- Which of the following contributed more to the escalation of cold war between 1956 and 1962?
ii) Missile race
ii) The berlin wall
The missile race contributed more to the escalation of the cold war because it caused competition and vulnerability between the USSR and USA. Each side raced with anxiety and concern as they did not want to fail in keeping in pace for new weaponry. It was a way of defending themselves from each other and being superior. The missile race escalated the cold war because it brought insecurity and not security meaning that many soviet and Americans were anxious and often had homemade underground bomb shelters and drills in school. The secrecy surrounding the weapons lead to the sides thinking that the other was ahead. The results of the armed race were that the US was spending way more than USSR. USA was spending $50 billion whilst USSR was only spending $25 billion. The doubling of spending of USA shows how concerned the Americans were about the catching up of USSR. Another result of the missile race to the cold war was Tension because it increased worse due to the threat of nuclear annihilation. The tension contributed to the U2 Crisis 1960 and the Cuban Missile Crisis 1962. Despite being insecure of each other, neither side dared to risk conflict because of the weapons knowing how bad destruction would be.
The berlin wall construction led to huge tension which has contributed to the escalation of the cold war, as the US troops visibly teared down walls in front of the soviets. Whilst Kennedy was attempting to lessen the tension in a series of talks with soviet leaders, this made Adenauer fear that US would abandon West Berlin for the sake of US security. This resulted in West Berlin seeking to France to distance them from US control. Furthermore, this divided The North Atlantic Treaty. The wall had become a frightening symbol of the cold war’s division; tension and opposition remained till the end of the cold war. The berlin wall was set up to stop people from fleeing from the East to the West for family and better living conditions. The Berlin Wall meant to many people a loss in human rights and freedom. Some may argue that the Berlin Wall had encouraged nuclear testing from both sides because tensions grew suggesting that defence was necessary. The wall had become a symbol for communist tyranny in the west and this caused them to become more and more anti- communist. On the other hand, it may be argued that the wall did not escalate the cold war because the wall took pressure off the soviets to do something about fleeing East Germans. Another way it reduced the outcome of the cold war was that the wall had solved kicking out the US from West Germany.
In conclusion, the missile race contributed more to the cold war because if it were to take place, the outcome of it would have been worse than what the berlin wall could have caused. The competition in developing weapons suggests how close they were to the brink of war, which shows the anxiety and concern for security. It had also led to tension in the U2 Crisis and Cuban Missile Crisis. This shows the severity between both sides, that they’ve come to the point of creating weapons to compete that could cause utmost destruction.
- Assess the impact of Khrushchev leadership of the Soviet Union on the cold war in Europe between 1956 and 1962?
Khrushchev emerged as Stalin’s successor in 1956, when many had big hopes for him. However, he was a traditional communist and his aim was a peaceful competition. He impacted the Cuban missile crisis, where he placed missiles close to Florida, initiated De-Stalinisation that made it less repressive and approved the construction of the Berlin Wall.
On February 1956, Khrushchev gave a long speech that criticized Stalin for arresting and deporting opponents, for elevating himself above the party and for incompetent wartime leadership, and his many war crimes. He focuses on placing the failures of Russia solely on him. Originally this had ensured the progressive economic measures to co-exist with the west. To De- Stalinise, Khrushchev had ordered all cities named in Stalin’s honour to be renamed; an example is Stalingrad to Volgard. He had asked to decentralise the economy by loosening central economic controls, factory managers given greater freedom and the country was successful in testing the H-bomb. The economy had improved and became second the US and Khrushchev boasted about surpassing the US. In contrast, his speech encouraged protestors to take over the streets in Poland and Hungary. They saw desalinisation as an opportunity to break free from the soviet union but Khrushchev couldn’t let this happen because he believed that other eastern European countries may also break away leaving the soviets to lose its barrier against the capitalist west. This had led to many losses. Even though the Polish revolt was resolved peacefully, Hungarians revolt was violent with troops and tanks. A number of 2,500 Hungarians were killed and 13,000 were wounded. A lot fled to the west, others were arrested and deported. The result of the Hungarian Uprising impacted to cause further deterioration in relations between the USSR and USA.