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Cold War Conflicts and Confrontations

1961 – The Berlin Wall

  • The western zones of Germany were joined in 1949, forming the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the Soviets created the German Democratic Republic (GDR)
    • Berlin was also divided between East and West
  • Citizens of the GDR resented the corruption and lack of freedom, living in fear of the Stasi
  • The standard of living was extremely low in East Germany compared to the West; this contrast was emphasised in Berlin
  • East Germans would go into East Berlin, pass through to West Berlin and from there they were able to take a train into West Germany
    • This was propaganda for the USA that Khrushchev needed to stop
  • Khrushchev thought Kennedy was weak after his failure, so he called on him to remove US troops from Berlin, but Kennedy refused
    • The two met in Vienna in July where Khrushchev repeated his demands
    • Kennedy did not only refuse again, he ordered 150 000 US reservist troops to be called up for action to Germany and he increased funding to the US armed forces
  • Khrushchev accused Kennedy of provoking conflict, claiming that the USA was using Berlin as a base for spies; both countries were likely to have been doing so
  • Through the day and night of 13 August, East German soldiers and workmen erected a barbed-wire fence all along the border between East and West Berlin
    • All crossing points from East to West were sealed, except for one which became known as Checkpoint Charlie
    • Officially, Khrushchev claimed that the wall was built to protect the East from US spies and agents
    • Actually, the wall was built to stop people leaving the East for the West
  • West Berliners feared Soviet invasion and US withdrawal
    • On 17 August, the people of West Berlin staged a massive demonstration calling for Kennedy not to withdraw US troops
    • Kennedy sent 1500 more troops
  • Over the following weeks, the East continued to strengthen and extend the wall
  • According to agreements made at the end of WWII, the USA were allowed to cross into East Berlin; which they did see how the Soviets would react
  • On 27 October, Soviet tanks pulled up at Checkpoint Charlie and refused to allow any further access to the East
    • After an 18-hour standoff between US and Soviet tanks, they slowly drew back
  • Khrushchev ordered GDR leader, Ulbricht to avoid any actions that would increase tension
  • Kennedy said ‘a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war’
  • The wall stayed and became a symbol of division – of Berlin, Germany and Europe
  • Both leaders presented their behaviour positively
    • Kennedy stood up to Khrushchev and he made good propaganda use of the wall
    • Khrushchev demonstrated that Kennedy could not stop him building the wall and presented the wall as a protective shell around East Berlin

