GCSE History > Berlin Crisis

In March 1948 the Russians began to regulate traffic on the road to Berlin in their section of
Germany. Train departures from Berlin were stopped and in June all traffic was stopped.

Why Russia did this:

 Berlin was deep inside the Russian zone and only 100 miles from the Polish border.
 In January 1947, U.S.A. and Great Britain had joined their zones into one economical
unit and France joined in 1948. A new currency, the Deutsche Mark, was introduced
in the western zones in June 1948. These movements made Russia feel isolated since
it wasn’t included in any of the discussions.
 Russia felt threatened by the economic prosperity in the westerns zones so it looked as
if Communism was failing.

GCSE History > Berlin Crisis - Effects on Germany

Berlin was completely cut off from the western zones except through the three "air corridors"
(direct flight roots from Hamburg, Hanover and Frankfurt) which Russia could only shut by
shooting down the planes.

The west faced some hard decisions. The options were:

 To give in to Russia
 To force access to Berlin along the road with tanks
 To use the three air corridors in a costly and difficult airlift

To give in would be a political climb-down and Russia could celebrate a victory, forcing
access could risk war so the airlift was decided.

The airlift (codenamed operation "Vittles") delivered 4500 tonnes of supplies each day.
Planes landed every 30 seconds and if a plane missed its slot if would have to return. There
were also accidents in which 70 allied airmen in total died.

The End of the Blockade

This came when Russia suddenly lifted the restrictions in May 1949. Russia accepted it could
not keep the west out of Berlin and the event had given Russia a poor image throughout the
world. Russia had also developed an atom bomb so felt at less of a military disadvantage than
it had before.

GCSE History > Berlin Crisis - Long Term Effects

One of the long term effects was that NATO was formed. The west was now very worried
about Russian threats. In March 1948 the Brussels treaty was signed between many allied
countries, the principal it was based upon being that an attack on one country was an attack
on them all.
The formation of East and West Germany. The west sections became the Federal Republic of
Germany (FDR) with its capital in Bonn. The Russian section became the Democratic
German Republic (DDR). There were now two Germanys

The western section was re-militarised when in 1955 the west got round the Potsdam treaty
by raising an army through the Western European Union which was under the control of
NATO.

Summary

The Cold War between communist and non-communist countries had begun in Europe. In
1946 Churchill said that an "iron curtain" had descended across Europe from "Stettin in the
Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic".

GCSE History > Cuban Missile Crisis

Relations between USA and USSR were bad and had been worsened by the U2 incident in
May 1960. Cuba was an island only 90 miles from the coast of Florida and in the Military
base at Guantanamo within it had been leased by USA to USSR for 99 years.

In the 1930s Cuba had been under the rule of the military dictator Batista. He was supported
by the USA and allowed American Businessmen to make huge profits from plantations and
business in Cuba. There was a huge different between rich and poor and most Cubans lived in
poverty. Under Batista Cuba became bankrupt.

In 1958, after a fairly lengthy conflict, Fidel Castro overthrew Batiste’s government and on
1st January 1959 formed a new government with himself as ruler. Castro wished to free Cuba
from American influence. He began to nationalise American industries in Cuba and
approached communist countries for money. The USA broke off any relations with Cuba and
refused to buy anymore sugar, Cuba’s main export.

The only country willing to help Castro was Russia. It bought the sugar crop and supplied the
island with oil. Castro’s views now became more communist and Cuba fell under soviet
influence.

GCSE History > Cuban Missile Crisis - Order of Events

22nd October
Kennedy announced his course of action (to employ a naval blockade) on national television.

25th October
25 ships en route to Cuba from Russia turned round before they reached Cuba, pulling back
from direct conflict.

26th October
Kennedy received a letter from Khrushchev offering to remove the missiles from Cuba in
exchange for the promise that USA would invade Cuba.
27th October
Before Kennedy could reply to the first, a second letter from Khrushchev was received
demanding that USA removed their missiles from Turkey. Kennedy refused to remove the
American missiles in Turkey because he felt a deal over the missiles would damage
American prestige. Instead he replied to the first letter promising to lift the naval blockade
and not invade Cuba as long as all the missiles in Cuba were removed and none more
installed there. The president's brother informed the Russian ambassador (evening of 27th
October) that the president had considered removing the missiles from Turkey for some time.

28th October
In a reply to the reply from Kennedy to the first letter, Khrushchev acknowledged that the
conflict was endangering world peace and agreed to have the missiles removed.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was now over and the missile sites had been flattened. However,
one query remained. Did Kennedy make some secret concessions with Khrushchev, as about
3-4 months after the conflict; the USA removed its missiles from Turkey and Italy.

GCSE History > U2 Incident

The events leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis are outlined below and occurred around
May in 1960.

The USA military flew planes over Russia to gain aerial pictures of what was going on and
was confident that Russia didn’t have missiles good enough to shoot down the U2 aerial
reconnaissance planes which flew at 30,000 feet above the ground. The USA always denied
the existence of these flights but they had underestimated Russia and on 1st May 1960 a pilot
named Gary Powers was shot done by a Russian SAM (surface to air missile).

