2. De-Stalinization
• at the Twentieth Communist Party Congress in
1956, Khrushchev announced a new direction
for the USSR:
• he denounced Stalin's iron-fisted, repressive
methods
• he reiterated Lenin's contention that there are
“many roads to socialism” – unlike Stalin,
Khrushchev would permit some political
diversity in the USSR
• he announced his intention to support
developing countries as a way to peacefully
promote the growth of socialism
• 3rd world competition!
4. The Warsaw Pact - 1955
• a military alliance between
the USSR and Satellite
States
• a response to NATO
• also, an attempt by the new
Soviet leader, Nikita
Khrushchev, to bring
the satellite states to the
table – a more moderate
approach
• this is part of de-
Stalinization
6. Attempts at Breaking Soviet Domination
• In the relaxed atmosphere of post-Stalinism, several
satellite states attempted to either gain their
independence from the USSR or at least operate in a
more independent manner.
• There are small examples in nearly every satellite state,
but the most significant are in Poland, Hungary, and
Czechoslovakia
• In nearly every case, these attempts were met with
uncompromising force
7.
8. 1. Poland 1956
• Wladyslaw Gomulka – a
moderate communist
• Gomulka did not stray too far
from the Soviet model, but
tried to bring in some
reforms to allow Poles to
live more independently
• De-collectivization of
agriculture
• Lifted restrictions on the
Catholic Church
9. The Hungarian Revolution,
1956 • Stalinist Rakosi replaced by
Imre Nagy
• Nagy was initially like another
Gomulka…
• …But Nagy increased demands and
became anti-Soviet
• Announced he would be pulling
Hungary out of the Warsaw Pact
• Soviets send tanks – Khrushchev
may be a moderate, but his party
would never allow this
10.
11. • Many Hungarians,
mostly young
people, prepare to
fight them
• Hungarian
Uprising
• 30,000 killed &
200,000 fled
• Nagy executed
• Where were the
Americans?? Why
didn’t they help little
Hungary??
13. • Alexander Dubcek
came into power in 1968
and began to establish
his program of
“socialism with a
human face”
• Freedom of press,
assembly, worship, right
to strike
• About to bring in free
elections when Soviets
put the brakes on
14. • Leonid Brezhnev (Leader 64 to
82) established the Brezhnev
Doctrine: it is the right and
duty of fraternal socialist
countries to intervene in each
other’s affairs when socialism is
threatened
• This is a way to justify to use of
tanks and troops to crush the
Prague Spring
• Dubcek was arrested
• Czechoslovakia lost its attempt at
humanizing communism, and
experienced a harsh Soviet
reality for the next 20 years
15.
16. “Peaceful Co-Existence”
• this term comes from
Khrushchev’s 1956 speech in
which he announced that the
USSR was ready to peacefully
compete with the USA on a
global basis
• the word “peacefully” sounded
nice, but really this speech
signals the beginning of
aggressive competition for
clients – especially in the
Middle East
17. The New Berlin Crisis –
1959-60
• In 1959 Khrushchev proposed to the USA to make
Berlin a free city
• he suggested both Soviet and American troops
withdraw
• Americans suspected this was a ruse to initiate a
Soviet takeover of the entire city
• They were probably right
18. Summit Conference 1960
• talks broke down when Khrushchev walked out
• he was mad that the USA would not apologize for the
U2 incident
• the Americans had been flying their U2 spy-planes
over the USSR
• pilot Gary Powers was hit by a ground-to-air missile
(new technology), his plane crashed and he was
captured by the Soviets
19. The Berlin Wall
• in 1961 Khrushchev again pressured the Americans to
abandon Berlin
• The Soviets were embarrassed about the large number of
East Germans leaving to West Germany through Berlin
and its corridors to West Germany
• Most of these were skilled workers – the brain drain
• Kennedy increased American strength in Berlin
• Khrushchev answered back by building the Berlin Wall to
prevent this movement
• It began, simply, as a fence
• But became a concrete structure with armed “shoot to kill”
guards
• the wall became the central symbol of the Cold War
