Cold War crises 1958–70
Three crises tested the post-1949 status quo: the Berlin Wall (1961), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), and the Prague Spring (1968).
Build-up — the arms race and the U-2 incident
Both superpowers raced to develop nuclear weapons. By 1958: USA had ~7,000 warheads, USSR ~600 (but USSR had ICBMs after 1957's Sputnik). Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) became the strategic logic.
U-2 incident (May 1960): USA spy plane shot down over USSR; pilot Gary Powers captured. Eisenhower initially denied; USSR produced wreckage + pilot. Paris Summit collapsed. Tension high.
Berlin Wall — August 1961
By 1961, ~3 million East Germans had fled to West Berlin (the only "leak" in the Iron Curtain) — most were skilled workers, draining the GDR economy.
13 August 1961: Overnight, East German troops sealed the border with barbed wire, then concrete blocks, eventually a 155-km wall.
Kennedy's response: "Ich bin ein Berliner" (1963) — symbolic, but US accepted the wall as a stable solution. Wall stood until 1989.
Significance: Cemented the division of Germany; ended the East-Berlin → West-Berlin escape route; reduced the chance of war over Berlin (paradoxically, by eliminating ambiguity).
Cuban Missile Crisis — October 1962
Background: Castro's communist revolution in Cuba (1959). USA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion (April 1961) failed. Castro turned to USSR for protection. Khrushchev placed nuclear missiles in Cuba — within range of US east coast.
13 days, October 16–28, 1962:
- 16 Oct: U-2 plane photographs missile sites
- 22 Oct: Kennedy announces naval "quarantine" of Cuba
- 24 Oct: Soviet ships approach quarantine line
- 26 Oct: Khrushchev's first letter offers withdrawal in exchange for non-invasion pledge
- 27 Oct: Tougher second letter demands US withdraw missiles from Turkey. US U-2 shot down over Cuba (Major Anderson killed)
- 28 Oct: Resolution — USSR removes Cuban missiles publicly; USA secretly removes Jupiter missiles from Turkey + pledges not to invade Cuba
Significance: Closest the world came to nuclear war. Both leaders publicly stayed firm; secret backchannels (RFK + Dobrynin) preserved both sides' face. Hot-line installed 1963; Test Ban Treaty 1963.
Prague Spring — January–August 1968
Background: Czechoslovakia under hardline communism. Alexander Dubček appointed First Secretary January 1968. Launched reforms: "socialism with a human face" — relaxed censorship, reduced secret police, multi-candidate elections.
Soviet response: Brezhnev viewed it as an existential threat to bloc cohesion. After failed negotiations:
21 August 1968: 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia. Dubček arrested, taken to Moscow, forced to reverse reforms. Replaced by Husák.
Brezhnev Doctrine (declared November 1968): USSR reserved the right to intervene in any socialist country whose policies endangered "the common interests of socialism".
Significance: Demonstrated the limits of reform within the Soviet bloc. The doctrine remained in force until Gorbachev abandoned it (1989).
⚠Common mistakes
- Saying the Wall started the crisis — it actually stabilised the Berlin situation.
- Cuban Missile Crisis dates — the 13 days are 16–28 Oct 1962. Easy to fudge.
- Forgetting the Turkey deal — US Jupiter missiles were withdrawn secretly. Often missed by candidates.
- Calling the Brezhnev Doctrine offensive — it was framed by USSR as defensive of "socialist gains".
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-edexcel-history