...the leader and the secret speech of destalinization have seen the daily light both countries introduced their own paths to socialism, first Hungary and 12 years later the Czechoslovakia. Both of the events had similar and different causes and consequences, which will be analysed in this essay. Hungary as well as Czechoslovakia wanted to reform their system. Both countries wanted the reforms to find ‘National roads to socialism’, or as they called it in Czechoslovakia, ‘the socialisms with a human face’. Both countries before the reforms were led by hard line Stalinists, which were one of the clear causes that led to the destalinization and the reforms. In Hungary the leader before the introduction of the reforms was Matyas Rakosi, or as the Hungarian sometimes called him, ‘the Bald Butcher’. He was incredibly unpopular within Hungary; he has murdered many people, hard to estimate the number, and imprisoned over 200,000. He was closely linked with the Hungarian secret Police the AVH, which were even more unpopular and hated than Rakosi himself. As well as in Hungary, Czechoslovakia had their hard line communist dictator. His name was Antonin Novotny, and as well as Rakosi he was very royal to Stalin and Moscow. He wasn’t as hard-line as Rakosi but he was still very unpopular within Czechoslovakia, one of the actions that he has taken that expanded his unpopularity was that he didn’t set free the prisoners that were prisoned by the Czechoslovakian secret police. In all the countries...
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...disrupted and heavily damaged and it was vital that the future of the East and West were determined quickly and correctly as to avoid a rise in underlying tension. Due to the common enemy of Nazism having been removed, the differences in the political ideologies of the east and west were immediately highlighted consequently causing an initial rise in tension. Although at the time Stalin and the Soviet Union were solely thought to be to blame for the intense rise in tension during 1945-1949, there were more subtle and underlying issues which provoked more aggressive and inflammatory actions from the USSR which created this illusion that the East was the main instigator of tension. Stalin’s pragmatic political ideas of communist expansion contributed greatly to the increase in tension in the late 1940s; following the ACC granting the USSR a zone of the newly distributed Germany, the Ussr wanted to expand their communist sphere of influence outside of their controlled zones and with the annexation of Eastern Poland came the opportunity to introduce communism even though they had declared through the council that Poland should have the right to choose their own government through free elections. This policy of free elections to those nations who had lost the right to self-govern during the war had been supported in the Atlantic charter by Roosevelt and Churchill in 1941 where it stated that “people should have the right to choose their own form of government”. However, the Atlantic...
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...Sino-Soviet relations and from then on they could never be allies. Some historians argue that the deterioration in Sino-Soviet relations between 1958-1969 was due to personal rivalries. This is because before 1953, Mao (after taking over China following the revolution in 1949) saw Stalin as the leader of the World communist movement, and promised to follow the decisions of the Soviet Union in a letter to Stalin. However when Khrushchev took over the Soviet Union in 1954, Mao believed himself to be above Khrushchev and this caused initial tension, and upon Khrushchev's first visit to China, he stated that "conflict with the Chinese is inevitable." This was fueled by Mao's determination to form alliances within the Third World, where the USSR was already prominent, as both Khrushchev and Mao battled to be the leader of the World communist movement, and due to that there was an initial deterioration in Sino-Soviet relations, from this it is clear that...
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...USSR 1954 The Soviet Union installed KGB into their government security agency program. KGB helped form a new communist government in Russia and all places control by communism. This helped Russia and other countries controlled by communist. For example it helped assistance in governing in the Soviet Union, suppression of internal resistance, protecting leaders, punishment, Propaganda, and security operations. The activities of the secret police and suppression of dissidents were decreased while industrial espionage increased. USA 1954 U.S.A. initiates S.E.A.T.O. ( Southeast Asia Treaty Organization). This was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia. It was signed in the Philippines in September 1954. The members involved in it were Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand, France, UK, Pakistan, and the U.S. The primary objective was to block further communist from spreading into Southeast Asia. USSR 1955 In 1955 the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact. This was like N.A.T.O. but for the Soviet Union. This was a treaty between eight communist states of central and eastern Europe. These were the allied powers part of Russia’s Warsaw pact allegiance. Hungary, Poland, Germany, Romania, Czechoslovak, Albania, and Bulgaria. It was the same concept as N.A.T.O it was to be used to help there allies in battle or for there allies to help them. USA 1956 The U.S. enters its third war in the Cold War. Known as the “Suez War” it...
