The Study of Berlin Blockade and Cuban missile Crisis

553 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Invasion of stalingrad

The Study of Berlin Blockade and Cuban missile Crisis

The USSR never wanted a well-built Germany. They had been invaded

twice by Germany, and the thought of building up her strength alarmed

the Soviets.

When the Deutschmark was introduced as legal tender throughout Western

Germany and Western Berlin, the Soviets drew the line. The USSR cut

off all road and rail routes that led to allied controlled sectors of

Berlin. The allies were unsure as to how to respond to this. If they

left West Berlin, the Soviets would invade without doubt. They had to

decide carefully, having just come out of a world war, they had no

intention of dragging themselves into a serious situation. There was a

tiny air corridor that led from the Western sectors of Germany, into

the heart of Western Berlin. The allies decided to use this air

corridor to transport rations by plane. This was risky for both sides;

the allies could not determine the USSR’s response. However, the only

way for the Soviets to stop this transportation of food was to shoot

the plane down. As the air corridor was not restricted air space, this

would be an act of war. Whether the Soviets wanted war or not, was

uncertain.

The airlift operation was called “Operation Vittles.” Massive ten ton

capacity C-54s began to supply the 2,500,000 civilians in western

Berlin with food. Soon enough, planes were flying into Berlin every 3

minutes delivering 5,000 tons of food, a day! In May 1949, Stalin had

little choice but to lift the blockade.

However shocking this may seem, I think personally, it doesn’t even

come into the same league as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

On October 22nd, 1962, a U2 spy plane photographed evidence that

showed the Soviet Union building secret missile bases on Cuba, just 90

miles away from the coast of Florida. Kennedy was produced with a

number of solutions, each one with its practicalities, and severe

risks. It was down to Kennedy to weigh out his options, and decide

between an armed invasion, an air strike on all missile bases or a

Show More
Related

  • Lost Space Race

    1465 Words  | 3 Pages

    The main reason why the Berlin Wall caused the USSR to lose the Space Race to the United States was because the USSR was a communist nation, and therefore so was East Germany. The East Germans did not like living in a communist society. This caused hundreds of thousands of East Germans to flee to the West to live in a democracy (Burgan 14). With this being the case, the USSR had no civilian support in Germany, and often had to stop East Germans from fleeing west to freedom. This caused the USSR to employ more border control, which cost the government more money, and therefore hurting the economy of East Germany, as well as in the USSR. In addition to no civilian support, Communist Germany was not granted Marshall Plan (Burgan 32). Marshall Plan was the economic aid provide...

    Read More

  • John F Kennedy Ethos Appeal In Jfk Speech

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    He stated that if the Soviets execute a “hostile move anywhere in the world against the safety and freedom of peoples to whom we are committed, including in particular the brave people of West Berlin, [it] will be met by whatever action is needed” (source). Respectively, war was not the President’s first choice. President Kennedy declared that he himself and government officials “are prepared to discuss new proposals for the removal of tensions on both sides, including the possibilities of a genuinely independent Cuba, free to determine its own destiny” (source). During the Cuban Missile Crisis, America desired peace without war in the Western Hemisphere, but President Kennedy made it clear that the U.S. would fight for it if necessary. Throughout his address, President Kennedy utilized the logos appeal wonderfully to gain the trust of the American and Cuban

    Read More

  • Berlin Wall Dbq

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    To secure its economy and to maintain it, the German Democratic Republic decided to build the heavily protected Berlin Wall. This would limit the number of exodus from the East and give the German Democratic Republic a large advantage over its population. As the wall had many purposes, one of them was to see if the West would retaliate in any way in response to this move. When there was no involvement from the any of the powers that controlled the West, German Democratic Republic took advantage of this situation to its favor and increased its control. It restricted Britain and France to enter East Berlin from their normal waypoints, rather commanded them to take the route through the American passage which, moreover, was heavily guarded and every personnel was checked before entering.

