Conflict and Tension between East and West - The 'thaw'

Question 1

what was the state of Hungary before the uprising?

Answer 1

• Before 1939, Hungary’s government had been anti-Russian and anti-communist
• In 1944, the red army pushed the retreating Germans through Hungary and the soviet forces continued to occupy here after WWII
• the Hungarian leader was executed in 1949 and replaced with Matyas Rakosi, a hard-line communist fully under the control of Moscow
• Rakosi’s secret police created a climate of fear and arrested anyone who spoke out
• The Russian language was forced on Hungarians, especially in schools
• Hungarians were strongly Christian but communism discourages religious belief

Question 2

what was the Hungarian uprising?

Answer 2

• On the 23rd of October 1956, students took to the streets of Budapest, the Hungarian capital
• very quickly, the small-scale protests grew into many large demonstrations across the city and violence became widespread
• Soviet tanks were set alight and government buildings were taken over by revolutionaries
• in response, Soviet tanks opened fire on some protesters

Question 3

what did the protesters in the Hungarian Uprising demand?

Answer 3

• they issued a list of demands, including greater freedom and civil rights
• they also called for the removal of Rakosi as a leader and the return of Imre Nagy, a reform-supporting communist politician who had been expelled from the country
• although inspired by the success of the protests in Poland, the Hungarian students’ demands went much further: they called for the withdrawal of soviet troops from the country and a removal of some of the restrictions and oppression

Question 4

what happened when Nagy was proclaimed prime minister?

Answer 4

-Nagy was proclaimed prime minister but caused dismay among protesters when he called for calm and loyalty towards the Hungarian Communist Party, which supported Stalin
- Nagy promised reforms and more freedoms. He announced the formation of a new government, which included non-communist party members, and released Cardinal Mindszenty from prison
- Between 29th and 31st October, Soviet forces were withdrawn from Budapest

Question 5

what occurred after Nagy’s compromise?

Answer 5

• Protesters in Budapest called for even greater reforms, proclaiming that Hungary was an independent state and had no loyalty to the USSR.
• they even called for Hungary to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact, a demand Nagy met.
• very quickly, Hungary embraced democracy with the formation of new political parties, the release of political prisoners and press freedom

Question 6

what did Nagy announce on the 1st November?

Answer 6

• Nagy, recognising what had been achieved, rejected communism and announced that Hungary was an independent and neutral country

Question 7

who was Imre Nagy?

Answer 7

• he was a member of the Hungarian Communist Party and a key political figure in the country after the second world war
• before the uprising, he suggested a ‘new course’ in the way the country was run; he was dismissed from the ruling council of ministers and forced to leave the country
• he returned as prime minister in 1956 after the uprising and rejected communism in favour of greater freedoms and leaving the Warsaw Pact
• After the uprising was defeated, attempted to flee and sought refuge in the Yugoslavian embassy but was arrested, tried and executed
• a memorial to him was unveiled in Budapest in 1996

Question 8

what was the initial soviet response to the Hungarian uprising?

Answer 8

• the problem could not be ignored but Khrushchev was reluctant to use force to put down the protests when he was striving for ‘peaceful coexistence’
• in Hungary, he agreed to compromise. Hungary would be allowed to have a limited right to create its own version of communism which matched Hungarian traditions while still remaining in the Warsaw Pact. Soviet tanks withdrew

Question 9

how did Khrushchev respond to Nagy’s announcement on the 1st November 1956?

Answer 9

• to Khrushchev, the idea of losing Hungary was bad enough but he feared that other Warsaw Pact members might follow its example. To Khrushchev, the very existence of the Eastern European Communist Bloc, and therefore the USSR itself, was under threat
• On 4th November, the uprising was crushed. Soviet troops and tanks attacked revolutionaries, killing them in the streets. The inexperienced Hungarian fighters were no match for the Red Army. The Communist Party took power once again under the loyal Janos Kadar and opponents were killed or arrested.
• Nagy tried to escape to Yugoslavia but was caught, put on trial and executed.
• It is believed that as many as 200,000 Hungarian refugees fled, mainly across the border to Austria, which was soon closed

Question 10

who was Nikita Khrushchev?

Answer 10

• He rose through the ranks of the Communist Party quickly and was appointed by Stalin to oversee a major purge in Ukraine. He then moved to Moscow where he became a senior minister in the Politburo
• Although he fell out of Stalin’s favour in later years, he was a major figure when the old leader died. Few expected him to seize power; he outmanoeuvred other candidates and even had one killed
• he moved quickly away from Stalin’s style of government and in 1956 made his famous ‘secret speech’
• He remained in power until October 1964, when he was forced to ‘retire’ by other senior figures in the party

Question 11

what was America’s response to the Hungarian uprising?

Answer 11

• during the uprising, the American government made no official comment. Many, including most of the Hungarian revolutionaries, believed that the Truman Doctrine and the policy of containment meant that the USA was bound to help the Hungarians.
• US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles did hint at this during a speech at the time but Eisenhower was clear that American involvement was not an option
• Hungary was within the Soviet sphere that had been established after the war, and interfering would be seen as a direct attack on Soviet security. This did not stop many revolutionaries from feeling betrayed by the Americans as the Soviet tanks rolled in. The incident established that the Soviets could largely do as they wished behind the Iron Curtain without any American Interference

Question 12

how did the United Nations respond to the Hungarian Uprising?

Answer 12

• the issue of Hungary was raised at a meeting of the UN on the 4th November
• the Security Council held a vote calling for Soviet troops to withdraw but the USSR simply vetoed it
• the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the brutal Soviet response to the uprising but had no power to intervene
• In addition, most of the international community was much more concerned with the growing crisis over the Suez Canal which involved Egypt, Israel, Britain and France

Question 13

what is the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)?

