The first part of the CIE 9489 A-Level history syllabus summarised. The key question of the section is 'How did US-Soviet relations develop between 1950 and 1980? It covers the Impact of the death of Stalin, Peaceful coexistence, the impact of key events in Asia and Europe, e.g. Korea, Hungary, Ber...
How did the US-Soviet relations
develop between 1950-1980?
Impact of the death of Stalin
The new leaders of 1953
● Eisenhower won the presidential elections in November 1952
● Stalin died and ended his dictatorship on 5 March 1953
● He was replaced by Nikita Khrushchev
President Eisenhower
● Eisenhower promised to take a harder approach towards the USSR and even
talked about freeing the satellite states from Soviet control
● He considered using nuclear weapons in Korea in 1953 and Indo-China a
year later, however, he didn’t want to cause a nuclear war because he was
aware of the damage a few Soviet missiles could cause
● He and his Secretary of state, John F. Dulles, pursued a policy of
brinkmanship
Brinkmanship: appearing to approach the brink of nuclear war to persuade the
opposition to concede
● On 1 November 1952, the USA successfully tested their first hydrogen bomb
in the Pacific Ocean and so did the USSR a year later
● By the end of 1955, both sides had long-range aircraft able to drop these
weapons
● The US had more nuclear weapons but the USSR had enough to cause
considerable damage so he chose the peaceful containment of Soviet power
in Europe, rather than attempting to remove it by force
● Eisenhower’s ‘New Look’ policy was based on limiting spending and relying
on nuclear weapons as the most cost-effective way to deter Soviet aggression
● Eisenhower repeatedly warned that economic strength at home was the basis
for US hopes and a garrison state that devoted too much capital to the military
would risk these hopes
,Changes in the USSR after the death of Stalin
● Khrushchev, Malenkov, Molotov, Beria and Bulganin shared the power for 3
years after Stalin’s death
● At the same time, they were all political rivals and tried to consolidate
supreme power
● These people wanted to improve the living standards in the USSR and
dismantle the police state that Stalin created
● To be able to change, they needed to improve their diplomatic relations as
that would allow them to spend less on armaments
● In 1953, Malenkov declared that there was ‘no unresolved question that can’t
be settled by mutual agreement of the interested countries
● Malenkov also made peace with Tito and sent promising messages to the
countries bordering the Soviet Union
● Beria proposed the promotion of non-Russians in non-Russian republics and
the unification of Germany as a neutral state
Khrushchev takes over
● Khrushchev was made party leader in September 1953 and forced Malenkov
to resign as Prime Minister in February 1955
● Khrushchev was a risk-taker in foreign affairs as he believed that Soviet
socialism would eventually spread everywhere
● He also had the atomic bomb and in 1953, the hydrogen bomb
● Soviet rocketry was developing rapidly and there was a huge Russian
scientific community serving the military
● He was arrogant to other socialist states and he expected the leaders to defer
to him
● The demise of Stalin and the change of presidents in America made it
possible to negotiate an armistice in Korea along the 38th parallel and the
status quo by 27 July 1953
● Russian policy in Europe centred on Germany and to ensure that Germany
didn’t rearm and become a threat again
● Until 1955, the Austrian and German policies were similar, as the goal was to
create unified, neutral states
● Austria was divided into 4 occupational zones, the Soviets had sought
economic benefits from their occupation and Western powers moved to aid
their zones during the 1947 crises
● The Soviets saw neutrality as better than partition, in line with Khrushchev’s
acceptance of Finnish and Yugoslavian neutrality
● It also showed their intentions to negotiate seriously with other matters
● This didn’t happen in Germany because the West was afraid that a unified
Germany might slip into the Soviet orbit
● In May 1955, Moscow decided to separate the two states and accept a united,
neutral Austria
, ● The Austrian Peace Treaty was signed by the Big Four and resulted in the
withdrawal of all foreign troops
● This was the first time that Soviet troops voluntarily left a country they had
occupied since 1945
● NATO wasn’t able to use Austria as a link between West Germany and Italy
● The occupation of West Germany came to an end and it joined NATO in May
1955
● The GDR was admitted into the Warsaw Pact, the Russian response to NATO
Brinkmanship
● Discussions began which increased the cultural and economic contact
between the superpowers
● Fear of war, domestic pressures and a desire to court international opinion
were key considerations in leading the superpowers to resume summit policy
● Eisenhower and Dulles weren’t always keen
● The Europeans were more influential in Geneva than the Americans
● Dulles refused to sign the accords on Indochina and little progress was made
on Taiwan but compared to the Truman-Stalin years, the talks that took place
were significant in improving the relations
● U2 spy planes flew over the communist bloc from 1955 to 1960
● The propaganda competition continued and the CIA and KGB spread
misinformation through the world’s media, creating myths about each other
The West and Detente
Eisenhower’s Response 1953
● On 16 April 1953, he announced that any improvements in US-Soviet
relations would depend on free elections in Eastern Europe
● In May, Churchill suggested a 4 power conference where they would discuss
German unification and militarization
● This was unpopular with Adenauer, the West German Chancellor
● Western powers were afraid that an independent Germany would be
vulnerable to pressures from the USSR and they’d eventually remove the
Western European economic and military systems
● Adenauer and Eisenhower agreed to discuss possible agenda for talks at a
conference of foreign ministers, which happened in December in Bermuda
The USSR and the GDR, April to June 1953
● In 1953, the Soviet Foreign Office made proposals for German unity,
submitting them to the US, Britain and France
, ● It suggested that a provisional government be created of politicians from both
German states and the removal of all foreign troops of occupation
The crisis in the GDR
● The GDR reorganised its economy following the model of the USSR
● In 1951, its first five-year plan was launched, which planned to double the
industrial output
● By 1952, this aim was achieved by the production of iron, steel and chemicals
● Ulbricht wanted to further increase production so he increased the workers’
individual production targets by 10%, while there were sharp rises in the price
of food and the price of public transport
● Farmers were also threatened by the collectivisation of agriculture along
Soviet lines
● The tensions increased in 1953 when non-communist politicians were
arrested
● The SED, the GDR’s communist party, showed that there were internal
indicators that may want to challenge the government’s economic plans,
which were causing resentment in the country
● A lot of East Berliners fled to West Berlin and through Berlin’s open frontier
(no wall yet)
● As many of these people were professionals, skilled workers and farmers,
their departure deprived the GDR economy of vital human resources
Soviet concern
● If an anti-government revolt erupted in the GDR, Soviet troops would have to
intervene which would threaten the USSR’s new policy of detente
● The Presidium of Soviet leaders met to consider the problem
● Beria, the head of the KGB, began to reassess the value of the GDR to the
Soviet bloc
● The GDR was expensive and an unstable state to support and it was an area
of tension with the Western bloc
● The Deputy Prime Minister, Malenkov, urged his colleagues in the Presidium
to propose to the USA, Britain and France that a united, neutral Germany is
formed
● He argued that to achieve unification on such terms, Germany will be willing
to pay substantial reparations to the USSR
● Beria and Malenkov failed to win the other politicians over, as they still wanted
a united, communist Germany
● However, Ulbricht was invited to Moscow on 2 June
● Ulbricht was told to pursue a more conciliatory approach so that the different
groups within the GDR don’t feel antagonised and to abandon his programme
for rapid socialisation
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