Core Topic 6 Flashcards
Who was Nikita Krushchev?(2)
After Stalin died in 1953, Nikita Krushchev was the next Soviet leader who emerged in 1955.
He was born in 1894 and got into power from a very muddy route.
What aspects of Soviet control were disliked in Hungary?(2)
Russian control of Hungarian society included censorship, a secret police(AVH), and control over education. An estimated 2,000 people were executed and over 100,000 were imprisoned as the Russians took control over Hungary.
After the war Hungary was also very poor and needed rebuilding after years of bombing and damage from the war. However, much of the food and industrial goods were sent instead to Russia.
What caused uprising in Hungary 1956?(4)
From 1949 to 56 Hungary was lead by hardline communist Mátyás Rákosi. Life was terrible and bitter for Hungarians during this period.
Then in June 1956 a group within the Communist party opposed Rákosi and appealed to Khrushchev.
After Ràkosi was retired for ‘health reasons’; the new leader, Ernö Gerö was as bad as Rákosi. This caused for huge student demonstrations 23 October in Budapest. The demonstration gathered nearly 200,000 people and toppled a huge Stalin statue.
The USSR hence allowed Imre Nagy to lead government. Soviet tanks and troops that had been stationed in Hungary since the Second World War began to withdraw. 29 October Nagy requested for the total withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary and began planning change:
Free elections, impartial courts and restoration of farmland to private ownership. It also planned to leave the Warsaw Pact and declare Hungary neutral in the Cold War struggle between East and West.
How did the USSR react to the uprising in Hungary?(3)
4 November one thousands Russian tanks moved into Budapest and captured Hungary’s airfields; junctions; bridges.
2 weeks of fighting ensued, killing about 3000 Hungarians and up to 1000 Russians.
200,000 Hungarians fled across the border into Austria to escape the communist forces.
How had the Suez Crisis preoccupied Western-Powers and what was the final aftermath of the Hungarian uprising in 1956?(4)
On 26 July 1956, Colonel Gamal Nasser decided to nationalise the Suez Canal even though it was foreign owned - 44% by Britain.
Then, 29 October Israel invaded the Egyptian Sinai and was soon joined by Britain and France 5 November landing paratroopers along the canal, after a ceasefire they issued had been ignored. This preoccupied the powers of Britain and France.
Khrushchev put János Kádár in place as leader, and in a few months 35,000 anticommunist activists were arrested as well as 300 executed.
While Kádár did introduce some of the reforms wanted by the Hungarian people there was nothing on the Warsaw Pact.
What originally happened in Czechoslovakia in 1968?(4)
In 1968 January the old Stalinist leader was replaced by Alexander Dubček who proposed ‘socialism with a human face’.
This eased censorship, increased freedom of speech and reduced the activities of the secret police.
During this, opponents were able to critique the failings of communist rule and expose corruption as well as talk about events in the country’s recent past. This was called the ‘Prague Spring’
In summer there was even talk of introducing a rival party to the Communist Party.
How did the USSR react to Prague Spring in 1968?(4)
Brezhnev came under pressure from the East German and Polish leaders to clamp down on the Czechoslovakia reform.
Throughout the summer, Soviet, Polish and East German troops performed public training exercises on the Czech border. Then in July the USSR held a summit conference in which Dubčk agreed to not allow a new Social Democratic Party.
On the 20th August after it seemed that tension eased, Soviet tanks moved into Czechoslovakia with little violent resistance.
Dubček was removed from power, but unlike what happened in Hungary, this time the whole world watched the crisis unfold.
What was the final aftermath of the Prague Spring 1968?(3)
Dubček was not executed by slowly downgraded and then expelled.
The Brezhnev Doctrine was then formed who defined the essentials of Communism as:
A one-party system
To remain a member of the Warsaw Pact.
What were the reasons behind emplacing the Berlin Wall?(3)
In the 1950s East Germans were still free to travel into West Berlin; by 1960 only 61% of its population were of working age compared to 70% before the war.
Not only were those defecting often very highly skilled workers, but from Khrushchev’s point of view; the sight of thousands of Germans fleeing communist rule undermined communism generally.
Therefore, when JFK came into power(January 1961) Khrushchev asked him to withdraw his troops from Berlin. After JFK refused, on 13 August 1961 East German soldiers put in place barbed wire along the entire frontier between East and West Berlin.
What was the short aftermath of the Berlin Wall?(2)
The barbed wire was replaced with a concrete wall, which meant that US diplomats regularly crossing between East and West were stuck.
On the 27th October Soviet Tanks faced off with Tanks of the GDR but both backed off slowly in a tense relief.
Explain the build-up to Solidarity in Poland?(5)
1975, the Polish economy is good because it focuses on making machinery. However, in 1979 soviet planned economy made a mistake and half of the working men become unemployed, Worker Unions form.
Then in July 1980, the government announces increases in the price of meat. This leads to workers at the Gdansk shipyard 14 August, led by Lech Walesa, to put forward 21 demands to the Government.
To sum up the demands they wanted more pay by 2,000 zlotys(/month), end to censorship, broadcasting of Catholic Church services and a full supply of food products for the domestic market.
Why was Solidarity so successful?(3)
The union was strongest in industries that were most important to the Government - shipbuilding and heavy industry. This meant that a general strike in these industries would be devastating for the economy.
The union was incredibly popular, and had the support of the Catholic Church which was still very strong in Poland. The Government also agreed to Solidarity’s demands only to buy time while it drew up Martial Law plans.
Solidarity had also gained support in the West like that of which neither the Hungarian nor the Czech rising experienced. People in the West knew who Walesa was and even wore badges to show their support. The scale ensured that the Soviet Union had to treat the crisis carefully.
What is the Government’s reaction to Solidarity?(5)
On the 30th August 1980, they agree to all of Solidarity’s demands.
From September to October Solidarity jumped from 3.5 to 7 million members. Then in January 1981 it hits 9.4 million.
In February however the situation changed, General Jaruzelski took over Poland after the civilian prime minister ‘resigned’.
After 9 months of negotiations between Jaruzelski and Walesa, in December the Communist Government acted.
Under Brezhnev’s orders, Jaruzelski introduces martial law. Lech and almost 10,000 others of Solidarity are put in prison.
Why was the Solidarity movement in Poland significant?(3)
It highlighted many things about communism, for example, the failure of it to provide good living standards; which heavily undermined the claim for it to be a system that benefitted ordinary people.
It also showed that there were organisations that were capable of resisting a communist government and that even people were a threat to communist governments.
Who was Lech Walesa?(4)
Born in 1943 to a farmer, his work was in the shipyards at Gdansk.
In 1976 he was sacked from the shipyard for making ‘malicious’ statements about the organisation.
In 1978 he helped organise a union at another factory and was dismissed, then in 1979 he got another job for Electromontage but was again sacked.
He was also a committed Catholic, became leader of Poland’s first non-communist government since WWII in 1989.
