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Berlin, Cuba and Czechoslovakia: tension and reaction, 1958 to 70

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Between 1958 and 1970 tension rose over Berlin, Cuba and Czechoslovakia. After coming close to nuclear war, the superpowers also took first steps to control nuclear weapons.

Rising tension

Berlin: millions of East Germans escaped to the West through Berlin. In 1958 Khrushchev issued the Berlin ultimatum, demanding Western troops leave within six months. Summits followed: Geneva (1959), Camp David (1959), Paris (1960, wrecked after a US U-2 spy plane was shot down) and Vienna (1961).
Cuba: Fidel Castro's revolution (1959) turned Cuba towards the USSR. In April 1961 the Bay of Pigs invasion by CIA-backed Cuban exiles failed, embarrassing Kennedy and pushing Castro closer to Moscow.

Czechoslovakia, 1968

In 1968 Alexander Dubcek began the Prague Spring: less censorship and more freedom, 'socialism with a human face'.
In August 1968 Warsaw Pact troops invaded and ended the reforms.
The Brezhnev Doctrine said the USSR would intervene in any Eastern bloc country where communism was threatened.
The West condemned the invasion but did not intervene. Some communist states, such as Romania and Yugoslavia, also criticised it.

Reaction to crisis

The Berlin Wall (1961) made Berlin less of a flashpoint. Kennedy visited West Berlin in 1963 to show US support.
After the Cuban Missile Crisis came the hotline (1963) and arms control:
Worked example

Explain one consequence of the Bay of Pigs incident (1961).

  1. The invasion failed and embarrassed Kennedy.
  2. Castro became convinced the USA would attack again.
  3. This pushed Cuba closer to the USSR, which led to Soviet missiles being placed on Cuba in 1962.

Answer: Cuba moved closer to the USSR, leading towards the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Key idea

Berlin refugees and the 1958 ultimatum; summits 1959 to 61; U-2 1960. Castro 1959; Bay of Pigs April 1961. Prague Spring 1968 (Dubcek); invasion August 1968; Brezhnev Doctrine. Kennedy in Berlin 1963. Hotline, Test Ban 1963, Outer Space 1967, Non-Proliferation 1968.

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