1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis

  • Until 1959, Cuba was considered a US colony and was its ‘backyard’
  • Cuba was ruled by General Batista who was corrupt and unpopular but had the USA’s support because he was fiercely anti-communist
  • In 1959, Batista was overthrown in a revolution led by Fidel Castro
    • Thousands fled to the USA; they pressured Eisenhower to help oust Castro
    • Eisenhower ordered the CIA to investigate ways to overthrow Castro
    • The USA refused to trade with Cuba and began a propaganda campaign against Castro and his regime
  • Castro feared a US invasion, so he asked the USSR for help; Khrushchev agreed to a $100 million package of economic aid and he sent military equipment and advisors to Cuba
  • In April 1961, the newly elected President Kennedy authorised a CIA-backed plan to help 1400 Cuban exiles land in the Bay of Pigs and overthrow Castro
    • The plan was a disaster and a humiliating defeat for Kennedy
    • Castro’s hold on Cuba was tightened and Khrushchev’s actions became justifiable
  • In May 1962, the Soviet Union publicly announced that it was supplying Cuba with arms
    • By September, Cuba had thousands of Soviet missiles, patrol boats, tanks, radar equipment, aircraft and Soviet technicians to maintain the weapons
    • America was left wondering whether there were nuclear weapons in Cuba, so Kennedy warned Khrushchev that he would take serious action if this happened, but Khrushchev assured Kennedy that he had no intention of doing so
  • On 14 October 1962, a US U2 spy plane flew over Cuba and took images showing the presence of nuclear missile sites
    • Spy planes also reported 29 Soviet ships on their way to Cuba with missiles
  • Khrushchev’s placement of nuclear weapons inside of Cuba was unprecedented and unusual
    • Khrushchev wanted to use them as a bargaining tool
      • He could agree to remove them for some concessions
      • The USA had missiles in Turkey and Iran, so he could do a deal on those
      • He could make a deal over Berlin
    • Khrushchev wanted to close the missile gap
      • The USA had far more nuclear weapons than the USSR which concerned Khrushchev so with missiles in Cuba the USA would be less likely to launch the first strike against the USSR
    • Khrushchev needed to protect Cuba
      • Cuba was the only communist state (unforcedly) in the Americas
      • Castro’s Cuba was good propaganda for the USSR
      • It also was potentially useful as a military base
    • Khrushchev wanted to test the strength of the USA
      • Khrushchev wanted to see if Kennedy would back down or step up
    • Khrushchev needed to strengthen his position in the USSR
      • He was not all powerful like Stalin was; he had critics within his party
      • His position would be strengthened by a success against the USA
  • Over a tense period in October 1962, various events unfolded
    • Kennedy formed a panel of expert advisors, called Ex-Comm
      • ‘Hawks’ advised they attack and ‘Doves’ advised to solve it diplomatically
    • Kennedy decided to blockade Cuba
      • US navy ships would stop Soviet ships 800km from the Cuban coast
      • The US army began assembling troops in Florida ready for an invasion of Cuba
    • Kennedy announced the blockade on US TV
      • He called on the USSR to withdraw its missiles
      • Khrushchev told his troops in Cuba to expect and resist an invasion
    • Kennedy received a letter from Khrushchev saying that Soviet ships would not observe the blockade, he did not admit to the presence of missiles in Cuba
  • On 24 October, the blockade began
    • The first missile-carrying ships, and a Soviet submarine, approached the blockade zone
    • Suddenly, at 10:32am, the 20 Soviet ships closest to the zone stopped or turned
  • US spy planes reported building work at the missile launch sites on Cuba
  • Kennedy received a long personal letter from Khrushchev claiming that the missiles on Cuba were purely defensive
    • This was the first time he admitted to the nuclear missiles
    • He indicated that they might withdraw the missiles if Kennedy promised not to invade Cuba – at that point over 120 000 US troops were assembled in Florida
  • Kennedy received a second letter from Khrushchev revising his proposals
    • He said he would remove the missiles from Cuba if the USA removed theirs from Turkey and promised not to invade Cuba
    • A US U2 plane was shot down over Cuba, increasing tensions
    • Kennedy replied to the first letter, saying that if the USSR did not remove the missiles, an attack would follow
  • Khrushchev replied to Kennedy and agreed to remove the missiles ‘in order to eliminate as rapidly as possible the conflict which endangers the cause of peace’
  • Internationally, people thought that the Cuban Missile Crisis was leading to a war
  • Both leaders could claim something from the crisis, although they both compromised
    • Khrushchev managed to keep communist Cuba with the promise that it would not be invaded, he also created tension between the USA and its allies
    • However, he had been forced to back down and the missile gap was never narrowed
    • Kennedy succeeded in making Khrushchev back down and standing up to the ‘Hawks’
    • However, he did not manage to oust Castro and he removed missiles from Turkey in secret
  • Castro was upset by the deal, but Cuba remained communist, highly armed and acted as a base for South American communists
  • A direct telephone ‘hotline’ between the White House and the Kremlin improved relations
  • In 1963, after realising they had been on the brink of nuclear war, they signed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which did not prevent weapon development but limited tests
    • The USSR remained technologically behind but still threatening
  • Later, they entered Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), agreeing not to build any more Intercontinental Baltic Missiles (ICBMs)
    • Perhaps this was only possible because the crisis created a willingness

