History Flashcards
Who was Brezhnev’s Prime Minister?
Alexsei Kosygin
When did Brezhnev come into power?
1964
How much of Soviet GPN was being spent on military defense from 1964-82?
25%
Name one book that criticised the Communist/Stalinist system
“One Day in the Life of Ivan Desinovich” or “The Gulag Archipelago” by Aleksandr Solzhenistyn
What problems did the USSR face by 1976?
- Relations with the US had not improved
- Struggle to keep up economically/economic stagnation
- Stagnant politics - too many old men in Politburo
- Problem with satellite states wanting more freedom
- Human rights issues - against Helsinki Accords
When was the ‘Prague Spring’ and where did this take place?
In 1968, Czechoslovakia
Explain what happened in the Prague Spring of 1968
- Czechoslovakia allowed more of a voice, oppression relaxed a bit due to reforms made by Dubcek
- Threats from Moscow failed to made Dubcek step down
- Anti-Soviet publications started to appear
- Politburo decided to use force - paratroopers invade Prague and arrested Dubcek to ‘protect interests of the Warsaw Pact”
- Kidnapped leaders and broadcast surrender to nation
Soviet troops remained until 1990
= Demonstration of weakness of Communist regime, needed military force to maintain authority + shows people opposed their control
Which Five-Year-Plans took place in 1971-5 and 1976-80?
The 9th and 10th Five-Year-Plans
What kind of economic problems did the USSR face?
- 1972: Crop failures > food shortages
- Living standards stagnated > lowered productivity
- 1975: poor grain harvest
- 1970s: worldwide petroleum shortages but struggled to keep up production to take adv of high oil demand
BUT also reversed some effects of collectivization > allowed farmers to work on state-owned plots = incentive to keep/sell surplus product
Soviet citizens became increasingly outspoken against the Soviet regime. Give two examples of the forms in which these publications were printed:
Samizdat = self-published, illegal pamphlets/articles distributed/copied within Soviet sphere
Tamizdat = similar to samizdat but published abroad + smuggled back into USSR
When were the Helsinki Accords signed and what did they mean for the USSR?
in 1975. They meant that the USSR had agreed to uphold certain human rights laws, like allow Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel if they wanted
What did Brezhnev not want politically?
Government reform or Party structure, even though there was a need for change - there were so many old Soviet hardliners > ageing + dying
What was Brezhnev’s “stability of cadres”?
Elderly party members were safe in their positions, also mirrored in workers - will not be dismissed for poor productivity
> the average age of Politburo members rose from 55 in 1966 to 68 in 1982.
What had Khrushchev done for the Soviet Union in terms of nuclear weapons?
1963: signed the Test Ban Treaty = USSR, UK and USA will not explode nuclear weapons in atmosphere/underwater
1968: Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
What was the Brezhnev Doctrine?
A policy that contradicted Soviet want to improve relations with the USA. It made it clear that Soviets would react to any anti-Communist activity within their sphere of influence - i.e. aid any Communists fighting for power - Prague Spring + Afghanistan
When did the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT) begin? And when did they meet an agreement?
In 1969 with US President Nixon. Agreed to limit number of anti-ballistic missiles in 1972
When did the USSR invade Afghanistan?
1979 to give support to a socialist government that took power the year before
Who was the President of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA)?
Nur Muhammad Taraki
Who was the Prime Minister of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA)?
Amin
What did the new government in Afghanistan do?
The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) imposed new reforms that were violently enforced and led to civil strife - estimated 27,000 political prisoners executed
What were the rebel forces in Afghanistan called?
The Mujahideen - mainly pro-religion fundamentalists, but included all other opposition in loose coalition
In 1979, approx. how many Soviet advisers were killed in Herat? And what was the response?
100
They responded by killing 24,000 in Herat
Why did the Soviets become concerned with the Afghan leaders?
They thought they were ‘too Communist’ - reforms were too quick. But then feared that they were pro-US
What happened to Taraki and Amin?
Taraki was arrested and executed after returning from Moscow by Amin.
Amin was attacked and killed in his home be Soviet special forces
Who replaced Amin in Afghanistan?
