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USA Operation Castle Bravo H-bomb
Detonated at Bikini Atoll; 15 megatons -
Austrian State Treaty
Four occupying powers agreed to withdraw all influence and declare Austria a neutral state, similar to the USSR willingness to let Finland and Yugoslavia be neutral Showed a sense of serious mutual cooperation between the Cold War powers => Western powers removed occupation forces from W.Germany and consolidated the essence of peaceful co-existence -
Geneva Summit
'Open Skies' (E) => details of military installations and to allow aerial reconnaissance or on-site inspections => rejected by K Germany's future – E: reunified Germany with free elections and ability to ensure it won security (join NATO), K: reunified, demilitarised, neutral Germany, refused to discuss Eastern Bloc states Agreement on the principle of free elections, but nothing made this progress reality -
USSR airborne H-bomb testing
Detonated at Semipalatinsk test site; 1.6 megatons -
Nuclear weapons from 1956-64
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Ho Chi Minh consolidates control of N.Vietnam
- no national elections in 1956
- strong communist N.V. to reunify Vietnam
- Vietnam Workers' Party seize private land and redistribute it
- thousands executed and more imprisoned in labour camps
- 1956: military puts down a revolt, killing 6,000 people
- AUG 1956: Ho Chi Minh issues apology for clumsy execution of land reform
- one million refugees fled to the south
- agricultural production had increased
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Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam
- Refused to hold national elections in 1956 (supported by Eisenhower)
- Diem was corrupt and nepotistic – brother Ngo Dinh Nhu was PM and large amounts of US economic aid was taken by Diem and his family
- Diem focused on repressing opponents and Buddhists, fuelling anti-Diem sentiment
- Policies were divisive – John Foster Dulles said that the USA picked Diem because "we knew of no one better", but Eisenhower called him the "miracle man" of Asia in 1957, when Diem visited the USA
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20th Congress of the Communist Party
14th - 25th February 1956
Khrushchev abandons conventional Marxist-Leninist view that the war between communism and capitalism was inevitable, as he believed that communism would win without war. Communist states should concentrate resources on internal improvements and progress instead of focusing on an ideological battle with the West -
'Secret Speech'
During 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (14-25 Feb) Khruschev delivering a speech which reported Stalin's crimes ("Enemy of the people, murderer, butcher, perverter of history, deviationist, Titoist") – circulated in E.Europe and reached US in June => uprisings in Poland and Hungary occurred shortly after -
Period: to
Polish uprising
28 June: 100,000 people in the Poznan region go on strike
29 June: over 10,000 troops from Soviet regiments from other regions are brought in
30 June: 50+ people had been killed and 700+ arrested
October – Gomulka = First Secretary of Polish United Workers' Party => Khrushchev threatens Gomulka with military intervention
21 October – Gomulka didn't plan to abandon the USSR, and Soviet troops were ordered to stand down
Poland remains within the Warsaw Pact -
Period: to
Hungarian Uprising
22 OCT – students in Budapest demonstrate and list 16 demands, including the appointment of Imre Nagy as PM of Hungary, withdrawal of Soviet troops, free speech and free press, and multi-party elections
When police shoot, workers join the students
24 OCT - Nagy appointed PM
28 OCT – Khrushchev agrees to withdraw troops from Hungary => largely due to Chinese pressure
1 NOV – Nagy says Hungary had left WP and declared neutrality
3 NOV – 15 Red Army divisions + 4k tanks invade -
Bermuda Conference 21-23 March
Allows USA to place IRBMs in Britain -
USSR first ICBM test
R-7; 6000km range -
Sputnik I launch
World's first satellite -
Sputnik II sent with Laika
First dog to orbit the Earth -
Gaither Report to Eisenhower
Missile gap between the USA and USSR
Predicted 100 to 30 lead for USSR in ICBMs
Many were led to believe that the USA was becoming a second class power
Eisenhower put his faith in U-2 spy planes > Gaither report U-2s suggested slower rate of WMD production by USSR than Gaither Report – Gaither had been based on inadequate evidence -
Flopnik
USA launched their first satellite called Vanguard but it crashed ('Flopnik') -
NATO Final Communique 16-19 December
NATO will stock nuclear warheads in Europe -
USA announces $1bn funding to space program (SEPT)
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Explorer I launch
First successful US satellite successfully reached orbit -
Khrushchev becomes USSR's PM
Factors that affected his decisions:
- Soviet space program dominates US
- W.Germany being a part of NATO could give it WMDs and become a threat
- USSR's hold on E.Europe countries is fragile
- No significant restrictions on GDR citizens fleeing to FRG, which undermined GDR's economy
- West hadn't recognised the GDR -
USSR issue 6-month ultimatum to the West
West withdraw troops from West Berlin and Berlin becomes a 'free city' West negotiates for an acceptable end to the German problem or the USSR signs a treaty with the GDR – this would threaten access to West Berlin and GDR would control access to W.Berlin This would render the Hallstein Doctrine irrelevant (SEPT 1955: if any state recognises GDR, W.Germany would end diplomatic relations with it) -
Formation of the NLF
Against Diem's quasi-imperialist policies
Promote nationalism and reunification of Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh as the "spiritual father" of the movement due to his involvement in the Viet Minh
10 point programme focused more on nationalist aims than ideological goals
Appealing to students, intellectuals, middle class, and rural working class