1954-75 – The Vietnam War

  • Before WWII, Vietnam (Indochina) was ruled by France but during the war, Japan took over
  • The Viet Minh was a strong anti-Japanese resistance movement that emerged under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh
    • He was a nationalist communist and wanted freedom and independence
  • The Viet Minh declared Vietnam independent at the end of WWII, but the French tried to take it back
    • This led to a nine-year war, with the Viet Minh controlling the north and the French controlling the south
  • From 1949, Ho was supported by money, weapons and equipment from communist China
  • President Eisenhower followed the US policy of Containment and gave $500 million a year to the French war effort
  • The French could not win so they withdrew in 1954; a peace conference divided the country into North and South Vietnam along the 17th parallel, with elections scheduled to unify the country in 1956
  • The USA prevented the elections as they feared that it would result in Communist leadership so instead, they supported Ngo Dinh Diem who was fiercely anti-communist but unpopular
    • He was Christian and of landlord class, so he had contempt for the peasants and their Buddhist religion
    • He gave important roles to friends and family and prevented all elections
  • Diem was overthrown by his own army commanders in 1963, with Kennedy’s knowledge, but the government continued to be as unpopular, corrupt and backed by the USA
  • US governments were sure that China and the USSR were trying to spread communism to Asia
    • They used the policy of containment against the Domino Theory
    • War was also good for the weapon development businesses and the armed forces
  • By the early-1960s, South Vietnam was losing countryside land to the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (the Viet Cong) which was a communist-led rebel movement fighting to overthrow the South’s regime and supported by North Vietnam, China and the USSR
  • The USA supported South Vietnam’s efforts despite it remaining corrupt and inefficient
    • Kennedy sent advisers; his successor, Johnson continued to increase US involvement
    • Johnson launched Operation Rolling Thunder in February 1965 which was a massive campaign against North Vietnamese cities, factories, army bases and the Ho Chi Minh Trail
  • In March 1965, Johnson sent ground troops in and Nixon, his successor, withdrew them over a period of five years
  • As US troops, aircraft, tanks, vehicles and naval forces rolled into Vietnam, it seemed impossible for the Viet Cong to defeat them; but they did, humiliating the USA
  • The USA was propping up an unpopular regime
    • They were reluctant to get involved in the first place, and only did so because it was evident that the South Vietnamese would be unable to beat the Viet Cong
    • The American governments became obsessed with reputation and could not be seen to fall to communists
  • The Viet Cong was a formidable and committed enemy
    • Ho Chi Minh and his followers had fought more resourceful enemies
    • In early 1965, the Viet Cong were outnumbered and outgunned, but they knew how to defeat a stronger enemy
    • Guerrilla warfare was the use of small bands of soldiers with limited weapons who attacked isolated units of soldiers or officials and buildings before disappearing into the jungle, villages, or tunnels
      • They had no uniform so could be confused for peasants
      • They had no base camp or head quarters
      • US troops constantly feared an ambush or booby-traps
    • Civilian support was important to the Viet Cong; they were instructed to be polite to peasants however they could be ruthless to any opposition
      • The Viet Cong killed about 27 000 civilians between 1966-71
    • Supplies came to the Viet Cong from North Vietnam via the Ho Chi Minh Trail which was constantly bombed but was kept open by 40 000 workers
    • The commitment of the Viet Cong troops was unassailable, and it was key to their success; despite over 1 million casualties, troops were readily available, and resilient
  • US tactics were ineffective and sometimes counterproductive; despite their firepower, they could not find their targets
    • Bombing was one of the main tactics
      • The bombing disrupted arms supply but never closed the Ho Chi Minh trail
      • Huge numbers of civilians were killed, making the people hate the USA
    • Search and destroy was a tactic that involved US troops raiding villages and seeking out Viet Cong forces
      • The raids were chaotic and although many Viet Cong were killed, for every weapon captured, six Vietnamese were killed
      • The troops had to report back with body counts of Viet Cong killed
    • Chemical weapons were used by the USA
      • Agent Orange was a poisonous weed-killer designed to defoliate jungles where the Viet Cong hid
      • Napalm created a huge fireball that burned jungle, buildings and humans
    • The USA could not send its forces into North Vietnam or neighbouring Cambodia and Laos, which were sympathetic to the Viet Cong
      • The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong had a huge advantage as they could retreat to these countries, where they could reinforce their troops and replenish equipment and ammunition
  • The USA had increasingly inexperienced troops
    • In the early stages of the war, troops were professional soldiers; morale was high, and they performed well
