The ‘thaw’ Flashcards
Why did the Hungarian people rebel?
- led by Rakoski - hard-line Stalinist who did not tolerate any opposition
- Hungary was a Catholic country and religion was banned by the USSR
- secret police
- poor economy
- some saw de-Stalinisation as an opportunity to bring change for the country
When was Stalin’s death? Who replaced him?
1956
Nikita Khrushchev
What was de-Stalinisation?
Following Stalin’s death, Khrushchev critics Stalin’s brutality and suggested a more open and peaceful approach from the government.
When was the Hungarian uprising?
23 October 1956
What did the Hungarian people want from their uprising in 1956?
- greater freedoms and civil rights
- the removal of Rakosi and the returned of the exiled Nagy (a communist who supported reform)
- the withdrawal of Soviet troops
What were the initial results of the uprising?
- Soviet tanks withdrew
- Nagy made prime minister
- protesters called for even greater reforms
- Nagy agreed to withdraw from the Warsaw pact
How did Khrushchev respond to Nagy’s decision to leave the Warsaw Pact?
- thought this decision went too far
- worried other members would be inspired to follow Hungary’s example
- sent Soviet tanks into Hungary
- these quickly crushed the uprising
- Nagy forced from power and executed
- replaced by another leader who was completely loyal to Moscow and dealt harshly with opposition
How did the West respond to the events in Hungary in 1956?
- Hungary was within Soviet sphere of influence
- USA wouldn’t interfere as it risked direct conflict with Moscow
- UN discuses the issue and held a vote calling for the USSR to withdraw however the USSR simply vetoed rhis
- condemned the USSR’s actions but could do nothing to stop them
How did the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 affect East-West relations?
- despite his calls for peaceful coexistence between East and West and the process of de-Stalinisation, Khyrsuh had shown that he was willing to do anything to keep countries under Moscows control
- USA has established that it would not interfere with events behind the Iron Curtain
What event causes the ‘thaw’ to come to an abrupt end?
The U2 Crisis
What was a U2 plane?
- US spy plane
- their most effective method of gathering intelligence
- could fly at very high altitudes
- able to photograph weapons development without detection
What was the name of the pilot who flew the U2 plane that was shot down?
Gary Powers
When was the U2 crisis?
1 May 1960
What happened in the U2 crisis?
- the Russians shot down a U2 spy plane with a missile
- Powers (pilot) fails to self-destruct and gets caught by the Soviets
- Powers is sentences to 10 years in a Soviet prison
What did the Americans initially claim when confronted by Khrushchev? What did Eisenhower then do?
They claimed it was simply a weather plane that had strayed into Soviet territory despite clear evidence that this was spurious
The next day, the US government admitted that it was a spy plane.
Eisenhower refused to apologise.