Babrak Karmal
What was the US reaction to the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan?
Immediately against. Stopped SALT II treaties, limited grain sales to USSR and boycotted Moscow 1980 Olympics
Also started to send military aid to the Mujahideen to fight Socialism
Sent supplies through Pakistan which ended up in Islamic Fundamentalist hands..
President Carter also sanctioned CIA covert operations
When did Brezhnev die and who replaced him?
Brezhnev died in 1982 and he was replaced by Andropov - former KGB leader. Ill and constantly relied on protege Chernenko
What did Andropov do?
- Attempted to negate “stability of cadres”
- Tried to force productivity > “illegally absent”
- 1983: shut down most of Soviet space program to save money + slow down foreign debt
- Tried to remove Brezhnev’s followers > meant promoting younger members to replace them - helped by Gorbachev - create nomenklatura (political elites) loyal to him
When did Andropov die and who replaced him?
Andropov died in 1984 and was replaced by Chernenko - figurehead > short-lived reign - gerontocracy (leadership consisting of people older than majority adult population)
When did Gorbachev come into power?
1985 - inherited stagnant political system and rising dissent > recognised need for reforms
What did Gorbachev’s first major reform target?
Alcohol. He wanted to improve productivity and absenteeism. Prices were raised on wine, beer and vodka. People were arrested for public drunkenness pr intoxicated at work.
One goal: decrease vodka production by 10%
This was achieved by 1986 - but cost USSR 100 billion rubles in lost tax due to a drop in official consumption
When was the policy of perestroika introduced?
Perestroika (economic restructuring) introduced in 1985
- Decentralise planning and end price controls by state
> increase in prices - extremely expensive
- State also wanted to allow some self-management but without losing ownership of factories + other businesses
When was the Chernobyl disaster?
April, 1986 - Soviet government didn’t notify surrounding areas like Pripyat
Evacuation zone of 30-km radius around reactor
What was the name of the dissident that Gorbachev allowed back into the USSR from exile in Gorky?
Andrei Sakharov - he was the public face of Soviet dissent abroad and presented info on oppression of USSR citizens and conditions in the gulags - traveled nationally + abroad until death.
Sakharov’s notoriety led to further stands against the government and open criticism of the past
What was Gorbachev’s glasnost policy?
Started in 1986
Translated as ‘openness’
Official acceptance and re-examination of Soviet History and open debate on past gov actions e.g collectivisation and purges
Former enemies of state - purged - rehabilitated
Most participants and supporters of Stalin’s policies now dead - free to talk within party without causing divisions
What did glasnost lead to?
Led to Soviet citizens further questioning socialist economic policies and criticising central planning
Rejecting collectivisation > agricultural reform -> wider economic change
End collectives -> privatisation - improve productivity
Like NEP - farms still owned by state, but workers paid for their leases and taxes on product - kept surplus
How did Soviet foreign policy change during the Gorbachev era?
- satellite states expensive > reexamine relationship
1980s: USSR distanced itself from satellite states
1987: Gorbachev encourages more autonomy + less reliance on USSR
Clear on USSR non-intervention policy in Warsaw Pact countries - negates Brezhnev doctrine
States left to pursue own socialism while Gorbachev encouraged reforms from abroad
When did the USSR withdraw from Afghanistan?
Started slowly in 1986 but after agreements in Geneva - full withdrawal > by 1989 all Soviet troops out of Afghanistan
Necessary to withdraw - v. costly & unpopular at home
At height of intervention - 100,000 Soviet troops there with no clear objective
How did relations between the USA and the USSR change after Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan?
Led to series of meetings between Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan that marked notable improvements in relations esp. At Geneva and Reykjavik
Nuclear arms talks resumed - US wanted to continue nuclear testing & build defence shield (strategic defence initiative SDI) = angered USSR
Limiting nuclear arms testing/development became too priority for USSR after Chernobyl disaster
Where was the summit held in October 1986?
Reykjavik, Iceland
Why was be Reykjavik summit seen as a failure?
