Paper 2: Question 3 Explain the Importance of for 8 (12 Minutes)

Paper 2: Question 3 Explain the importance of … for … [8](12 minutes)

Event / Important because … / A Turning Point because …
1
The Potsdam Conference 1945
/ Potsdam, in July-August 1945, was the third conference between “The Big Three”, and it had a noticeably different atmosphere. At Tehran in 1941, and even Yalta at the beginning of 1945, Germany still hadn’t been beaten, and a mood of compromise and cooperation existed, but the tension about the future was clear at Potsdam.
The leaders agreed to demilitarise Germany and divide it between four nations. However, Stalin was keen to take economic reparations, while Britain and America preferred to avoid the mistakes of Versailles in 1919. The different styles of both government and economics in divided Germany was very significant for the begining of the Cold War. They also wanted to end the war with Japan, and Truman told Stalin he had “a new weapon of special destructive force”, in which Stalin showed no interest (presumably because he already knew about it). Thus, atomic competition – another ingredient of the Cold War - began at Potsdam. /

• It led to the division of Germany – which was supposed to be temporary, and in fact lasted over forty years.
• It led to the USSR and the Western Allies carving out territory and putting their economic and political stamp on it.
• It led to the use of nuclear weapons in conflict – and threat of it for the future.

2
The Berlin Crisis 1948-49
/ Theblockade was a challenge from Stalin to the allied powers of the United States,Great Britain, and France. The blockade of all road and rail routes was very aggressive. Stalin believed that the Allies would not be interested in spending the enormous amounts of resources necessary to maintain their presence in West Berlin and would simply give up the city over to Soviet control.
The allies embarked on an enormous effort to supply the people of West Berlin with food and fuel by air. The Berlin Airlift became a symbol of how determined the Western powers were to hold on to both territory and their ideological message. The RAF and USAF won the “hearts and minds” of grateful German people and helped to establish the city of Berlin as the gateway between two worlds – the spot at which Superpowers held a forty-year-long blink contest. /

• Stalin tried to force the allies out of his section of Germany but lost.
• The people of West Germany, through this event and Marshall Aid, became firm friends with the West.
• It meant the West maintained a foothold in the Eastern Zone, which became a centre for spy networks and observation.
• It tempted East Germans to run away from the Soviet Zone, creating an ongoing political and economic headache for Stalin and his successor.
• NATO was formed.

3
The Hungarian Uprising 1956
/ The Warsaw Pact was signed in 1955, and was a military alliance, but was more importantly, an official means for the USSR to assert political control over these nations to defend the revolution. The Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 was the first trial run of what was later to become the Breshnev Doctrine. It also became the first test of the Truman Doctrine in Europe that came to actual shots fired. Some of the resistance were on the radio begging for UN/NATO intervention, as they could only hold out for a little longer. This was time for the US to decide if they would go to war to defend democracy. They didn't. Britain and France also chose empire in North Africa over fighting communism.
The Soviets broke a declared cease-fire when they crushed the revolution. There were mass arrests and refugees as well as reprisal killings. The Soviets appeared as the 'evil empire' and the idea that any of the satellite states had any true autonomy was firmly defeated.
It was clear the neither US nor the USSR wanted to fight a war in Europe. /

• It proved the power of the USSR over her Warsaw Pact so-called allies (puppet-states).
• It proved that the West was not willing to intervene in anti-communist uprisings in Eastern Europe (which might explain why no other state really tried until 1968 – and even then, they didn’t try very hard).
• It moved the “theatre of conflict” to Cuba, Angola, Indo-China to which the USA and the USSR gave support – but they were not going to invade each other’s European territory.

4
The Berlin Crisis 1959-61
/ On November 10, 1958, Khrushchev delivered a speechdemanding the US, Britain and France pull their forces out of West Berlin within six months. This ultimatum sparked a three-year crisis over the future of the city of Berlin that culminated in 1961 with the building of the Berlin Wall.
West Berlin was increasingly becoming a liability for the Soviet Union and the East German government. The divided city highlighted the sharp contrast between the communist and capitalist systems, and the freedom of movement between the sectors had resulted in a mass exodus from the eastern side.Kennedy called up 150,000 reservists, but onAugust 13, 1961, Berliners awoke to discover that on the orders of Walter Ulbricht, a wall had gone up overnight preventing movement between the two sides. /

• The Berlin Wall slowed the depopulation from East Germany from a flood to a trickle.
• There was a tense stand-off of Soviet and US tanks shortly afterwards, but again it did not come to shots.
• Kennedy gave a speech in which he spoke of his support for the divided families of Berlin, but privately, he believed the wall had saved both sides from having to fight about depopulation.
• The Berlin Wall became a symbol of the Cold War.

5
The Cuban Crisis 1961-62
/ Despite the communist revolution that expelled Batista from Cuba in the late 1950s, Castro had not wanted to annoy the USA at first. However, the Kennedys and McNamara, following the Truman Doctrine, didn’t want communists so nearby and began trade sanctions. A hopelessly-planned invasion of Cuba, designed in Eisenhower’s time, resulted in the Bay of Pigs fiasco of 1961. American actions pushed Castro into a closer alliance with Khrushchev, which continued after the nuclear missiles had been removed at the end of 1962.
Although the Cuban Missile Crisis of1962 was successfully de-fused using a mixture of naval blockade and negotiation, it remains the closest that the Superpowers ever came to outright nuclear war – thus it is very significant. It didn’t thaw relations between the sides, but rather made them cautious and fearful. /

• First time the Superpowers faced each other with nuclear weapons – Mutually Assured Destruction.
• It led to both sides removing missiles (from Cuba and Turkey), but the USA got to do so secretly, whilst the USSR had to host UN inspectors.
• A direct hotline – called “The Red ‘Phone” was set up so that leaders would never have to guess each other’s’ views again.
• Kennedy got to be a world hero, despite Khrushchev’s important compromises.
• Khrushchev was removed from leadership of the USSR by 1964.

6
The Czechoslovakian Uprising 1968
/ This was important because it confirmed the control the USSR still held over the Warsaw Pact states. The atmosphere of enthusiasm with sensible caution proved that lessons had been learned since Hungary, twelve years before. In January 1968 Alexander Dubček was elected as the First Secretary. The Prague Spring was an attempt to reform communism at a time when economic hardship was causing the Czechoslovakian people to criticise the system.In April, anti-Soviet articles were published in the news, and new political parties were established. Dubcek and new President Ludvik Svoboda were very popular, and at first Moscow seemed content to accept “Communism with a Human Face”.
Dubcek never intended to leave the Warsaw Pact. Nonetheless, Brezhnev invaded - people were told to keep themselves safe by not standing up to the troops. Brezhnev gave a famous speech, formalising the “Brezhnev Doctrine”. Many people took advantage of the Prague Spring to emigrate to the West, and the USSR controlled Czechoslovakia for another 20 years. /

• In some ways, not a turning point at all – the people rebelled for the same reasons as before and after, and the Soviet response was the same as before and after …
• It confirmed invasion as the Soviet policy, through the Brezhnev Doctrine, (quoted below) which was not repealed until Gorbachev in the mid-1980s.
• "When forces that are hostile to socialism try to turn the development of some socialist country towards capitalism, it becomes not only a problem of the country concerned, but a common problem and concern of all socialist countries."