9. The Eastern and Western Blocs in the 1960s

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the Eastern and Western blocs in the 1960s. It first considers US–Soviet relations from the Cuban Missile Crisis to détente spanning the period 1963–71, focusing on the talks between Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy regarding the Test Ban Treaty, before discussing the superpowers’ relations with China. It then explores unity and division in Eastern Europe and in the Western bloc, taking into account the European Economic Community (EEC), NATO, and the Western economies in the 1960s. It also analyses the rise of European détente, covering topics such as progress on pan-European contacts and the emergence of Ostpolitik.