Similarities and Differences between the three crises

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Similarities and Differences between the three Cold War Crises

SimilaritiesGetting Started

  • All of the crises had an impact on Soviet-American relations
  • In all of the crises, the USSR wanted to maintain their 'sphere of influence' and the USA wanted to continue to act on a policy of containment
  • All of the crises had an impact on the Soviet relations with other communist countries
  • All of the crises worsened relations between the US and communist countries

Differences

  • Khrushchev was the leader of the Soviet Union during the Berlin Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis, but Brezhnev was the leader during the Czechoslovakian Crisis
  • Eisenhower and Kennedy were Presidents during the Berlin Crisis, Kennedy was President during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Johnson was the President during the Czechoslovakian Crisis
  • The Berlin Crisis and the Czechoslovakian Crisis worsened relations between the USA and the USSR and caused tensions to surface, whereas the Cuban Missile Crisis caused a temporary thaw in relations
  • In the Czechoslovakian Crisis, Czechoslovakia were protesting against the communist regime, whereas in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuba chose to ask the USSR for aid and sided with them, despite having been a close economic ally of the USA

Overall comparison

The Soviet influence in eastern Europe was a key cause of all of the crises, and caused a lot of the tension involved in the crises because the USA still didn't want communism to spread and they wanted to try and contain it.  Overall, all of the crises were caused by the two superpowers competing for influence and control, and key ideological differences between communism and capitalism.

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