Held in 1986
It led to no agreements or framework for any solution - but leaders began to develop a rapport and seemed willing to work together
Gorbachev went to Washington in 1987 and Reagan went to Moscow. What was significant about these visits?
Gorbachev in Washington = Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INf) treaty - limited in Europe
Reagan in Moscow = begin discussions for new Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT) (III)
> both sides agreed to reduce their nuclear arms
USSR by 25% US by 15%
What was Gorbachev’s paradoxical situation in 1988?
He had become more popular in the US than he was at home
Soviet economy hadn’t improved and Chernobyl incident highlighted problems with authoritarian system made him unpopular w/ soviet people
Decision to free political dissidents, withdraw from Afghanistan, and discuss arms limitations made US like him
How long did Gorbachev remain in power?
Until the collapse of the Soviet state in 1991
From 1985-91, so he was in power for 6 years
When was ‘The Futian Incident’?
1930 in Jiangxi - violent 2 month purges of rival units in Red Army suspected of being supporters of Li Lisan or GMD spies tortured and executed 3000
Illustrates Mao’s ruthlessness
When was the CCP formed?
1921: under Chen Duxiu
Co-founded by Mao
When were the food riots in Changsha?
1910: Yangtze River flooded riceland twice - British refused to stop rice exports to give to peasants -> riots. leaders decapitated and heads displayed
When was the Boxer Rebellion?
1900: backed by dowager Cixi - violent attacks against foreigners in Beijing
What was the Double Tenth?
1911: revolution that ended Qing Dynasty
After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty?
1912: Sun Yat Sen becomes President of the republic of China Had Three principles of the people - Nationalism - Democracy - People's Welfare
Yuan Shikai
1913: Shikai becomes President because Sun wasn’t able to win support of the military - outlawed GMD
- campaign against GMD using bribes and double agents
Failed democracy - corruption
Twenty One Demands to China
1915: if agreed duly would have put China completely under Japan’s control
Shikai agrees to most of them - protests against his leadership
Becomes self-proclaimed Emperor - loses power base -
Significance of Paris Peace Talks 1919 to China?
Allies favoured Japan - gave it previously German-owned Shandong
May 4th movement - mass rejection of all foreigners - imperialism
Mao started newspaper The Xiang River Review - notable for its avocation of anarchy and denunciation of violent revolution
1922: 2nd party Congress (Mao)?
Mao dropped from Congress but kept in party because of his excellent military skills
When was the First United Front formed?
1923: supported by Comintern - aimed to work together to end Warlordism
(China) GMD leadership changes in 1925..?
Sun Yat Sen dies of cancer
Chiang Kai-shek becomes leader of GMD
The White Terror
1927: in Shanghai Chiang turns against the Communists - massacre
Ends First United Front
Northern Expedition: 1926-8
United Front campaign to end Warlordism
Did not crush all warlords some accepted GMD’s terms + kept private army
Ended United front
Autumn Harvest Rising (China)
1927: resistance by CCP les by Mao in Hunan - intended to assert independence
Hoped to raise peasant army - easily crushed
Despite resistance - CCP nearly extinguished
Fled to Jiangxi
Weaknesses of the GMD
Corrupt
Unable to effectively resist Japanese
Chiang accused of being a warlord himself - own army + power base opposed central gov - but more successful
Long March to Yanan
1934-5: heroic retreat - galvanised Mao’s position
only 20,000 out of original 100,000 survived
Jiangxi soviet
1927-34
Mao develops ideology that peasants were main means of revolution not urban workers because of China’s population distribution
Got more support from peasants - Comintern advice should be ignored
CCp divisions- Stalinist Li Lisan line, Wang Ming faction * 28 Bolsheviks VS Mao’s independent CC line
Yanan 1935-45
Position away from Nationalist attack - able to consolidate Communist soviet and grow power base
Created good quality and life, sense of brotherhood and security most peasants had not experienced - but essentially repressive
Able to liberate large areas of countryside - pockets of anti-Nationalist/anti-Japanese resistance
The Xian Incident
1936: Warlord Zhang Xueliang refuses to support Chiang - wanted to fight Japan not CCP
Kidnaps Chiang - agreed to ally with CCP (Second United Front) against Japan
Chinese Civil War 1945-9
Conflict GMD vs CCP restarts
GMD successfully captures Yanan but enable to prevent CCP spreading - desire being having bigger military
Troops underfed - corrupt - many defected to CCP
Chiang did not get on with Stillwell - lost despite US backing
China’s economic problem - hyperinflation
Price index
1937: 100
1946: 378, 217
What is Confucianism?