    • As more man-power was needed, conscription was introduced, and many soldiers were not committed to the war efforts
    • The soldiers were young – the average age was 19 – and inexperienced
    • The fear and pressure caused by Viet Cong tactics took a physical and psychological toll
  • A stalemate was reached, in which the Viet Cong controlled the countryside and the USA controlled major towns and cities in their own bases because neither side could win the war
    • From March 1965 to the end of 1967, the US troops and South Vietnamese Army (SVA) fought a series of battles around the Vietnam border
      • In November 1965, in the La Dreng Valley, US forces killed 2000 enemy soldiers, with a loss of 300 of their own troops
      • They also fought the Viet Cong in the countryside and killed large numbers of them but could not defeat them
    • The Viet Cong and NVA could not drive out the Americans either
  • Until the end of 1967, Americans believed the war was going well, however, in January 1968, during the Tet new year holiday, Viet Cong fighters attacked over 100 cities and other military targets
    • US and SVA forces quickly retook the towns captured in the offensive and caused the Viet Cong around 10 000 losses, using lots of artillery and air power
    • The ancient city of Hue was virtually destroyed, and 116 000 civilians lost their homes in one of the fiercest battles
    • The event became known as the Tet Offensive and Americans started to wonder where the 50 000 US troops and $20billion a year were going
  • Until then, the media coverage of the war had been generally positive, but it changed and portrayed it as a pointless war that was not worth the time it would take to win
  • Reporting grew more critical and a turning point was in December 1969 when a magazine reported the My Lai massacre of March 1968
    • US forces had killed between 300-400 civilians of one village
      • Some were gunned down in the fields, others, piled into a ditch and shot
    • Originally, the troops and commanding officer had been praised for their actions which made matters worse
    • One soldier and a war photographer brought the incident to light and eventually one junior officer was held responsible
    • The massacre challenged the view that the US army were fighting a cause for good
  • After the Tet Offensive, worry continued to grow and the people did not support the war
    • The war was using valuable money that could be better used
    • The draft exposed social and racial inequality because young men could avoid the draft if they were going to study at college which wealthier men did
  • TV, radio and newspaper reports showed frightening and tragic images of what the US were contributing to and such casual violence shocked most Americans
  • Anti-war protests, led by students and civil rights campaigners, peaked during 1968-70
    • More than 100 demonstrations were held in the first half of 1968 alone
  • After the Tet Offensive, Johnson concluded that the war could not be won militarily, so explored the possibility of peace talks and announced he would not stand for re-election
  • In November 1968, Richard Nixon was elected president and from 1969 to 1973, he and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, worked to end US involvement in Vietnam
    • They began the process of ‘Vietnamisation’ – handing responsibility to the South Vietnamese forces and withdrawing US troops
    • In Paris, in January 1973, all parties signed a peace agreement
      • Nixon described it a ‘peace with no honour’
    • By the end of March, US forces had left Vietnam and within two years, South Vietnam had fallen to the communists
  • After 30 years of constant conflict, the communists won the struggle for Vietnam
  • The Vietnam War had devastating consequences for the USA; they had failed militarily, politically and ideologically
    • Even the USA’s military strength had not been able to stop the spread of communism
    • Not only did it fail to stop South Vietnam falling to communism, but by 1975, both Laos and Cambodia had communist governments as well
    • The campaign against communism was presented as a moral crusade, however, atrocities committed by the US soldiers, and the US of chemical weapons damaged its reputation
    • It was undemocratic that the USA prevented an election for fear of a communist win
  • US Congress had traditionally supported its presidents’ in foreign policy decisions, however, this changed after the war
    • Congress refused to allow US military aid to Cambodia in 1970
    • In 1973, Congress introduced the War Powers Act, limiting the ability of the president to go to war
  • The failures affected US policies to communist states
    • The USA attempted to improve relations with China by removing its block on China’s membership of the UN and the president visited China
    • The USA entered a period of détente with the USSR and in 1972, they agreed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) to reduce nuclear weapons
    • Leaders met at Helsinki, Finland, in 1975, to discuss borders and human rights
    • The USA was helped in this by various clashes between China and the USSR who had better relations with the USA than with each other
    • Americans became suspicious of involving troops in any war that could not be won quickly and convincingly; this attitude continued to affect US foreign policy