    Read More

  • Thirteen Days by Robert F. Kennedy

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    The account is told from Robert F. Kennedy's point of view. Kennedy was a key player in the decisions made during the thirteen days of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy believed that the United States should try and resolve The Cuban Missile Crisis peacefully and that the United States needed to try and avoid resolving to violent measures. Kennedy took over for his brother, the President on many occasions. He led important meetings and tried to negotiate an understanding with the other cabinet members who were involved. At first he believed that a blockade around Cuba would be the right maneuver and his proposal was supported by the majority of the other members. Soon he realized though that the Russians were not planning on negotiating or dealing with this matter in any peaceful manner. Though apposed to it Kennedy moved for an air strike. He was very uncomfortable with the idea and he showed this with his remark to the president of "I now know how Tojo felt when he was planning Pearl Harbor.

    Read More

  • Kennedy Assassination Cause And Effect

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    After thirteen days of conflict, both superpowers agreed to withdraw their missiles. Although it was a stalemate, in the US this was presented as a major victory. Nuclear war was avoided without any loss of life or destruction. Just as in the Berlin Crisis, Kennedy used diplomacy to resolve conflicts with the Soviet Union. For Kennedy, “his readiness to offer negotiations was in part based on a politician’s belief

    Read More

  • The Miracle on Ice: The US Hockey Team

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Soviet Union and the United States were very distant during three decades of a nuclear arms race. Even though the two nations never directly had a battle, the Cuban Missile Crisis, amongst other things, was a result of the tension. The missile crisis began in October of 1962, when an American spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union in Cuba. JFK did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles, so he made his decisions very secretly. Eventually, Kennedy decided to place a ring of ships around Cuba and place missiles in Turkey. Eventually, both leaders superpowers realized the possibility of a nuclear war and agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba if the US didn't invade Cuba. Even though the Soviets removed took their missiles out of Cuba and the US eventually taking their missiles out of Turkey, they (the Soviets) continued to build a more advanced military; the missile crisis was over, but the arms race was not.

    Read More

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    Canadian-American relations were severely hurt during the Cuban Missile Crisis due to the actions taken by John Diefenbaker. The crisis between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side and America on the other was one of most heated moments during the Cold War. America had hoped that Canada would provide basic necessities during the crisis. However, when Canadian Prime Minster; John Diefenbaker failed to give full support, the relationship between the two countries stood on edge. It was through Diefenbaker’s lack of cooperation and doubt during the situation that had affected the relationship between the two countries. Not to mention Diefenbaker’s dislike towards the US. President; John F. Kennedy had also been a reason to why the two countries relations were falling apart. Canada and America’s relations had broken down during the Cuban Missile Crisis as a result of Diefenbaker’s lack of cooperation, doubt and dislike towards the United States President.

    Read More

  • Unraveling the Cuban Missile Crisis: A Perspective

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    ( waves to the audience)Hello everyone I'm John f kennedy and I'm here to tell you about the Cuban missile crisis.Although it did not lead to war,the Cuban missile crisis was resolved by the Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev by destroying the missiles that the prime minister of Cuba was going to use to destroy America in hours.

    Read More

  • Four Freedoms Speech And Kennedy's Inaugural Address

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his Inaugural Address he said, that he would bear any burden, pay any price, and the hardship, to oppose any foe and success of liberty(Kennedy.5). This meant that he was to do as much as he possibly could to ensure and spread freedom around the world. Because European countries wanted a communist country which was to have all of your property owned not by you but everyone. Since there was no freedom or constitution Kennedy’s wasn’t going to approve of this idea. President Kennedy also stated, “...those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.” (Kennedy.8). He stated something very powerful with how the Nuclear attacks were occurring then that he said, that people who want power and use force will be destroyed before he can control

