Notes

Second Berlin Crisis (1958-61) and Cuban Missile Crisis (1962):

-Background: In the case of the Second Berlin Crisis, Khrushchev decided he wanted the Western Powers out of Berlin permanently. Eastern Germany had a population crisis in the 1950s, as West Germany under Adenauer's leadership, along with Marshall Plan aid, had thrived, and many East Germans used Berlin to escape to West Germany. In '58, Khrushchev initiated his first ultimatum to Eisenhower, threatening to sign a separate peace with East Germany to lock the West out of the East unless they left. Eisenhower defused the situation, but the U-2 incident renewed Khrushchev's fears. Hoping to prey on a young and newly elected Kennedy, he renewed the ultimatum at the Vienna Summit, but Kennedy didn't back down. Needing to solve the crisis, he allowed Ulbricht to build a wall in 1961. Castro took over in 1959, and the US had failed in a coup attempt with the Bay of Pigs in 1961. Khrushchev placed the missiles in Cuba to possibly: deter US invasion, balance the US' missiles in Turkey, and set up a possible trade for Berlin. A U-2 spy plane spotted the missiles, Kennedy put in place a quarantine and used warships to surround Cuba, and the world came pretty close to nuclear war.

-Compare/Contrast: USSR/Khrushchev involved in instigating both crises, although in the case of Berlin it was more aggression and wanting to control the East German population, while in Cuba it could've been based on fear due to prior US actions. Talk about whether it was more Soviet/Khrushchev's aggression or whether he was justified in his actions. This wasn't the first time the USSR had tried to kick the West out of Berlin (Berlin Blockade) whereas in Cuba Castro was a new ally and the USSR's strongest ally in North America, and the closest to the United States. Khrushchev would be gaining a huge military advantage with the missiles, where in East Germany it was more of stabilization.