1979-89 – The Soviet War in Afghanistan

  • Afghanistan is an important country strategically; it sits on trade routes that are thousands of years old
    • In the nineteenth century, Britain and Russia both tried to control Afghanistan
    • In the twentieth century, the USA and the USSR both tried to increase their influence
  • In 1978, some pro-Soviet Afghan officers, led by Nur Mohammad Taraki, overthrew the existing ruler, establishing a communist government there
    • Wanting to modernise the country, reforms to land ownership and social changes
    • The policies were lesser accepted in the countryside than in cities where Islamic faith were stronger
    • Some powerful tribal war lords opposed Taraki and he reacted harshly, executing around 27 000 political prisoners
  • In 1979, in Iran, the shah (ruler) was overthrown by a militant Islamic group led by the Muslim cleric Ayatollah Khomeini
    • The USSR didn’t want radical Islamic views to spread to Afghanistan for fear it could then spread to the USSR
  • Khomeini gave support to the Afghan warlords who became known as the ‘mujahidin’
  • The USA helped the mujahidin against Taraki’s government in Afghanistan
    • Arms and funds were secretly channelled through Pakistan, even though US president had publicly criticised Pakistan for human rights abuses and other actions
  • By March 1979, the communist Afghan government was failing, so appealed to the USSR for help
    • The Politburo decided to send advisers, equipment, helicopter gunships and paratroopers disguised as technicians
  • The help had little effect and by September, the situation was critical; Soviet military commanders were opposed to sending troops into Afghanistan, fearing it would be similar to the USA’s role in Vietnam
    • Taraki died that month and the new Afghan leader, Hafizullah Amin, began to lose patience with the Soviets
    • KGB reports show that the Soviets feared Amin would ally with the USA, Pakistan and China to defeat his enemies
  • By December, Politburo leaders were pressurised; intervention was risky and not advised by the military but so was the prospect of Afghanistan becoming pro-USA or militant Islamic
  • On 12 December, Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, decided to invade and on 25 December, tanks rolled in to depose Amin and set up their own pro-Soviet government
  • President Carter reacted quickly and furiously to the Soviet invasion
    • He phoned Brezhnev on the hotline and warned that the invasion was a clear threat to world peace
    • He introduced trade sanctions, cancelling grain exports from the USA to the USSR
    • He channelled economic aid and military supplies to the mujahidin via Pakistan
    • He abandoned interest in the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II), beginning a massive increase in spending on weapons
    • He called for a boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games scheduled in Moscow
  • Afghanistan was a country of mountains and deserts, creating difficulty
    • It was difficult to move and supply a large army due to the lack of transport links
    • The countryside meant Afghan society was localised
    • Afghan people knew the land well
  • The USSR was extremely unpopular among Afghan people
    • The conservative, strictly Muslim, rural Afghan people disliked communism because it was an atheist ideology
    • Afghans disliked the communist government in Kabul for its modernising reforms
    • Afghans disliked Soviets because they were seen as an invading army of foreigners
    • The mujahidin could easily find recruits
  • Military factors also contributed to the USSR’s failure
    • Soviet tanks were vulnerable to attack on narrow roads in high mountain passes
    • The Soviets had overwhelming air power, but their targets were hard to locate
    • They couldn’t keep control of any territory for the lack of civilian co-operation
    • Soviet fear and frustration lead to atrocities against Afghans
  • Foreign support was given to the mujahidin, making them more powerful
    • The mujahidin had support from Saudi Arabia and from the USA
    • In 1981, the fiercely anti-communist president Ronald Reagan took over and sent money and weapons supplies to the mujahidin via Pakistan
    • Pakistan itself received military and economic aid
  • By the end of 1982, the Soviets had lost around 5000 troops and airmen so offered to withdraw if the USA and Saudi Arabia stopped supplying the mujahidin
  • Reagan refused, successfully weakening the USSR
    • Thousands of Soviet men were being killed
    • The mujahidin were supplied with US anti-aircraft missiles which could destroy Soviet helicopters
  • In 1986, new leader Mikhail Gorbachev emerged; he was a radical reformer and he was prepared to take actions unprecedented by Soviet leaders
    • He lightened restrictions on the media, so more accurate reports reached civilians
  • The government began receiving letters from the people calling for a withdrawal
  • Early in 1987, the USSR withdrew its forces; the war had been long and futile
    • 15 000 Soviet soldiers died
    • Around 55 000 Soviet soldiers were wounded
    • Cost approximately $20billion for the USSR
    • Over 1 million Afghans were killed
    • Around 5 million Afghans were displaced as refugees
  • The war also trained up a new group of fighters, such as Osama bin Laden
  • Afghanistan had a similar effect on the USSR as the Vietnam War had on the USA but other than the people’s loss of confidence in leaders, the USSR was also bankrupted
  • The war demonstrated the USA’s power, particularly under Reagan
  • It brought Gorbachev to the forefront of Soviet politics
    • He made it clear that the USSR would no longer be the military prop-up to communist regimes around the world
    • He also started cutting down the armed forces and scrapped many nuclear weapons
  • Gorbachev’s reforms changed the relationship between the USSR and the USSA, and it brought an abrupt and unexpected end to the Cold War in 1989

Outline the Berlin Crisis of 1961. [5]

Describe the main events of the Cuban crisis of 1962. [5]

Outline the impact of the Cuban Missile Crisis. [5]

Outline the actions of the USA in Vietnam in the period 1954-72. [5]

Outline the main events of the Soviet was in Afghanistan 1979-89. [5]

Outline the impact of the war in Afghanistan. [5]

Which was a more serious threat to world peace: The Berlin crisis of 1961 or the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962? [10]

In what ways were the Vietnam War and the war in Afghanistan similar? [10]

‘The US policy of containment was unsuccessful in the 1960s and 1970s.’ Explain how far you agree.