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...Cold War Summary Notes Topic 1 – The Beginnings of the Cold War 1945-1949 • Background – the ideologies of capitalism and communism and the governments of the USA and USSR. o The USA was a democracy and held free elections whereas the USSR was a Communist state. Elections were uncontested and all candidates were Communist. o In the USA business was privately owned, but in the USSR all business and industry were owned by the state. o In the USA there were great differences between the rich and poor. In the USSR there were tight controls on the amount of money that individuals could own. o Both the USA and USSR believed that other countries should be run in the same way that theirs was. o Many people in each country were strongly against the beliefs of the other. • It is important to realise that the differences in beliefs between the two countries alone did not cause the Cold War. The two countries had even been allies during World War Two. However, the USA had learned from the experience of the Second World War that they should not give in to the demands of dictators. Any action that was perceived as a threat of the spread of Communism would bring a reaction from the USA. The Yalta Conference • This was held in February 1945, before the end of the Second World War, when it was clear that Germany was losing the war in Europe. It was held at Yalta in the Ukraine. • The three main figures at the Conference...
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...Opposition is a constant theme faced by any political ruler. A common measure of success is how effective a ruler is at dealing with the problem of opposition, in comparison to his previous/succeeding rulers, in this instance, comparing Stalin to the Tsars Alexander II,III and Nicholas II, and Communist Leaders Lenin and Khrushchev, over a decade of Russian history. Under Stalin, the campaign to crush opposition began almost instantaneously. Initially, this came in the form of political opponents such as Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamanev and the left. Beginning with Trotsky, Stalin seized opportunity and dominated the 12th Party Conference in 1923, after Trotsky failed to capitalise on the chance to make the principal speech, which would arguably have enabled him to emerge as the next leader of Russia. Fraught with half truths and lies was Stalin’s speech, which diminished the position of Trotsky and subsequently enhanced his own profile. A fathom of mistakes from Trotsky would follow, including accusations of factionalism, absence in various Central Committee meetings and missing Lenin’s funeral, all provided Stalin to emerge as the loyal discipline of Lenin. Subsequently, a vicious campaign from Zinoviev and Kamanev was launched against Trotsky, questioning his loyalty and raising the issue of his opposition towards Lenin prior to 1917. In response, Trotsky published ‘The Lessons of October’ in which he attacked Zinoviev and Kamanev, branding them as the instigators, belittling...
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...had access to dope, I would have sold drugs. The fact that I became a spy is really insignificant. The point is that I became a spy because I needed money. It was as simple as that.” John Walker quoted in the book, Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring, authored by Pete Early (New York: Bantam Books, 1988). John Walker was born on 28 July 1937, the second son of James and Peggy Walker. His home life and upbringing was less than ideal, to say the least; his father was a violent alcoholic who eventually drove the family to bankruptcy and then abandoned them. As an adolescent, John Walker became first a troublemaker and eventually a petty criminal. After a high-speed chase through town when he was 17, he was caught by the police for burglarizing a men’s clothing store and a gas station. Arthur Walker, his older brother, had joined the U.S. Navy directly after graduating high school. Arthur Walker intervened and convinced the judge to allow John to join the U.S. Navy as well. It was quite common at the time to force problematic young men into military service in lieu of serving jail time. The school of thought was that military service would straighten him out and give him discipline and a direction in life. John Walker seemed to exemplify this school of thought. He entered the U.S. Navy in 1956 as a Radioman, and seemed to thrive. There is no record of discipline problems, and he made a very favorable impression on his Chain of Command. He was promoted quickly...
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...agriculturist, and was expected to increase the agriculture output in Russia by making it more efficient and streamlined. Brezhnev loosens control, and under him the Soviet Union begins to fall, he allows all dissidents to leave, and the Soviet Union is begins losing its power under him. Gorbachev ended the Soviet Union, and its power by allowing states to disband from the Warsaw pact, and free elections to take place. Stalin’s policy of absolute power caused the USSR to thrive while the people living in it to become unhappy, hungry, and have widespread famines. He used a secret police, and wanted to have everything under Government control, while the rest of the world saw him as erratic leader, domestically he was seen as a man to be feared. People being sent to Gulag’s became common, to such an extent it was hard to find someone who did not know anyone in a Gulag. Stalin had all his political opponents killed, and develops the first nuclear bomb for Russia, and has a giant arms race with the US. Under Stalin, the USSR become the first people to send a machine to space, and take over many colonies under the Warsaw Pact. While Stalin had many successful things, he did many things that people domestically hated. He had the Berlin Wall built so no one could leave. He had widespread famines due to wanting to collectivize farming and killing all the rich ones, who worked the hardest, and were the best at their job. Stalin also, led many purges of good generals, and political...