Immediately the USA realised that the plane had been lost they began a cover up campaign.
At this time, however, America didn’t know that Gary Powers was alive and had been
captured by Russia. To help save the Paris Summit meeting, America said that the plane had
been lost studying weather conditions over Turkey.

Gary Powers and the distinctive remains of his plane were put on display in Moscow and as
an added embarrassment to America, on 7th May Khrushchev announced that Gary powers
had been captured and demanded for both the flights to stop and a public apology from
America to Russia to be made.

Gary Powers served a 17 month prison sentence but was exchanged for a soviet spy
imprisoned in America.

GCSE History > Bay of Pigs

In 1961 Kennedy became president and carried on Eisenhower’s scheme to invade Cuba. In
April 1961, 1900 Cubans who had been supporters of Batista came ashore at the Bay of Pigs
supported by "Douglas Invader" bombers. Castro’s jets shot these down and after three days
the invasion force surrendered.
After this Castro sought aid from Russia, who sent ships, and Kennedy ordered constant air
surveillance of Cuba, revealing that "intermediate range Ballistic Missiles" (I.R.B.M.s) had
been installed in Cuba. If nuclear war-heads were present, every city within 2,500 miles was
in danger. On 22nd October a quarantine or "blockade" was imposed on Cuba.

GCSE History > Cuban Missile Crisis - Kennedy's Options

1. Do Nothing - Leave the missiles as they were. This would be unpopular amongst
Americans.

2. An air strike - this would lead to war with Cuba and possibly with Russia with no
assurance that the missiles would be destroyed.

3. Invade Cuba - This could lead to Russia invading West Berlin.

4. Attack Cuba and Russia with nuclear weapons.

5. Blockade Cuba - No Russian ships would be allowed access to Cuba. This was Kennedy's
decision.

GCSE History > Korean War

Korea had been part of Japan’s empire since 1910 and after Japan’s surrender at the end of
the Second World War (1945), Russia entered North Korea and USA entered South Korea as
a temporary occupation. The occupying forces, however, could not agree on a unified
government acceptable to both sides. In 1947, therefore, the UN sent over a commission to
try to reach a settlement but with no success.

Elections then commenced in 1948 when Syngman Rhee became president of South Korea
after winning an election supervised by the UN, and the People’s Democratic Republic was
set up in North Korea by the Russians, headed by a communist government under Kim Il
Sung. Soon after this, the Russians and Americans withdrew their forces.

GCSE History > Korean War - Order of Events

The Start of the Korean War

In 1949, China became communist and a disagreement over which of the four (five before
China left) permanent members (GB, France, USA and Russia) should occupy China’s seat
broke out. Russia was very annoyed by this disagreement and subsequently left the Security
Council. It thought, quite rightly, that the seat should be occupied by the communists under
Mao Tse-Tung although the west said that the seat should be occupied by the nationalists
whose leader was Chiang Kai-Shek.

Events of the Korean War

The war started on 25th June 1950 when North Korea invaded the south. Both sides claimed
the whole of Korea and Russian tanks and aircraft supported the invasion by the north. On
26th June, the UN ordered the north to withdraw and the next day asked member countries to
send aid to South Korea.

Aid arrived just as North Korea was threatening Pusan in the south (in August). General
MacArthur ordered the successful Inchon Landings on 15th September of that year and soon
the UN captures Seoul and reached the 38th parallel. The north then retreated back into North
Korea.

A turn around came when the U.N. troops advanced towards the Yalu River. In October
200,000 Chinese "volunteers" forced the UN back into the South but although it looked as if
the communists would win the war, UN counter attacks drove them back to roughly the 38th
parallel.

General MacArthur was replaced with General Ridgeway after MacArthur openly talked
openly about using nuclear weapons and invading China. He was sacked by President
Truman who also feared that MacArthur would invade China.

GCSE History > Korean War - After the Conflict

The first peace talks started in Kaesong in June 1951 but nothing came from this and fighting
continued through the winter and a limited war continued until July 1953. The election of
Eisenhower in October 1952 and the death of Stalin in March 1953 opened the way for a
settlement. Rhee still wanted re-unification of Korea and Sung wanted all his prisoners of war
back. In July 1953 an agreement was reached for a ceasefire along the 38th parallel but no
treaty was ever signed. They were back to square one.

The North could have won the conflict had the Russian delegate used their veto (power to
overthrow) and not called for the aid of the 16 member countries of the UN. China initially
entered the war because it wanted North Korea as a "buffer" state between itself and America
and because it was afraid that MacArthur would invade China.

Some consequences of the war:

 Relations between China and the U.S.A. remained bad until mid 1970s.
 SEATO (South Atlantic Treaty Organisation) was founded
 Relations between U.S.A. and Russia improved (The Thaw 1953 - 1959)
 Korea was still divided (200,000 dead and 5 million homeless)