The philosophy that people have fixed roles in society and that relationships between people are important - characterised by oligarchical structure and class division - hats, ponytails, etc
What was Stalin’s position in 1922?
General Secretary
Only member in all three branches of party: Orgburo, Secretariat and Politburo
Unique overview of party
Able to employ Leninist Levy
When was the Great Leap Forward?
1958-62
After visiting which city did Mao decide his Great Leap Forward?
1957 Moscow
By 1957, by what means was Mao convinced that the country was to move forward?
By involving the peasants to increase mass steel production
This involved creating larger communes, and the population would be directed into labour-intensive industries that did not need much capital investment
What was Mao’s next step in 1958?
In his ‘Sixty Points on Working Methods’ He described how the party-masses relationship had greatly improved and that the slogan ‘overtake Britain in Iron and steel and other major industrial production in 15 or more years’ shows how increased industrial production was how Mao envisioned China would grow to be a powerful socialist state
From 1957-61, how much did livestock in China decrease?
In millions
Pigs = 138 - 76
Draught animals = 53 - 38
From 1958-62, how much did industrial output in China decrease?
In billions of yuan 1958 = 120 1959 = 160 1960 = 180 1961 = 110 1962 = 90
By the end of 1958, almost all of the peasants had been merged into how many communes?
27,000 into approx. 5,000 households
How did the communes made during the Great Leap Forward function?
Private ownership of land was abolished.
Like small towns, had nurseries, banks, schools, health care and communal kitchens etc
It managed all the agricultural and industrial materials + tools from collectives
Run almost in a military manner
How were the targets during the Great Leap Forward set?
By the state
Not based on any economic and were unrealistic
What did China do to try to achieve its targets during the Great Leap Forward?
‘Backyard furnaces’ were set up in every village + all metal tools and utensils smelted down to produce home made steel
However, they could not reach a high enought temperature to produce good quality steel for industrial use, which could only be made using traditional production methods in large foundries
How much of steel produced in China was unfit for industrial use in 1959?
More than a quarter
What did the Chinese government announce in 1957?
That steel output had doubled
Used this fake/overly exaggerated success as an excuse that even larger scale communes should be introduced
Some effects of the early stages of the Great Leap Forward
• shortages or oversupply of some items
• many of China’s forests cut down to fuel backyard furnaces
• No efficient infrastructure = could not develop industry at rate needed to sustain economic growth
• people’s communes did not increase productivity
• impersonal nature (destruction of private ownership + family) = less enthusiasm
• => disaffected workers + need for workers in factories = mobilisation of peasants into production-brigades
= people taken away from fields = decline in agriculture
How did China try to increase its agricultural yields during Great Leap Forward?
Tried to produces ‘super crops’ (based on Soviet scientist Trofim Lysenko)
Used deep-ploughing and close planting
= exhausted soil -> lower yields
How was the harvest in the 1958 reported (China)?
It was reported at 375 million tons
The actual figure was about 200 million tons
Exaggerated by cadres who were afraid of being branded as defeatists or counter-revolutionaries by reporting shortfalls in their grain quotas
Led to positive feedback loop -> inflation of reported production figures
This meant state took more from communes for exportation (to the USSR + N Korea) leaving peasants with little or nothing to ear
When did it become apparent that the targets of the Great Leap Forward were unrealistic?
1958
+ after Wuhan conference gov reduced steel & grain targets for 1959
What were the ‘three bad years’ (Mao’s China)?
1959-61
There was drought, floods and famine - worsened conditions of peasant
What was the human cost of the Great Leap Forward?