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...As a former Soviet citizen and Soviet Jew, I experienced a huge discrimination in the USSR. All Soviet citizens had passports with a record of nationality in them. Some people had Russian nationality, some Ukranian nationality, and some, like me, had a Jewish record on the first page. We needed to show a passport when applying for jobs, getting housing, or entering University. And when you had a Jewish record it was like being a registered sex offender in the US today. Jews were pariahs in the USSR. You should not tell anybody you were a Jew. Some Russian people would beat you. Silently, the Soviet government supported this. When I was a child, some neighbors knew we were Jews, so they sent their kids to fight with me. I was beaten many times, just because of the Jewish Scarlett Letter. The Soviet Police were responsible for maintaining the passport system, and putting the Scarlett Jewish ID there. This looks just like the situation for sex offenders in many states today. When their neighbors learn a sex offender family has moved next door, the sex offenders and their families are hassled, possibly their houses attacked, and some sex offenders have even been killed. After graduating from high school I was going to Leningrad University. A University worker asked for my passport. He made a note about nationality, and told me there are too many Jews here. As a result I got an F on my first test, and could not enter University. I was an A+ student in high school. When I tried...
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...control between Stalin, Bukharin, and Trotsky, the leader of the Red Army. Stalin took the lead with plans of industrialization and collectivization. While collectivization seemed to set standards for equality, it was greatly resisted and gave workers no motivation. With a lack of competition, there is an equality of poverty. Stalin then created 5 year plans with ambitious goals which successfully boosted the economy by 20% each year. While he does turn the USSR into a military and industrial power, it is through harsh and brutal tactics. In an attempt to match Western economic powers, Stalin completely ends private farming, forcing people to work on state farms. This leads to famine and an era of repression where the KGB acts as the secret police. There is heavy censorship and even leaders within the party find themselves in danger. Public show trials force party members to confess to crimes they didn’t commit, facing either the Gulag or death. Following World War II, there was continuing tensions for the USSR as the Cold War began with Western fear of the spread of communism. With policies such as containment and the Red Scare in the US, an official war was avoided, but an arms race greatly escalated tensions. The death of Stalin in 1953, led to the rise of Khrushchev, who began to Destalinize. Despite this, tensions on the international scale, led to continual oppressive regulations in effort to compete with the West. The West feared the spread of the sphere of influence...
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...Use the historical interpretation (sources written in hindsight) and your own knowledge. How stable and how strong was the Russian regime on the eve of world war? The stability and strength of the Russian regime (autocratic rule of Tsar Nicholas II ) had remained untouched for several centuries, in a sense that it did not alter or fault through the hardships amongst the peoples of Russia/Empire as a whole as a means of the 'sole,righteous' system of autocracy. It was successful in terms of maintaining Tsardom/Romanov dynasty since the early 17th century; surely a revolution would have occurred before the 20th century as most of Europe and America had experienced a mass cultural movement of emerging liberal ideas and reasoning, known as the 'Age of Reason' or 'The Enlightenment'. However this was not the case as the Russian regime under the Tsar had collapsed towards the end of the first World War when he was forced to abdicate from the throne; some would argue that it was inevitable due to the unpopular attitudes towards the social and economic conditions which left the majority of the population in severe poverty. Others may disagree with this inevitability due to such events that could not directly blame the Tsar such as 'Bloody Sunday' in 1905, the state that Russia had been left in by, Alexander III and most notably the role of Prime Minister, Pyotr Stolypin. The focus of analysis will be to explore key leaders/figures and events, and to create a judgement to which degree...
