Crises Of the Cold War

The Cold War and Containment• The Cold War featured the US and the USSR,

two SUPERPOWERs with completely different political systems (Capitalism v Communism) competing for influence around the world. The presence of nuclear weapons held by both sides made the stakes of the cold war very high, as a direct total war between the two sides would have resulted in a nuclear war, killing millions of civilians. Neither side wanted to provoke the other into resulting to a nuclear attack.

• The US under President Truman decided they could not remove communism where it existed but instead focused on containing it and stopping its spread.

Truman knew containment was our best option in stopping communism while avoiding nuclear war.

Europe Divided• Europe had been divided along

communist and Capitalist lines following WWII and this continued throughout the Cold War. The US made an Alliance known as NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) with many countries, promising that an attack on those countries would be regarded as an attack on the USA.

• The USSR formed their own alliance, the Warsaw Pact to counter NATO. This alliance included the Iron Curtain countries, the “satellite” communist states in Europe.

Europe divided: Capitalist and Communist

NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Map includes how much US aid $ each received under the Marshall plan.

Berlin • One Cold War Crisis occurred surrounding the city of Berlin.

• Berlin (along with the rest of Germany) had been divided amongst the 4 allied powers of WWII. West Berlin was controlled by the US, UK, and France while East Berlin was controlled by the USSR.

• Berlin though was totally surrounded by the Soviet portion of Germany, and the USSR (led by Stalin) resented having an enclave of capitalism in its zone. Stalin looked to remove the US support from the city and take over W Berlin.

• Defending W. Berlin became the frontline and first test of the US policy of containment.

West Berlin was in the heart of Communist East Germany.

Berlin Airlift• In 1948, Stalin decided he would try to

blockade the roads that led to West Berlin, this would cut off their supplies and hopefully get the west to abandon its stake in the city. He figured the US would not risk a conflict and confrontation trying to go through the blockade.

• The US and Britain developed a different plan and responded by airlifting all supplies needed for W. Berlin. The US also put their army on full alert, basically daring the USSR to try and stop the airlift.

• Stalin chose not to shoot down US planes and instead reopened roads to the city in 1949 after a year of supplies being airlifted into the city.

For a full year, American and British troops airlifted supplies to the blockaded W. Berliners

Nikita Khrushchev• Josef Stalin died in 1953 after almost 30

years in power as ruler of the USSR.• He would eventually be replaced by a

man named Nikita Khrushchev• Khrushchev sought to “de-Stalinize” the

Soviet Union.• He openly stated the atrocities that Stalin

had committed and had numerous monuments to Stalin destroyed.

• However, Khrushchev was still a communist and sought to lead his country to victory in the Cold War.

Khrushchev wanted to move the USSR away from Stalin’s brutality

Berlin as an escape route• West Berlin had become a

prosperous capitalist city, while East Berlin did not see such a quick recovery under the communist system.

• Many of the well-educated in East Berlin started use West Berlin as their way to escape communism and flee to the Western World.

• In addition as long as people had access to West Berlin, they would be able to see the success of the capitalist system and would desire to leave communism.

Berlin Wall• In 1961, wanting to prevent the

“brain drain” of skilled people leaving communist East Germany, the BERLIN WALL, a concrete and barbed wire wall around W. Berlin, was put in place to keep people from leaving the communist system.

• The US was prepared to defend W. Berlin’s freedom but did not destroy the barrier out of fear of starting a nuclear war. It would divide the city until 1989. Its significance was that it served as a physical symbol of the division of Europe.

Cuba• Cuba was the site of another major cold war

crisis.• In 1959 under a revolution led by Fidel

Castro, Cuba became a communist country. The US had vital economic interests in Cuba (casinos, hotels) and lost them when Cuba became communist.

• The US tried and failed to remove Castro from power in an invasion known as the Bay of Pigs, and the CIA tried and failed to assassinate him. The US was worried as they faced a potentially hostile neighbor only 90 miles off of the coast of Florida. This was a failure of the policy of containment as communism had now spread.

Cuba: Role in Cold War• The USSR had fallen behind

in the nuclear arms race with the US. They did not possess the long range missile capability or the number of missile sites that the US did.

• However, the USSR supported Cuba and desired to use this country as a valuable ally in the Cold War. Since it was close to the US it represented an area from which the USSR could potentially attack the US from.

Castro and Khrushchev became allies

Cuba is only 90 miles off of Florida’s coast

Missile Sites• Khrushchev decided to

secretly build missile sites in Cuba that he could hit the US with.

• US spy planes spotted the missile sites in October of 1962.

• President John Kennedy declared that the presence of missiles in Cuba was unacceptable.

• He ordered a blockade of Cuba, to prevent any new missiles from being delivered and demanded that the missiles in Cuba be removed.

A U-2 spy plane identified the missile sites

Tensions Increase• Khrushchev renounced the

blockade.• Meanwhile, Kennedy

prepared a large force to invade Cuba.

• He also announced that any attack on the US or country in Western Hemisphere would be met with a direct attack on Cuba or the Soviet Union.

• The Two powers appeared to be headed for Nuclear War.

Nuclear War was a real possibility during the crisis

The Crisis Ends• The Crisis finally broke after two

weeks of tension, when Soviet ships decided to stop and not resist the US blockade.

• The 2 sides negotiated a settlement where the USSR would remove the missiles from Cuba and the US would promise to never invade Cuba in the future and remove some of its missile sites in Turkey (although this 2nd condition was not made public).

• Finally the crisis reached a peaceful end.

Negotiations at the UN and direct communication between President Kennedy and Khrushchev thankfully helped the Crisis end peacefully

Conclusion• The Cuban Missile crisis was the height of tensions

between the US and USSR, and the closest the war came to being a “hot” war.

• Sadly, President Kennedy was shot and killed the next year.

• The USSR viewed the crisis as an embarrassment and Khrushchev was replaced as the head of the Soviet Union a few months later.

• Still, the Cold War would continue for another 25 years.