The Global War -> Khrushchev and East-West relations 1955-60

Question 1

What phrase demonstrates Khrushchev’s aim for his policy?

Answer 1

‘peaceful coexistence’

Question 2

How did Khrushchev become powerful?

Answer 2

• Following the death of Stalin on the 5th of March 1953, a ‘collective leadership’ comprised of four Politburo members (Malenkov, Beria, Molotov and Khrushchev) was created
• Nikita Khrushchev eventually emerged victorious from this power struggle.

Question 3

What background did Khrushchev come fro?

Answer 3

• a Stalinist background
• responsible for ‘collectivisation’ in Ukraine in the 1930s
• nearly 5 million people died

Question 4

What was Khrushchev’s aims for the Eastern bloc satellite states?

Answer 4

wanted to achieve political stability, economic growth and improve living conditions through the process of destalinisation

Question 5

How was Khrushchev involved in the space race?

Answer 5

Sponsored a variety of reforms and the build-up of the Soviet nuclear and space programmes

Question 6

When did the Soviets put their first satellite in space?

Answer 6

October 4 1957 (Sputnik 1)

Question 7

What is the relationship between the space race and the arms race?

Answer 7

Space race = arms race

Question 8

Why did Khrushchev want nuclear weapons?

Answer 8

For security objectives to get peaceful coexistence as he acknowledged that the US military capacity outweighed the Soviet Union

Question 9

What did Khrushchev announce to Congress in October 1961?

Answer 9

“Communism by 1980”
- by focusing on economic reform to avoid war
- will win the Cold War without fighting but by outproducing the West

Question 10

How much had the economy grown from 1953-59?

Answer 10

5.9%

Question 11

What signified Khrushchev’s narrow mindedness?

Answer 11

Khrushchev destroys Neizvestnyi’s non-conformist abstract art as ‘dog shit’
- signified how he was a ‘top down liberal’ who wanted to grant more freedom but imposed controls and limits to how much freedom there is

Question 12

What were Khrushchev’s aims for his domestic policy?

Answer 12

• to consolidate power
• to begin a process of controlled liberalisation - signalled by the Secret Speech
• to shift resources away from heavy industry and the armed forces towards light industry
• cut down on corruption, distribute power more effectively to regions
• change the political culture of the USSR by freeing up channels of communication and shutting down the gulags
• to overcome the deficiencies of the collectivised agriculture system by bringing new lands into cultivation and introducing new crops (Virgin lands scheme in Siberia 1955)

Question 13

What were Khrushchev’s aims for ‘peaceful coexistence’?

Answer 13

to defuse military tensions with the West and consolidate leadership over the communist bloc

Question 14

Which Treaty demonstrated the USSR wanting to negotiate over the future of Austria?

Answer 14

The Austrian State Treaty in May 1955

Question 15

What did the Austrian State Treaty mean?

Answer 15

Led to the withdrawal of all occupying powers and the declaration that Austria would be a neutral state in line with the USSR’s willingness to accept both Finland and Yugoslavia as neutral states

Question 16

When did Khrushchev deliver his ‘Secret Speech’?

Answer 16

25 February 1956

Question 17

What was the ‘Secret Speech’?