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...and turmoil Kennedy- narrow victory in 1960 over Nixon- controversial because of his Catholic background- rebellious Congress defeated many of his proposals- alliance between Republicans and Southern Democrats New Frontier- advocated welfare expansion, namely in healthcare, education, and urban development- many proposals defeated Also advocated for a civil rights bill Military buildup-believer in the “missile gap”- USSR had more missiles than US, US needed to catch up Kept wages and prices low to spur economic growth- also helped by economic stimulus funding Failed to pass a tax cut 1961- Presidential Commission on the Status of Women- focused on gender equality- 1963- Equal Pay Act Warren Court- very influential period for the Supreme Court, especially for civil rights, due process expansion and the right to privacy Reynolds v. Sims-1964- Congressional districts must be composed of roughly equal population- rural voters previously had more influence because their Congressional districts were smaller while urban districts were larger Mapp v. Ohio- police could not use evidence unlawfully obtained Gideon v. Wainwright- right to an attorney Miranda v. Arizona- Miranda rights Engel v. Vitale and Abington School District v. Schempp- schools could not mandate or encourage prayer or Bible study Griswold v. Connecticut- states could not ban birth control- restricted right to privacy Cold War 1959- Castro takes over Cuba, turns communist, allied with Soviets- Khruschev ...
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...y Slide 1: Soviet Revolution Slide 2: 1905 - First Liberal Movements • ‘Bloody Sunday’: Workers wanted an improvement of their living conditions and claimed the necessity of a National Constituent Assembly. They went out to the front of the palace and showed their disagreement with the Tsar. • Tsar Nicholas II ordered his army to shoot against those people but, because of the population pressure, he had to create a parliament. Slide 3: The Parliament (Duma) had three parties: • The Constitutional Democratic Party – Kadett; • The Socialist Party – Mensheviks; • The Social Democratic Party - Bolsheviks. However, despotism remained in the Soviet regime and the Tsar controlled the parliament. Slide 4: 1917 - February Revolution • Kadett, with the population massive support, created a revolution. Again, Tsar ordered his army to shoot but, this time, they refused to do it. • Tsar’s army joined the revolution and the revolution won power against him. • It was implemented an interim government headed by Kadett. • Kadett intended to implement Liberalism. Slide 5: Monarchic Absolutist Regime -» Interim Government Slide 6: 1917 – October Revolution • Lenin returns from exile with the purpose to end with Liberalism and to impose Communism. • Lenin joins Trotsky and both lead a group of Bolsheviks that assault the parliament. • Through force, the Bolshevik Party dissolved the parliament (violence...
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...When Nikita Khrushchev came to power after Josef Stalin's death in 1953, the new Soviet leader hoped to restructure the USSR along less harsh Stalinist, lines. Khrushchev famously sought to de-Stalinise the USSR and part of his reforms saw him demand changes to an economy that had a less than successful agricultural sector and industries that prioritised heavy machinery over everything else. While some aspects of the Stalinist economy were regarded as successful and therefore continued (for example, heavy industry remained a priority), it was now recognised that other areas were in much need of improvement. Heavy industry had always been favoured over light industry and this led to a severe lack of consumer goods. The brutal methods used by the Stalinist government to collectivise the agricultural sector left millions of peasants bitter and resentful; the agricultural question remained one of the most difficult problems for leaders and policy makers. Moreover, the supposedly planned economy was, in places, more improvised than planned, causing numerous difficulties. Rectifying the problems in the Stalinist economy was crucial for Khrushchev, for the Soviet people and for the Soviet Union. The USSR had to maintain its position as a superpower during the Cold War. This was not only a military consideration but also one of ideological legitimacy, as the USSR had to prove to the world that Soviet socialism was better than the capitalist West. Khrushchev believed that one way of...
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...How successful was Khrushchev’s policy of destalinization Destalinization was a political reform launched by Soviet Communist Party First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev at the 20th Party Congress, otherwise known as the secret speech. The main components of the reforms were changing or removing prominent institutions that had helped Stalin remain in power; the Stalinist political system, political party members that had supported him (beginning with the arrest and subsequent execution of political rival Lavrentiy Beria) and the removal of the Gulag labour camp system. Khrushchev was desperate to present himself as a reformer, completely breaking away from the reliance of ‘fear into submission’ tactics of the Stalinist era, by presenting himself as a ‘man of the people’. He wished to lessen the gap between the soviet leadership and the people, whilst undermining his predecessors’ dictatorship rule. It has been argued that his attempt to end the use of terror both in political and public life and the reintegration of those who had fallen victim to said terror, was one of the successes of the destalinization policy. This included the released of five million prisoners from labour camps. A total of eight million prisoners had been released by the end of 1956. Shortly after, in 1961, Khrushchev initiated a campaign to rename cities that previously honoured Stalin; Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd. Stalin’s persona was publicly attacked; most importantly in destroying his image...
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