleet of Soviet ships was on its way to Cuba, presumably carrying the missiles themselves. Cuban Missile Timeline - What actually happened? 16 Oct Kennedy is informed that Khrushchev plans to put nuclear missiles on Cuba

22 Oct Kennedy announces that America will impose a naval around Cuba to stop more missiles reaching Cuba; he calls on Khrushchev to recall his ships.

23 Oct Khrushchev replies that his ships will break the blockade.

24 Oct Khrushchev announces that the USSR is prepared to launch nuclear weapons if America goes to war.

25 Oct Both sides are on high alert and armed forces are told to prepare for war. Kennedy writes to Khrushchev asking him to withdraw missiles from Cuba.

26 Oct Khrushchev replies in a telegram, offering to remove missiles so long as the USA provides a guarantee that it will not invade Cuba.

27 Oct 1. After sending the first telegram, Khrushchev learns that the USA is preparing to invade Cuba within 24 hours and he proposes a second deal - the USSR would withdraw missiles from Cuba only if America would agree never to invade Cuba AND to withdraw its nuclear missiles from Turkey. 2. A US spy plane is shot down over Cuba and the Hawks in the American government urge Kennedy to take immediate military action. 3. Kennedy ignores both the Hawks’ demand for action AND the second telegram. He accepts Khrushchev’s demand that the US should promise not to invade Cuba .

28 Oct Khrushchev accepts the deal and the crisis is over. What the world doesn’t know is what has gone on behind the scenes. Kennedy has approached the Russian ambassador and, on his brother’s behalf, he has agreed to the second deal. So long as ​ ​ the Soviet Union would agree to remove the missiles from Cuba, America would agree to remove the missiles in Turkey. However, the removal of America’s missiles from Turkey had to be kept secret.

So…. ….. the Kennedys had been prepared to compromise but didn’t want to look weak.

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Who ‘won’ the Cuban missile crisis? Both Kennedy and Khrushchev claimed victory. Kennedy had shown himself to be a strong leader as he had stood up to both Khrushchev and the Hawks in his own government. His popularity increased nationally and internationally. This was what he had hoped would happen and why he had insisted that his agreement to remove American missiles in Turkey not be made public. Khrushchev also claimed victory; he had guaranteed the security of Cuba which meant that America was going to have to accept living next door to communist neighbours in a country which had once been one of America’s closest allies. However, the fact that he had agreed to keep the Turkish side of the deal secret made him very unpopular with many high up officials in Moscow. The leaders of the felt that they had been forced into a humiliating withdrawal from Cuba. In 1964, Khrushchev was dismissed as the leader of the Soviet Union.

What was the significance of the Cuban Missile Crisis? 1. Because the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, it was clear that any future misunderstanding between the Soviet Union and the USA had to be avoided. For this reason a telephone hotline was set up between the Kremlin in Moscow and the in Washington. 2. In 1963, the USSR, the USA and Great Britain signed a Test Ban Treaty. This was an agreement to ban the testing of nuclear weapons in outer-space, underwater or in the atmosphere. 3. The 1967 the Outer Space Treaty was signed by the superpowers; this was an agreement not to use Space for military purposes, specifically not to put nuclear weapons into orbit. 4. A year later, in 1968, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed. This was signed by America, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and 40 other nations. It was an agreement that only America, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France and China would have nuclear weapons. 5. Although there was clearly still tension between the superpowers, because of the Cuban Missile Crisis America and the Soviet Union did make a real effort to cooperate and work towards a more peaceful relationship.

Reagan, Gorbachev and the collapse of the Soviet Union A new president with a clear agenda Another consequence of the Soviet invasion of was that anti-Communist feelings increased in America. was elected as president in 1980. Reagan’s campaign focussed on the ideas that Carter had been weak and it was time for America to once again step up and become the leader of the free world in standing up to the spread of communism. He won the election by a landslide. The invasion of Afghanistan had helped bring about the election of a president who believed that Communism was evil and should be actively opposed.

