What Was The Largest Tensions In The 1960s

Post World War II, tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. over which one of their political ideals, capitalism and democracy, or communism, would reign supreme. Both countries fought to be the dominant power, creating a cold war, or a war where neither side is directly fighting the other in combat. While there was some aggravation between the two superpowers over things such as the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War, during the early 1960s tensions between the two rose even higher. President Kennedy put in a policy of being more flexible when it came to discussions with the Soviets, allowing him to resolve the crises. The three largest tensions between America and the Soviets in the early 1960s were the Berlin Wall, the space race, and Cuban
missile crisis. As a result of the end of World War II, Germany was split between the western powers and the Soviets.
The U.S., England, and France wanted to reunify Germany, whereas the Soviets wanted to keep their claim to Eastern Germany, and saw the West’s efforts as an attack on their claim. Since the capitol was also split, it created an isolated Western-controlled area surrounded by the Soviets. Consequently, the Soviets and U.S. argued over whether West Berlin should remain a Western-owned land, as the Soviets were angered by their citizens escaping into West Berlin. Since the U.S. refused to give up their territory, the Soviets built the Berlin Wall, a wall surrounding West Berlin, where they would shoot anyone trying to cross. The Berlin Wall became a physical representation of the iron curtain, which was the metaphorical separation between the Soviet controlled East of Europe and the U.S. and allied controlled West. Since the West could not take down the wall as it was technically on Soviet land, and could not stop the Soviets from killing their escaping citizens without starting a war, the U.S. and Soviets continued to argue over it for many
years. Another conflict that fed the fire of the Cold war in the 1960s was the space race. While the space race started earlier, with the Soviets launching their Sputnik satellite before the U.S. could create one, it was far from finished. Kennedy worried that the Soviets beating the U.S. to space would convince others that communism was superior to capitalism, so he began a movement to get an American on the moon. After launching three men into orbit on the Apollo, the U.S. was able to land Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin onto the moon. This proved at the time that the U.S. had superior technology. The scientific battle between the U.S. and USSR became intense, both sides heavily funding research and refusing to share findings with each other to show the other up. Thus, the U.S. was able to use this as a way to show superiority without engaging in war. Easily the most important and tension causing conflict was the Cuban missile crisis.
The U.S. grew uneasy with communism being on their ‘back door’, as Cuba had recently had a communist revolution. After a failed U.S. attempt to cause an anti-communist uprising, the Soviets began to supply Cuba with missiles. For this reason, the U.S. public became paranoid and frightened of the possibility of an attack via missile. To stop the inflow of missiles, Kennedy ordered a naval blockade, and ordered the Soviets to remove the missiles. Unbeknownst to the American public however, the U.S. had missiles in Turkey, which was close to the USSR's territory. Both sides having the capability to attack the other with little warning due to the close proximity created a high tensions between the two countries. In return for the Soviets dismantling the missile sites, the U.S. privately agreed to removing their missiles from Turkey, and publicly agreed to not invading Cuba. The USSR saw the U.S. missiles as showing their superiority in weapons, so they began to bulk up their military, further aggravating the U.S. who saw it as a threat. The Cuban missile crisis was perhaps the closest the Cold War got to having nuclear
war. Conclusively, the early 1960s greatly increased tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.. The Berlin Wall, space race, and Cuban Missile crisis were the major conflicts that led to the more hostile air between the two superpowers. This tension set the stage for the Vietnam war, which took place in 1965. Anger between the two countries pushed the world closer to a nuclear war, and created a sense of paranoia in the public unlike at any other time period.