How and why did the Cold War in Europeand Asiabecome more serious during the period 1961-3?
Gavin Lee Bruce
Cold War – Assignment 1 – How and why did the Cold War in Europe and Asia become more serious during the period 1961-3?
Section A
- Source A1 show a cartoon of Eisenhower and Khrushchev leading the Arm’s Race with Macmillan and de Gaulle followed closely behind. The cartoonist is trying to say that Eisenhower and Khrushchev were in competition but also more advanced than Macmillan and de Gaulle. Eisenhower and Khrushchev are more advanced because they had built the ‘A’ bomb which Macmillan and de Gaulle hadn’t. The amount of smoke in each competitor’s torch shows how much power each competitor had in the arms race, i.e. Eisenhower and Khrushchev have the most amount of smoke and also the same amount.
- The Lockheed U2 spy plane was used by the Americans on high altitude photographic missions over a Soviet air base. This was bound to build tension as the Soviets found the spy plane difficult to attack as it was at such a high altitude. The Russians would have also felt threatened as the Americans had now got a piece of machinery that the Russians hadn’t. The Russians would have felt like they were one step behind the Americans in the Arm’s race.
- America and Russia both had different views and attitudes in the Cold War. America wanted a German peace treaty to be signed although the Russian’s would not let this happen, their view was only to change Germany into another Communist country. America’s attitude towards the Russians was that they were always worried that Russia had more Nuclear weapons than America, and Russia thought America had more. Russia was right. America was so worried that they sent a U2 spy plane over a Russian air base.
- Source A1 is not a very useful source. This is mainly because it is not very detailed. The source would be useful to someone who would like to know who was ahead in the Arms Race but for a historian this cartoon would not be very useful.
Source A2 is a useful source as it shows the Lockheed U2 spy plane used by the Americans during the Cold War. This then proves that the Americans were spying on the Soviet bases although the Americans later on admitted to this.
The flight path of the U2 spy plane shown in source A3. This also shows us that the Americans were spying on the Soviet bases. This is useful because it shows exactly where the Americans had flown. A historian would find this useful if he/she were to study the Cold War.
Source 4 is an extract from a modern historian written in 1986. This source is not a useful source; this is mainly because it was written in 1986 which means that it is a secondary source. Secondary sources are not useful as they are not written at the time of the event and therefore may have false information.