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How did the election of Ronald Reagan as US President in 1981 change the relationship between the superpowers? 1. Ronald Reagan was a hard-line anti-Communist who referred to the USSR as an ‘evil empire’ in March 1983. 2. Reagan believed that America had been wrong to try to coexist peacefully with the USSR. As a committed Christian, he believed that communism was evil and America should invest in new and improved nuclear weapons to defend freedom and destroy communism. 3. He announced what became known as ‘The ’; this was the ​ ​ idea that America would support anti-communist groups trying to overthrow communist governments. For this reason he gave support to rebel groups not just in Afghanistan but also in El Salvador and Nicaragua. 4. During his time as president, America spent more money than ever (13% more in 1982 and another 8% more in 1983 and 1984) developing new weapons such as Trident submarines and the Stealth bomber, not to mention SDI (the so-called Star Wars plan). What was the significance of the Star Wars (SDI) programme? Many people dismissed Ronald Reagan as a rather unintelligent former Hollywood actor but he was not as stupid as they thought. He understood that the Soviet economy was struggling. The more money America spent developing new weapons, the more difficult life would be become for the leaders of the Soviet Union.So, in 1983, Reagan announced the start of a new military initiative - the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) which became known as Star Wars (not the movie!). The idea was that America would use lasers in space to shoot down any Soviet missiles before they reached the US. Reagan spoke of SDI as if it was a reality; what he didn’t admit was that the new system was years away from being ready. However, the USSR didn’t know this; it had fallen behind in the space race in 1969 when the USA put men on the moon. It could neither afford, nor did it have the computer technology, to compete in this new phase of the arms race.

Why was SDI so important? SDi was an important turning point in the Cold War. The Soviet leaders knew that they would have to invest huge sums of money to develop its own ‘Star Wars’ system and that even if that money was spent, there was no guarantee they would be able to do it. The USA had made major advances in computer technology and was way away of the Soviet Union in this regard. Essentially, the Soviet Union couldn’t afford SDI and possibly wouldn’t be able to develop it, even if it could. This was bound to affect how the relationship between America and the USSR. If SDI became a reality, East and West would no longer be equal militarily. A new way of thinking would be needed.

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Meanwhile in the Soviet Union…... 1. In the Soviet Union, the attempt to keep pace in the arms race even before SDI was announced had led to a fall in the living standards of the people. 2. Soviet farming methods (collectivisation) were inefficient; there wasn’t enough food for the people so millions of tonnes of grain had to be imported from America and other countries. 3. Brezhnev had died in 1982 and there had been no one strong leader since his death; this lack of strong leadership led to stagnation and a lack of planning. As a result of this, the Communist government was becoming more and more corrupt and unpopular amongst the people. 4. The wanted the same high living standards and human rights as people in the democratic West. 5. The war in Afghanistan was a disaster which was continuing to cost a fortune; it had led to the loss of 15,000 Soviet soldiers lives and it was clear that it was unwinnable. 6. The USSR was still having to use military force to keep East European countries under communist governments; events in Poland reached crisis point in 1981 when, in the face of a rising against communism, the Soviet Union was forced to give its support to a Polish general, Jaruzelzki, who imposed martial law on Poland, much to the disgust of the rest of the world.

What was the ‘new thinking’ introduced by President Gorbachev? A new president came to power in 1985 - . He had a clear understanding all of the problems and he had a plan. He intended to to save communism by making it better; he would do this by introducing two important new concepts: ; this involved introducing ​ economic reforms to make the Soviet economy more efficient by making it less centrally controlled. However, corruption was too great and this aspect of his ‘new thinking’ wasn’t effective. ; this involved more openness; ​ censorship of the press was relaxed, people were told the truth about the atrocities committed by Stalin’s government and thousands of political prisoners were released. Gorbachev believed these reforms would make communist rule more ​ popular but was he right? If control of the people was relaxed and they were given choice for the first time, would they choose communism or capitalism?