    Read More

  • Significance Of The Berlin Wall

    2168 Words  | 5 Pages

    Even though Berlin lay deep within the Soviet sector, the Allies thought it would be the best to divide this capital. Therefore Berlin was also divided into four parts. Since the Soviet Union was in control of the eastern half of Germany, they made East Berlin the capital of East Germany. The other three counties were each in control of a small part of what was to be West Germany. The Allies decided that they would come together to form one country out of their three divided parts. Those three divided parts formed West Germany. After all the land was divided the Soviet Union controlled East Germany. Just like the Soviet Union, the economy in East Germany was struggling to get back on its feet after the war. While West Berlin became a lively urban area like many American cities, East Berlin became what many thought of as a ‘Mini-Moscow’. In East Germany there was literary almost nothing. The shelves in the stores were practically bare, and what was there was not in very good quality.

    Read More

  • Social Effects of the Berlin Wall

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    Prior to the construction of the Berlin Wall, boarders between East and West Germany were closed in 1952 because of tension between Communists and Democratic superpowers and the only open crossing left in Berlin. West Germany was blockaded by the Soviets and only kept alive because of air drops made by the Western Allies (Time). The Soviets had to do something about the mass amount of people leaving Soviet East Berlin for West Berlin, and the non-communist world.

    Read More

  • The Cuban Missile Crisis

    1916 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major event in U.S History that almost led to nuclear destruction. It was over a period of thirteen days in which diplomats from the U.S and the Soviet Union were trying to reach a peaceful resolution so that they wouldn’t have to engage in physical warfare. The crisis was the hallmark of the Cold War era which lasted from the 1950’s to the late 1980’s. The Cold War was a power struggle between the U.S and Soviet Union in which the two nations had a massive arms race to become the strongest military force. The U.S considered Communism to be an opposing political entity, and therefore branded them as enemies. Khrushchev’s antagonistic view of Americans also played a big role in the conflict. The Cold War tensions, coupled with a political shift in Cuba eventually lead to the military struggle known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the point of most tension and near collapse causing the Cold War to almost shift from a passive and underground struggle to a violent and catastrophic one.

    Read More

  • Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy's Varying Cold War Policies

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... Cuban attack with all-out nuclear retaliation. In response to the increased Soviet ships coming with weapons, JFK ordered a blockade, which he called quarantine because a blockade is an act of war, around Cuba. For 13 days, the world held its breath as the threat of a nuclear war hung over the world, but the Soviets eventually turned back and Khrushchev agreed to remove weapons from Cuba in exchange for no US invasion of Cuba. Meanwhile in Berlin, the city was in turmoil between the East (Soviet) and the West (US controlled). In order to stop the mass exodus of East Berliners, the construction of the 90-mile Berlin Wall began. Both Kennedy and Khrushchev sought ways to ease the tension between the two groups, establishing a hotline between the White House and the Kremlin, and later this led to the Limited Ban Treaty, which banned nuclear testing in the atmosphere.

    Read More

  • The Failure of The Berlin Blockade

    2167 Words  | 5 Pages

    The extent to which the fact that the Western Allies did not respond with violence but with the airlift and its success was a main factor to its end will be assessed. The significance of the agreement made between the Soviets and the US in lifting not only the Berlin Blockade but also the Western counter blockade will also be evaluated. The reasons for the implementation of the blockade, the actions of the superpowers that do not contribute to the failure of the blockade, and the consequences of this crisis will not be investigated. The analysis will be done by researching different views on the blockade’s failure and the events leading up to it.... ...

    Read More

  • The Cuban Misile Crisis

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cuban Missile Crisis Analysis Report. The impact of nuclear weapons between two superpowers The Cuban Missile Crisis was the one and only time mankind could have ended the world in less than a few hours. The concluding result of this 13-day battle between the top two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, could have impacted the world in such catastrophic ways, resulting in a zero sum game. This particular game is defined by one side winning by firing their weapons first and eliminating the opponent.

    Read More

More about The Study of Berlin Blockade and Cuban missile Crisis

Open Document