US seeks to maintain West Berlin as it is – did not want the Soviets to gain the upper hand – tense situation

Crisis – US begins to rearm, Soviets do to, Soviets increase defence budget by 33%

Shelepin argues and plans for mass covert actions against the States – plans to provoke mass uprisings, provoked by the KGB against Western governments – this would scare the US into compromising

In August 1961 however Kennedy argued for the building of a wall – and this finally occurs on August 13 1961, classic symbol of the cold war.

Status quo maintained – East and West gain nothing – but different spheres of influence accepted

Let’s look at one final crisis between 1953-63 which had an affect on Soviet-US relations. The Cuban Missile crisis of 1962. The crisis surrounded Kruschev’s decision to install nuclear missiles in Communist Cuba in April 1962 – people have said this was the one time that the world stood on the brink of nuclear war – In fact after this crisis you could say the US-Soviet relationship became one of peaceful coexistence – due to the worries over nuclear war

So why did Kruschev put the nuclear missiles on Cuba?

First of all Kruschev as had been seen in 1958 and 1961 in Berlin enjoyed taking risks – and he felt this was a good opportunity to put pressure on the Americans

Secondly Kruschev was irritated by US attempts to remove the Communist leader of Fidel Castro from Cuba. This was seen by the failure of a CIA supported invasion of Cuba in April 1961 – which has been called the Bay of Pigs invasion. Kruschev wanted the US to step off. Cuba was a crucial country for the Soviets as it had fallen to Communism – important propaganda coup, close to the States

Thirdly K was worried about the Soviets falling behind in the technological war – by putting nuclear weapons on Cuba he aimed to cover up for that fact by a show of Soviet might

Fourthly Kruschev was experiencing considerable domestic criticism for his failures in Berlin – he felt a show of strength would allow him to remain in power. Wanted to reform and needed something which would give him more support

Finally k felt that jfk was a weak president that could be bullied – this was proved by k by jfk’s weak reaction to the bay of pigs – he allowed it to fail

Once the missiles had been set up, the US discovered them on 16 October 1962, flurry of anger and fear on the side of the US

Immediately Kennedy set up an Exective committee to deal with the situation

Kennedy was adamant that he would not be perceived as weak as he had done during the Bay of Pigs fiasco

Initail ideas on how to react revolved around the idea of an airstrike – but not sure if it would be successful – also did the weapons have warheads (they turned out to – CGL)

Kennedy and the Executive committee eventually agreed to a provisional quarantine – even if members of the excom wanted to carry out an airstrike – this meant the US blocked ships from the Soviet Union heading for Cuba

Time of massive tension - the whole world afraid of nuclear war – K accuses JFK of banditry- but JFK has the initiative

Kruscheve writes JFK letters at this point aiming to deal with the situation – K says he will remove the weapons if the US removes nuclear missiles from Turkey

Jupiter deal – Kruschev eventually agrees to remove the weapons for the removal of Turkish weapons, no invasion of Cuba

JFK had called K’s bluff – US superior – but at the same time this brinkmanship very close to world war

Consequences – great worries over Hot war, the world feels peace more and more crucial, peaceful coexistence becomes crucial

Us realises it needs to accept the Soviets as a great power – stop aiming to bring it down – status quo and coexistence accepted

Moves towards disarmament - Moves towards disarmament – Test Ban Treaty 1963, Non proliferation treaty 1968, SALT 1 1972

At the same time But greater acquisition of nuclear weapons – despite acceptance of coexistence

Acceptance of Cuba - US accept Communism in their backyard