Eisenhower foreign policy

?
View mindmap
  • Eisenhower foreign policy
    • 'new look' defence policy
      • Fewer conventional forces
      • Rely on nuclear arsenal
      • "more bang for a buck"
      • Secretary of state Dulles, 1954 - "massive retaliatory power" to halt aggression
        • Brinkmanship
          • Eisenhower said himself- forget about using the bomb
    • Europe
      • Hungarian Revolution
        • Protests lead to the replacement of hard-line communist Rakosi with new leader Nagy. he promised liberal reforms, such as the privatisation of agriculture, free elections and cold war neutrality.
        • Khrushchev responded with troops and tanks, restoring communist control. 3000 Hungarians were killed and 200,000 fled to Austria
        • Eisenhower didn't help the Hungarians as expected. damaged his reputation
      • U-2 crisis, 1960
        • American spy plane was shot down over Russia while spying on the Soviets. the wreckage and the pilot, Gary Powers, were captured by the soviets
          • Eisenhower  repeatedly denied that it was a spy plane, assuming that no evidence had survived.
          • Eisenhower  claimed plane  on meteorological mission. he humiliated when soviets produced plane and pilot intact. Eisenhower tried to claim  Powers not authorised to fly over soviet union, but eventually had to admit responsibility and was humiliated.
            • It ruined the Paris summit a few days later. Khrushchev set out 'unacceptable conditions' ,  and then shouted anti-American abuse for 45 minutes.
    • Aisia
      • Vietnam
        • Continued Truman's policy - provided financial aid to colonial French
        • opted against military intervention
        • At the Geneva conference, where Vietnam was divided into communist north and non-communist south:
          • Eisenhower refused to sign agreement for there to be nationwide elections and reunification of Vietnam
            • Established 'state' of south Vietnam instead, under dictator Ngo Dihn Diem
      • Ending the war in Korea -1953
        • Pressured the Chinese into a peace agreement by refusing to deny that he would use Nuclear weapons
        • USA suffered over 50,000 casualties and spent nearly $70 billion. only succeeded in restoring the pre-war status quo
      • 1954 Quemoy and Matsu crisis - Island just of the PRC coast but still controlled by Chiang Kai-shek's Taiwan
        • The Chinese shelled the islands and were set to invade - Chiang Kai-shek appealed to the USA for help
          • Eisenhower initially refused to intervene - he didn't want to risk WW3 over two tiny islands
          • American anti-Chinese sentiment increased - the Chinese contravened to Korea armistice provisions by imprisoning US pilots shot down over China
            • Eisenhower, under even greater pressure, signed a treaty with Chiang Kai-shek committing the USA to the defence of Taiwan
              • Eisenhower got permission to act in defence of Taiwan from congress in 1955. He suggested he might use nuclear weapons. By April,  this brinkmanship forced the Chinese to back down.
    • USSR
      • Cold war thaw
        • After Stalin's death in 1953, new leader Malenkov talked of peace and mutual understanding
          • Eisenhower responded with his chance for peace speech, but made demands for a free, united Germany and the independence of eastern European nations.
            • Soviet rejected these demands - would have damaged the soviet security system that was won at the cost of 30 million soviet lives in the second world war.
        • Geneva conference, 1955 - first meeting of Soviet-American leaders since potsdam
      • Nuclear arms race
        • Untitled
      • Sputnik, 1957
        • First man-made satellite. caused mass panic in the USA - many believed the launch indicated that the USSR was capable of sending ICBM to the USA.

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar History resources:

See all History resources »See all Cold War resources »