Tricky Questions - Soviet Policy Post Stalin Flashcards
What was Stalins response to the cold war?
- Tightening state/party control
- Relentless economic mobilisation
- Nuclear weapons programme
How did Stalin respond to marshall plan?
- sovietisation of Eastern Europe, only Marshal Tito held out in Yugoslavia
When was the establishment of Cominform?
- Cominform established 1947
Describe Stalin’s purges
- 93 of 139 on central committee
- 81 of 103 generals
- 3 million party members
What did Krushchev do after Stalin’s death?
- Destalinisation
When was the secret speech?
What did it include?
- 20th Party congress 1956
- Denounced Stalin purges, responsible for 600,000 to 1.2 million deaths
- Criticised his mangement of the war effort
- Did not like cult of personality
How was Krushchev fairly liberal?
- Freed thousands of political prisoners
- Relaxation of censorship to some extent
When was the Sino soviet split (roughly?)
- 1960ish
What and when was the Berlin crisis?
- November 1968 - 1961.
- Kruschev ordered western forces to vacate Berlin within 6 months because many East Berliners were going into the west
During the Berlin crisis Kruschev was willing to cooperate how? However what stopped the talks?
- September 1959 Kruschev and Eisenhower met for discussions. But in May 1960 a U2 spy plane being shot down ruined hopes of cooperation
Krushchev liked the concept of what foreign policy?
- Peaceful coexistence
Krushchev gave aid to who?
- Cuba, Egypt, India (he also supported the non aligned movement)
Who led the Hungarian revolution (post 20th party congress)?
- Imre Nagy, october 1956
What did Imre Nagy want from his political system?
- Multiparty
What did Imre Nagy announce in 1956?
- He wanted to leave the Warsaw pact
When the Soviets deposed Nagy government what were the population costs?
- 5000 dead
- 2500 casualties
- 350 executed
What was the western response to the Hungarian uprising?
- ONLY RHETORICAL SUPPORT
- Free Europe radio encouraged a rise up
- No intervention despite talk of rollback by dulles admin
What was the Truman administration strategy to the soviet union?
- deter provocation, proportionality, limited response
= never wanted to use nuclear weapons in Korea to break stalemate
When was start of Eisenhower admin?
1953 (to 1961)
- his secretary of state was Dulles
What was the Eisenhower administration like?
- Fiscally conservative, containment on a budget
- First president to integrate nuclear weapons into strategic and diplomatic thinking
Quote from Dulles?
- Before he died in 1959 “neutrality has increasingly become and obsolete conception”
What was Dulles new look?
Plus two key policies related to this
More investment on weapons and less on conventional forces as best way to deter aggression
- Doctrine of massive retaliation 1954, Dulles “to retaliate instantly, by means an places at our own choosing”
- Brinkmanship “to get to the edge without getting into the war is the necessary art”
Describe the use of atomic diplomacy under Eisenhower
- Indochina 1954 - 1958
- Formosa straits
- Threatens nuclear weapons to break Korean deadlock
Exemplify brinkmanship in action
- USA never got involved in Hungary
How and when were the USSR winning the space race?
- 1957 = first satellite in space, sputnik
When were Soviet threats of rocket attacks
- Suez 1956
- Berlin crisis
- Formossa straits
Exemplify Russia winning ICBM
- 1957 is first Russian ICBM
- 1959 is first American ICBM
Overview of the Eisenhower administration?
- Brought down military spending
- Avoided military intervention in Berlin
- Formosa straits military avoided 1958
- Ended Korean war
What was JFK policy after Eisenhower?
- Flexible response
China goes nuclear?
- 1964
