Cold War (cold war crises)

Question 1

What was Khrushchev’s solution to the tensions that Berlin had created since 1945?

Answer 1

The Berlin Wall

Question 2

Why was the Berlin wall Built?

Answer 2

• The four summit meetings of 1959–61 had
  failed to resolve the problem in Berlin, and
  President Kennedy started to prepare the
  USA for nuclear war.
• Khrushchev could not risk nuclear war, so his solution was the Berlin wall

Question 3

What was the Berlin Wall designed to do?

Answer 3

• This was designed to prevent East Berliners travelling to West Berlin.
• In future, any East Berliner travelling to West Berlin would be shot.

Question 4

When was the Berlin Wall built?

Answer 4

August 1961

Question 5

How was the Berlin wall built?

Answer 5

On 12 August 1961, East German troops
erected a barbed wire fence around
West Berlin. The fence eventually became
a heavily guarded wall.

Question 6

By when had West Berlin been completely cut off from East Berlin?

Answer 6

By the end of October 1961

Question 7

How did the Berlin wall solve the crisis?

Answer 7

• The wall stopped East Germans from leaving to the West
• This way Khrushchev avoided war with the USA but still looked strong

Question 8

What was Cuba a solution for, for the Soviet Union?

Answer 8

The USA had missiles close to the Soviet Union (e.g. in the UK) but the Soviet Union had no missiles close to the USA

Question 9

Why did Cuba see soviet missiles being in their country as a great thing?

Answer 9

As it was a great way to prevent the USA from invading Cuba again

Question 10

What happened in September 1962?

Answer 10

In september 1962, Soviet ships carried nuclear warheads and missiles to Cuba.

Question 11

What happened in October 1962?

Answer 11

US spy planes photographed the Cuban missile sites and the secret was out.

Question 12

Why was their panic when the US public learned that there were Soviet missiles in Cuba?

Answer 12

As they were now in range of Soviet nuclear missiles

Question 13

What were the events in the ‘Thirteen days’

Answer 13

• Kennedy ordered a naval blockade and threatened retaliation if any missile was fired.
• The world was on the brink of nuclear war.
• Kennedy promised to remove US missiles from Turkey in return for the bases on Cuba being dismantled and
  the missiles (which were still on their way to Cuba) taken back to the USSR.
• Khrushchev removed the missiles and the crisis was over

Question 14

When did Khrushchev remove the missiles from Cuba?

Answer 14

28th October 1962

Question 15

What were the outcomes of the missiles being remove from Cuba?

Answer 15

• Kennedy became the Hero of the Western World, as the public did not know that he had secretly agreed to remove US missiles from Turkey
• The Molink, which is a telephone line was set up between Moscow and Washington

Question 16

Why was the Molink set up?

Answer 16

So that the leaders could speak directly. This was to try and head off any future crises before they became serious.

Question 17

Why was the Nuclear Test ban treaty signed?

Answer 17

As the two powers realised how close they had come to nuclear war

Question 18

When was the Nuclear Test ban treaty signed?

Answer 18

In 1963

Question 19

What did Brezhnev do about Dubcek’s reforms?

Answer 19

Brezhnev could not accept Dubček’s reforms and the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968.

Question 20

Why could Brezhnev not allow the reforms made by Dubcek?

Answer 20

As any weakness in control could mean
the break-up of the Warsaw Pact

Question 21

What happened during the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia?

Answer 21

• Dubcek was arrested and his reforms were removed
• Czechoslovakia returned to being under
  strict Soviet control under Gustav Husak.

Question 22

What was the Brezhnev doctrine?

Answer 22

A soviet foreign policy that stated that the Soviet Union had the right to invade any Eastern bloc country that was threatening the security of the Eastern bloc as a whole.

Question 23

Why was the Brezhnev doctrine created?

Answer 23

As a response to the Prague spring

Question 24

What were the consequences of the Brezhnev Doctrine?

Answer 24

• The USA condemned the invasion but did nothing to stop it, it feared war
• Western European communist parties were horrified and declared themselves independent from the Soviet Communist Party.

Question 25

Why was the Prague Spring important?

Answer 25

The Prague Spring had proved that the Soviet Union was not willing to even contemplate any member of the Warsaw Pact leaving it.

Question 26

What was the importance of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia?

Answer 26

It meant that other East European states, such as Poland or Hungary, were required to rigidly stick to Soviet-style communism or risk invasion themselves.