Answer 13

a committee that had the right to investigate anyone doing anything ‘un-American’ - communist

Question 14

what role did the FBI play in finding communists within the US?

Answer 14

• Hoover’s FBI loyalty boards investigated government employees to see if they were current or former members of the Communist Party.
• From 1947 to 1959, around 3 million were investigated government employees to see if they were current or former members of the communist party
• nobody was charged with spying but 212 staff were said to be security risks and were forced out of their jobs

Question 15

what was the Hiss Case?

Answer 15

• In 1948 a man called Whittaker Chambers faced the HUAC. He admitted to having been a Communist in the 1930s. He also said that Alger Hiss had been a member of his group. Hiss was a high-ranking member of the US State Department.
• Hiss accused Chambers of lying and Truman dismissed his case
• However, a young politician named Nixon decided to pursue this case. He found convincing evidence that Hiss did know Chambers and debatable evidence that Hiss passed information to the USSR during the war
• Hiss was never tried for spying, but he was convicted of perjury in 1950 and spent nearly five years in prison

Question 16

what was the Rosenburg case?

Answer 16

• In 1950, a German-born British physicist, Klaus Fuchs was convicted of passing US and British atomic secrets to the USSR
• the investigation into Fuchs also led to suspicions against Julius Rosenberg and his wife ethel.
• At their trial in March 1951, they denied all the charges against them. But they were found guilty and sentenced to death. They were executed in June 1953

Question 17

were the Rosenbergs guilty?

Answer 17

• the evidence that convicted the Rosenbergs appeared to be flimsy. However, historians today believe that the Rosenberg were guilty
• they now know of coded telegrams between the Rosenbergs and soviet agents that began in 1944
• the telegram was eventually published in 1995

Question 18

what was the McCarran Act?

Answer 18

the main measures of the McCarran Act (internal security Act of 1950) were:
- all communist organisations had to be registered with the US government
- no communist could carry a US passport or work in defence industries
- the act even allowed for the setting up of detention camps in emergency situations

Question 19

what was McCarthyism?

Answer 19

• throughout 1952 and 1953, McCarthy extended his investigations and turned his committee into a weapon to increase his investigations and to increase his power and terrify others
• his methods mainly involved false accusations and bullying
• false accusations led to them being ‘blacklisted’ which meant they could not work

Question 20

what was the U2 plane and how did it help the USA?

Answer 20

• U2 spy plane provided valuable information about Soviet weapon development. Eisenhower now knew that the USA had a major advantage in the arms race with the soviet union

Question 21

what occurred on the 1st of May 1960?

Answer 21

• US pilot Francis Gary Powers set off in his U2 spy plane from Pakistan
• his mission was to fly over the USSR and take photographs - one of many American spy missions
• he was tracked, shot down above the Ural Mountains, and captured

Question 22

what did the Americans claim the plane was doing?

Answer 22

• the Americans claimed that his plane was simply gathering weather data and had accidentally strayed into soviet territory

Question 23

what did the soviets do with Gary Powers and how did they prove this?

Answer 23

• Gary Powers was put on trial as a spy as there was clear evidence: the soviets found cameras and a suicide pill

Question 24

how did Eisenhower respond to the Soviets’ claims?

Answer 24

• Eisenhower accepted that the U2 was a spy plane but refused to apologise.
• he also refused to say it would not happen again

Question 25

what events followed the U2 crisis?

Answer 25

• Khrushchev refused to continue with the Paris Peace Summit
• The ‘thaw’ was over. Americans began to fear that they were losing the Cold War
• the new president John F. Kennedy had been expecting to inherit an improving relationship with the USSR when he took office at the beginning of 1961, but instead, tensions were high once again
• Gary Powers was tried and imprisoned for ten years in the soviet union

Question 26

what eventually happened to Gary Powers?

Answer 26

• after only 21 months in a Soviet prison Gary Powers was exchanged for a Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel, whom the Americans had caught in 1957
• they were exchanged in Berlin at the so-called Bridge of Spies on 10 February 1962

Question 27

why was a summit planned in 1960?

Answer 27

• Dwight Eisenhower knew that his presidency was coming to an end. He was determined, in the time he had left to make progress on bringing the Cold War to a conclusion
• the hysteria of the McCarthy era and the latest ‘Red Scare’ had died down somewhat, giving Eisenhower a little more freedom
• at the same time, in the USSR, Khrushchev had distanced himself from Stalin’s aggressive approach and called for peaceful coexistence between the superpowers
• Although tensions remained high, a ‘thaw’ did appear to be taking place and the summit aimed to build on it

Question 28

what was the impact of the U2 crisis on the Paris Peace Summit?

Answer 28

• in their first meeting, Khrushchev was very critical of the US president, demanding an apology for the U2 crisis and saying that Eisenhower was no longer welcome to visit the USSR in what was due to be a historic triple in June of that year
• Eisenhower’s decision to only ‘suspend’ spy flights caused the Soviet leader to storm out of the meeting and refuse to meet with the president again
• the summit, which had been called in order to establish a more friendly relationship, ended with the superpowers on even worse terms than before

Question 29

did Khrushchev want the summit to fail?

Answer 29

• it could be argued that it was American actions that damaged relations by spying on the Soviet Union but, in reality, the Soviets had known for some time that American spy planes operated above their country and Soviets themselves were involved in their fair share of espionage against the USA
• some argue that Khrushchev did not want the summit in Paris to succeed. He felt that the USSR was in a strong position in terms of weapons and power and that he had the upper hand in the Cold War
• Others have argued that he needed to look tough: some communists in Moscow saw peaceful coexistence as weak, and Khrushchev needed to show that he would not be pushed around