(9) Khruschev and East-West Relations: Achievements Flashcards
What was the New Soviet Policy?
✩ Malenkov was briefly party leader after Stalin’s death and advocated a ‘New Course’ strategy which was adopted during the period of collective leadership.
✩ It stated that war between capitalism and communism was no longer inevitable and that resources should be redirected away from arms into consumer goods.
✩ According to this, the collapse of capitalism was inevitable and so nuclear war was senseless. It sought to improve relations with the West in the short term.
What was Peaceful Co-existence, when was this theory developed and who had advocated for this??
✩ The belief that the Socialist Bloc could peacefully coexist with the capitalist bloc.
✩ Peaceful co-existence, or the ‘Thaw’, pursued from 1956/57 once Khrushchev assumed power, mirrored this but was also wedded to de-Stalinization.
What prompted this change in policy?
✩ Under de-Stalinization, as outlined in Khrushchev’s ‘Secret Speech’ of 1956, there was a drive by some in the party to distance themselves from Stalin.
✩ Alluding to the failure of the Berlin Blockade, the defection of Yugoslavia from the Cominform in 1948 and the formation of NATO which were humiliating examples of Stalin’s foreign policy mistakes.
✩ Moreover, the defence industry, accounting for a third of expenditure in 1950, drained resources from consumer goods and agriculture. Nikita Khrushchev promised improvements in those sectors.
What achievements were made under peaceful co-existence?
✩ At the Geneva Conference, the armistice in Korea was confirmed and the USSR and USA reached an agreement to allow the French to withdraw from Indochina.
✩ However, Dulles questioned the wisdom of the settlement as it seemed to endorse communism in Vietnam.
When was the Geneva Conference?
✩ April 1954
What happened at the Geneva Summit, what tensions had arisen and when did it occur?
✩ The Geneva Summit in 1955, according to Eisenhower, had a ‘cordial atmosphere’. The USSR and the USA agreed on cultural and scientific exchanges.
✩ However, Eisenhower’s proposal for ‘open skies’, in which spy planes would be allowed to fly over each other’s territory to verify nuclear stockpiles, was rejected. Khrushchev branded it as an ‘espionage plot’
✩ This summit was a major breakthrough since this was the first meeting of major heads of government since 1945.
Why had there been limits to the peaceful coexistence theory?
✩ Despite the achievements of peaceful coexistence, however, there were clearly limits to the Thaw between the USSR and the USA.
✩ Arguably, East-West tensions increased after the Geneva Summit of 1955 due to a variety of crises that occurred the following year.
What happened in Poland, and when?
✩ The Soviet reconciliation with Yugoslavia and the Secret Speech of 1956 seemed to trigger unrest across eastern Europe.
✩ The Polish workers of Poznan revolted in June 1956 over increased work targets. The revolt was repressed but to appease the public, the Polish Communist Party turned to the popular former leader, Gomulka.
✩ The USSR was concerned that Gomulka would press for Polish independence and so the Soviets readied their army and flew to Warsaw in October in an attempt to prevent Gomulka’s election. Gomulka won the election but reassured Khrushchev that he had no intention of withdrawing Poland from the Warsaw Pact.
✩ Khrushchev decided to take his word for it.
Why was this a failure for the USA?
✩ The USA, despite its protestations, failed to help ‘roll back’ communism in Poland when there was a clear opportunity.
What happened in Suez Canal, and when?
✩The Egyptian President, Gamel Nasser, nationalised the Suez Canal in retaliation to the USA withdrawing funds from the Aswan Dam project.
✩ The USA was unhappy that the Egyptians were receiving weapons from Czechoslovakia. Britain partly owned the Canal, and it served as an important waterway for French and British ships.
✩ Britain conspired with the Israelis to launch an attack on 29 October to allow French and British forces in to protect the area. The USA called for a withdrawal of Israeli forces at the UN, but Britain vetoed the proposal. Instead, the first peacekeeping force, the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), was dispatched on 4 November.
Suez Canal: 1956
Why was Suez Canal significant?
✩ The crisis led to a Soviet-Egyptian alliance in response to the British and French actions. The Americans, concerned about the growing influence of the USSR in the Middle East, formulated the Eisenhower Doctrine.
✩ This committed the USA to help any friendly governments that asked for its help against ‘power-hungry communists’, drawing the Americans increasingly into the Middle East.
What happened during the Hungarian Uprising and when did it occur?
✩ On 22nd October, students in Budapest organised an anti-Soviet protest. They had 16 key demands including the appointment of Imre Nagy as Prime Minister, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary, free elections and free press.
✩ Imre Nagy, the leader of the movement called for a multiparty political system and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, the defensive alliance founded by the Soviet Union and its East European satellites in 1955.
✩ In October, members of the Hungarian Secret Police took military action against the protestors. Budapest fell into a state of war.
October to November of 1956
What was the Soviet response?
✩ Nagy was appointed as Prime Minister on 24th October 1956. - As soon as Nagy was appointed Prime Minister he met with Soviet officials whom he tried to convince that military intervention was not required as he stated that Hungary was a loyal state.
✩ Despite this, a day later Soviet tanks fired on unarmed civilians and the revolt spread to the countryside.
✩ Soviet troops were removed from Budapest a few days later partly due to Nagy’s desire to negotiate and partially due to the threat from communist China who were backing Hungary.
How was the revolt crushed?
✩ On 1st November, Nagy announced that he was going to withdraw Hungary from the Warsaw Pact, the defensive alliance founded by the Soviet Union and its East European satellites in 1955.
✩ Nagy declared that Hungary was to be neutral and appealed to the United Nations for support.
✩ Three days later the Red Army surrounded Budapest and crushed the revolt early on 3rd November 1956, causing numerous casualties. 4,000 Hungarian people were killed and 200,000 people escaped.
What was the international response and the significance of the Hungarian Uprising?
✩ The UN called for the USSR to withdraw from Hungary.
✩ On 4th November Janos Kadar was placed by the USSR as the Hungarian leader and the revolution ceased.
✩ Although the Hungarian Revolution hurt Soviet standing in world opinion, it demonstrated that the Soviet Union would use force if necessary to maintain control over its satellite states in Eastern Europe.
✩ It also highlighted the fact that many in the West would not be willing to go to war over Eastern states.