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What did Reagan make of Gorbachev? Reagan recognised that Gorbachev was a new kind of leader of the Soviet Union. Here was a leader who was clear about not wanting to expand communism and wanting to make the Soviet Union a less oppressive place, where the people could express themselves. At the same time the was very expensive and had not been popular with many of America’s allies and trading partner. Would it be possible to end the Cold War by working WITH the Soviet Union rather than against it? Reagan saw that this was a real opportunity to end the Cold War without going soft on communism or weakening the USA. How did the relationship between the superpowers change 1985 and 1989? The ‘new thinking’ in action

1985: Gorbachev and Reagan met several times - for example at the in ​ ​ 1985 and Reykjavik Summit in 1986. At these conventions discussions were held about ​ reducing the amount of nuclear weapons both sides had. The sticking point was SDI. Although Reagan and Gorbachev both wanted to reduce weapons, Reagan refused to stop the SDI.

1987: By the time they met at the Gorbachev had accepted that ​ ​ ​ Reagan was not going to drop SDI. He therefore agreed to a treaty with no strings attached. This treaty was called the Intermediate- Range-Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty; it was a hugely important agreement as both the USA and the USSR were agreeing to remove existing medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe within 3 years; this went much further than SALT 1.

1988: Moscow Summit ​ ​ i) Gorbachev announced the immediate reduction of the weapons stockpile and the number of troops in the Soviet armed forces. ii) Gorbachev announced the complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan ii) Gorbachev told the United Nations that the was no longer Soviet policy; the countries of Eastern Europe now had a choice - the USSR wasn’t going to try to control them any more.

Gorbachev:“I can assure the President of the United States that I will never start a hot war ​ against the USA. We are at the beginning of a long road to a lasting, peaceful era” President Bush: “We can realise a lasting peace and transform the East-West relationship to ​

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one of enduring co-operation”

The context to fall of the Wall After Gorbachev had announced that the Brezhnev Doctrine was no longer Soviet policy, the Eastern European satellite countries began to break away from Soviet control: Hungary opened its frontier with Austria in May 1989. Free elections were held in Poland in June and non-Communist movement ‘Solidarity’ became the new government in June 1989. Many East Germans wear beginning to escape to the West by crossing into Hungary and then into Austria. How much longer could the survive? When did the Berlin Wall fall? The East German government was very slow to accept glasnost but its hand was forced by the opening of the border between Hungary and Austria. On the 9th November the East German government finally announced that East Germans would be allowed to cross the border into . It was forced to do this because Gorbachev refused to help the East German government put down protests and demonstrations. Spontaneously thousands of East Berliners flooded the checkpoints in the wall demanding entry to West Berlin. The border guards let them pass and after that the wall itself was pulled down. Why was the in November 1989 so important? With the Berlin Wall gone, it could only be a matter of time before Germany itself was reunited. It happened in 1990; the FRG () and GDR () were no more - Germany was one nation again. Berlin and its wall had been massively symbolic during the Cold War and its fall had the same significance. There was no longer a physical barrier between the East and the West so the people would be free to choose. Unless the Eastern European governments introduced democracy, the people could vote with their feet and simply leave. What happened to the Warsaw Pact? The Warsaw Pact had been created to defend communist governments; it no longer had any muscle because Gorbachev said that the Soviet Union would no longer fight to save communist governments. The Warsaw Pact was dissolved in July 1991. ​ ​ The Collapse of the Soviet Union Many leaders Communist politicians in Russia itself were appalled by the events which had been the result of Gorbachev’s policies of perestroika and glasnost. Not only were the countries turning their back on communism, the other nationalities within the Soviet Union were beginning to demand independence from Russian control. It looked like the Soviet Union itself was about the break up. On 19 August a group of senior Communists - the Gang of Eight - tried to get rid of Gorbachev. Gorbachev was out of the country at the time but the newly elected President of Russia, , rallied the people and the army and the coup failed in just 3 days. Gorbachev remained President of the USSR until 25 December 1991 when he announced that all of the individual Soviet republics within the USSR

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would become independent; with the Soviet Union dissolved, it no longer needed a President. The Cold War was over

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