Estimated more than 20-30 million people died
~ 1/3 of people in Gansu died
1960: situation was so desperate in Hunan and Anhui provinces that some were forced into cannibalism
What did the Great Leap Forward mean for Mao politically?
Peng Dehuai, one of Mao’s longest supporters, complained about conditions in Hunan at the 1958 Lushan Conference
He also wrote a private letter to Mao about concerns over economic situation which was distributed to all members of conference
Mao took as a personal attack + removed Peng as Minister of Defence
Turned on CPC - threatened to start another peasant revolution to overthrow gov if they didn’t follow him
= any opposition/criticism of Mai was intolerable
When was the Tehran conference and what was agreed there?
1943
USSR could keep the territories it had acquired from 1939-49 (Baltic States and some of Finland + Romania)
Agreement on a new international organisation
Agreement on the need for a weak post-war Germany
When was the Katyn Forest Massacre?
1943
Found a mass grave of 10,000 Polish soldiers in the Katyn forest who were captured by the Soviets in 1939
Blamed Germans but many Poles suspected (correctly) that Soviets did it
When was the Yalta conference and what was agreed there?
1945
Allies would divide Germany into 4 zones - each responsible for demilitarising and de-Nazifing
Allied Control Commission (ACC) set up to govern Germany - run as one country
Germany would pay $20 billion in reparations - 50% to USSR
Stalin agreed to hold ‘free elections’ in Poland - London Poles VS Lublin Communists
Soviet Union wood join UN - 3 seats (Ukraine, Belarus and Russia)
When was the Postdam conference and what was agreed there?
1945
USSR would receive 25% of its GERMAN reparation bill from Western zones in return for food from more agricultural East
Truman challenged democracies in Soviet sphere but had literal physical presence - more like occupation
Atomic bomb on Japan
USSR one of ‘Big 5’ in UN - Stalin had power to veto proposals which went against Soviet interests
What were salami tactics?
How USSR took over control of Eastern European governments
1) broad ‘anti-fascist’ alliance
2) parties sliced off - leaders go missing
3) Communist core is left - local leaders replaced with Soviet trained puppets
By end of 1946: Communist leader put in Poland?
Bierut
By end of 1946: Communist leader put in Bulgaria?
Kolarov
By end of 1946: Communist leader put in Romania?
Pauker
What happened to the free elections in Poland?
Not in a week’s like promised - not held until 1947
Before elections - campaign of murder, censorship and intimidation
Estimated - over 50,000 deported to Siberia
1 million taken off electoral register
When and what was the Iran crisis?
Agreed that Uk and USSr would remove troops at end of war but Stalin left 30,000 in North
1 January 1946: Stalin refused to remove troops - felt he had right to Black Sea Straits and Iranian oil
Iran formally complained to UN - new pressure forces Soviets out
What was happening in Greece and Turkey 1946-7?
Anti-imperialist, nationalist and some ‘pro-Communist’ rebellions
UK (less than US) believes Soviets were behind it
In which two countries were Communist parties gathering popularity after WW2?
France and Italy
When was Kennan’s long Telegram and how did it influence US opinion?
1946
USSR’s foreign policy was hostile to outside/West - insecure
+ regime was oppressive
Therefore should use ‘logic of force’ - USSR was not suicidal
Hardened US opinion + key in developing containment policy
When did Churchill make his Iron Curtain speech?
1946
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic”
When was the Truman doctrine announced?
1947
US foreign policy changed from isolationist to having obligation to ‘support free people who are resisting..armed minorities or by outside pressures’ through economic aid
When was the Marshall Plan and how much did West Germany receive?
1947 but didn’t pass US Congress until 1948 after Czech Coup
$1389 million
In what state was Eastern Europe by the end of 1948?
Now satellite states - economically (COMECON) and militarily under Soviet control
Czechoslovakian Coup 1948
Czech wanted to receive Marshall Aid
Stalin put heavy pressure on government with loosely veiled threats of armed intervention - president Benes agreed
Foreign minister Masarky found dead
Truman = coup - pushed Marshall Plan through Congress