Ho Chi Minh trail provided equipment and personnel -
West rejects the ultimatum despite desires to reduce tension
February 2, 1959 – GBR PM Harold Macmillan visits Moscow
September 1959 – Khrushchev invited to talks with Eisenhower
FRG is alarmed and Adenauer fears an American betrayal -
Luna III launch
First satellite to successfully orbit the moon -
Paris Summit
Khrushchev becomes first Soviet leader to visit the US, participated in Camp David talks with Eisenhower in SEP 1959 – discussed disarmament and the situation in Berlin, also to solve issues through diplomacy => led to Paris Summit Khrushchev faced opposition from the Chinese and Soviet elite for his plans of peaceful coexistence The summit collapsed when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down on 1 May 1960 -
Vostok I launch
First manned spaceflight to orbit Earth
The name of the cosmonaut was Yuri Gagarin
The flight lasted 108 minutes -
Bay of Pigs invasion
JFK inherited it from Eisenhower
Planned to use 1500 anti-Castro exiles to lead a military coup and Kennedy agreed to land the troops at the Bay of Pigs
Profound humiliation for the US and proved Cuban and Soviet fears about US intentions
Consolidated Castro's rule and protected his country against American imperialism -
Kennedy and Khrushchev in Vienna
KE took office in January 1961
KH believed he could manipulate the young and politically vulnerable leader
After Vienna, KE asked to increase defence budget spending, recall reservists and reactivate ships about to be scrapped -
Berlin Wall begins construction
1953-1961: over 460,000 GDR citizens migrated to the West, many of them being skilled workers
Walter Ulbricht, GDR Chancellor, convinced Khrushchev to act
Aug. 13 – work begins to physically seal off W.Berlin => fences replaced with concrete and perimeter defences Only 4 recognised crossing points -
Taylor and Roscow's report to Kennedy on Vietnam
Recommendations:
- increase in helicopter force for counterinsurgency
- greater training support for the S.Vietnamese Army
- increase in US combat forces in S.Vietnam (sending up to 10,000)
- strategic bombing of N.Vietnam Reaction:
Kennedy prioritised counterinsurgency forces rather than sending ground troops, but recognised the importance of strengthening the S.Vietnamese Army -
US OP Mongoose
Nov. 30 1961 – Kennedy authorises Operation Mongoose using covert ops to undermine Castro (OPLANs 312 and 314 - air strike plan and land invasion plan) -
Period: to
US policy towards Cuba
Nov. 30 1961 – Kennedy authorises Operation Mongoose using covert ops to undermine Castro (OPLANs 312 and 314 - air strike plan and land invasion plan)
Mar. 1962 – US Operation Quick Kick (show of military might) began in the Caribbean -
USSR gives Cuba WMDs
Soviets gave fighter planes, bombers, and 14,000 troops
WMDs were short- and medium- range (1100-2800km from launch site)
Khrushchev thought this would help solve the WMD imbalance between the USA and USSR, reduce spending on conventional forces and increase spending on the Soviet civilian economy -
Period: to
Strategic Hamlet Program
Create armed stockades to house S.Vietnamese rural peasants to isolate them from the Vietcong
Government officials were corrupt with US aid => many peasants actually recruited into the NLF
SEP 1962 – Diem claims that 4 million people are in hamlets
End of 1962 – 3,000+ hamlets
Failure due to the inability to distinguish Vietcong agents from the hamlets, and alienation of the people -
U-2 spy plane discovers Cuban missiles
R-12 missile site at San Cristobal -
Period: to
Cuban Missile Crisis
Oct 16 – McGeorge Bundy informs Kennedy; Kennedy goes to ExComm; 'hawks' vs 'doves'; Kennedy opts for a naval blockade
Oct 17 – UNSC meets; Khrushchev called the blockade "an act of aggression"
Oct 24 – First Soviet ships to reach the quarantine zone are turned around
Oct 26 – If the US makes a non-invasion pledge, the USSR will remove WMDs
Oct 27 - Second telegram asked for the USA to remove Jupiter missiles from Turkey
Oct 28 – Khrushchev agrees to remove the missiles and secretly removes WMDs -
Buddhist Crisis
May 1963 – Buddhists banned from flying their flags of honour on Buddha's birthday
June 11, 1963 – Quang Doc self-immolation against Diem
August, 1963 – Nhu organised renewed assault on Buddhists Pressured Roger Hilsman, the head of the State Department's Far Eastern Bureau, to send a telegram to Henry Cabot Lodge, US ambassador to S.Vietnam, to look for alternative leadership of S.Vietnam => approved by Kennedy -
First woman in space - Valentina Tereshkova
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US-Moscow Hot Line set up
Between White House and Kremlin
Not used until 1967 in Six Day War -
Kennedy "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech
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Moscow Test Ban Treaty
Khrushchev had been proposing nuclear test bans since Oct. 30th 1962
Treaty banned the testing of WMDs in the atmosphere, space, or underwater
Didn't include underground tests
USA stopped insisting on on-site inspections for underground tests => trust in USSR
Major contributing factor to the détente in the 1960s
Signed by UK, USSR, USA
Rejected by FRA and China -
US policy to Diem
August 29, 1963 – Lodge said the conflict in Vietnam could be resolved satisfactorily with Diem in office => Kennedy was cautious of removing a sovereign state's elected leader
September, 1963 – Kennedy sends Robet McNamara and General Taylor to Vietnam but Diem wouldn't stop repressing Buddhists
Reinforced idea that the war couldn’t be won with Diem leading S.Vietnam
Encouraged dissident general in S.Vietnam to plan a military coup against Diem => extent of Kennedy's involvement is unknown -
Overthrowal of Diem
Nov 1: Military coup against Diem and regime
Nov 2: Diem and Nhu assassinated
Nov 6: Lodge says coup was entirely Vietnamese affair but acknowledged that it wouldn’t have been initiated without the USA