Week 4: Cold War Crises
1. Evolution of the Arms Race: Sputnik and its impact
2. Roll back and the Hungarian crisis
3. Berlin Crisis
4. Suez Crisis
5. Cuban Missile Crisis
Developments in the Soviet Camp
● Alliance with China (1950)
● Korean War (1950-1953)
● Hydrogen bomb: perception of a very strong Soviet camp (1953)
● Stalin’s death and power struggle- Krushchev as leader - shift in the Cold War, from
aggressive and expansionist, to pragmatism from Krushchev
The Eisenhower Administration
● Need for a stronger U.S commitment to the defense of the “free world.” Wants to
reform the US approach to the Cold War.
● Necessity of cutting government spending, reliance on nuclear weapons
● Massive retaliation: the US would respond to every challenge around the world
with nuclear weapons to aggression with conventional forces
Dulles, 1954 Speech
● Conventional defense is not enough to contain communism is the main point
Weak points of massive retaliation
● Not so sustainable: only credible if the USSR would suffer the strike without
responding. As the Soviet Arsenal grew, its credibility is diminished
● The launch of a satellite (launch into space) marks the capability of the Soviets to
also launch a nuclear missile
Credibility Crisis within the Western Bloc
● 1957: Sputnik launch
● Is massive retaliation reliable?
● The dilemma impacts the transatlantic community and creates fractures
○ De Gaulle raises concerns ( “force de frappe”, need for a European Europe
and a “third force” between the US and the USSR)
● The Cold War becomes more and more global, resulting in ruptures in Europe
The Eisenhower administration: “Rollback.”
● Need for something more aggressive than containment
● Containment is too defensive and immoral
○ Dulles: Containment is defensive, negative, futile, and immoral in
abandoning countless human beings to a despotism and Godless
terrorism
● Is this rhetoric to win the campaign or was it a real idea?
1. Evolution of the Arms Race: Sputnik and its impact
2. Roll back and the Hungarian crisis
3. Berlin Crisis
4. Suez Crisis
5. Cuban Missile Crisis
Developments in the Soviet Camp
● Alliance with China (1950)
● Korean War (1950-1953)
● Hydrogen bomb: perception of a very strong Soviet camp (1953)
● Stalin’s death and power struggle- Krushchev as leader - shift in the Cold War, from
aggressive and expansionist, to pragmatism from Krushchev
The Eisenhower Administration
● Need for a stronger U.S commitment to the defense of the “free world.” Wants to
reform the US approach to the Cold War.
● Necessity of cutting government spending, reliance on nuclear weapons
● Massive retaliation: the US would respond to every challenge around the world
with nuclear weapons to aggression with conventional forces
Dulles, 1954 Speech
● Conventional defense is not enough to contain communism is the main point
Weak points of massive retaliation
● Not so sustainable: only credible if the USSR would suffer the strike without
responding. As the Soviet Arsenal grew, its credibility is diminished
● The launch of a satellite (launch into space) marks the capability of the Soviets to
also launch a nuclear missile
Credibility Crisis within the Western Bloc
● 1957: Sputnik launch
● Is massive retaliation reliable?
● The dilemma impacts the transatlantic community and creates fractures
○ De Gaulle raises concerns ( “force de frappe”, need for a European Europe
and a “third force” between the US and the USSR)
● The Cold War becomes more and more global, resulting in ruptures in Europe
The Eisenhower administration: “Rollback.”
● Need for something more aggressive than containment
● Containment is too defensive and immoral
○ Dulles: Containment is defensive, negative, futile, and immoral in
abandoning countless human beings to a despotism and Godless
terrorism
● Is this rhetoric to win the campaign or was it a real idea?
