Cold War Crises： Berlin vs Cuba Effects

Focus of the topic §

• Note: It is not the Berlin Wall Crisis, but the Blockade.

Background Info §

• Cold War Crises: Causes of Berlin vs Cuba

Body §

• Effect on Tensions
  • Berlin
    • Tensions in Europe decreased
    • However, Berlin remains tense
  • Cuba
    • Nuclear tensions decreased
    • Cuba remains a point of tension
• Effect on Course
  • Berlin
    • Formalization of East/West Blocs
      • NATO, etc.
    • Cold war focus shifted to Asia
  • Cuba
    • Leads to a period of détente
    • Castro intervention

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The following is unorganized:

• Impact (effect) similarities

  • 1/ Both brought the USA and USSR dangerously close to conflict, especially after the Vienna Summit (for Berlin) and after missiles were discovered (for Cuba).
  • 2/ Both ultimately led to an easing of tension – though the arms race continued and intensified.
    • Cuba:
      • Hotline, removal of nukes from Cuba and Turkey
      • Test-ban treaty 1963
      • Non-proliferation treaty 1968
      • However, revisionist historians
        • Hindsight records show that nuclear arms did not stop after treaties, even in détente
    • Berlin: Resolved “German Question”
  • 3/ The handling of both crises was criticized by other Communist countries.
    • Cuba and China, didn’t know
    • Embarrassment
  • 4/ It could be argued that the outcome of both crises was a failure for Khrushchev but a victory for Kennedy.
    • Berlin: Speech by Kennedy “Berliner”
  • 5/ However, in both crises Khrushchev had gained something
    • Berlin: The sealing of the escape route via West Berlin
    • Cuba: The dismantling of the missile bases in Turkey

• Impact differences

  • 1/ The Berlin Wall resolved the issue that had led to the crises – the USA was content to let the wall remain and there was no longer pressure on the USSR over the human exodus. Although the wall was embarrassing, the fact that Khrushchev was forced to remove missiles from Cuba was deeply humiliating. The USSR lost a lot of credibility as a result of the crises.
    • Exodus: Many people leaving
  • 2/ The issue of missiles in Cuba was more dangerous; having missiles only 90 miles off the coast of the USA was an even greater issue for America than the question of Berlin.
  • 3/ The Cuban Missile Crisis was far more damaging for the USSR in terms of its relationship with other Communist countries; the results were condemned by the PRC and led to a period of hostility and resentment from Castro’s Cuba.
  • 4/ Whereas the results of the Berlin Crisis led to the refocusing of superpower rivalry to other regions, the Cuban Missile Crisis led to a more tangible period of rapprochement as both sides wanted to prevent another crisis on this level. It led to the development of more direct lines of communication and it led to arms talks.

• Significance (effect of future relations) similarities

  • 1/ Both showed that the two sides were prepared to pull back from the brink to prevent a nuclear war.
    • “Brink” of brinkmanship

• Significance differences

  • 1/ The Berlin Wall removed the issue of Germany – as a source of conflict – from the Cold War, but Cuba remained an ongoing problem for America.
  • 2/ The Cuban Missile Crisis had a greater impact on the behavior of the two superpowers and ultimately helped lead to arms agreements and détente.
  • 3/ The Cuban Missile Crisis further developed the Sino-Soviet split

• Other possible points (to be classified later)

  • Berlin
    • NATO Established
      • End of Monroe Doctrine
      • West Germany initially did not join, but then admitted in 1954 -> Nuclear weapons in USSR Borders
      • -> Warsaw Pact 1955
      • = Militarily divided, not only politically, tension increased
  • Cuba
    • Affected Soviet Politics
      • Soviets seen as a loser in this crisis, Khrushchev deposed 2 years later due to perceived weakness over the crisis
      • Led to replacement by Brezhnev

Possible Essay Questions §

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