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Summary CIE History A Level: US–Soviet relations during the Cold War, 1950–91
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Theme 1 in International option, Depth study 3: International history, 1945–92
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Paper 4: Us Soviet Relations during the Cold War (1950-91)THEME 1
Developing US-Soviet relations develop between 1950 and 1980
1950’s: USSR
Initial debate as to how foreign policy should develop post WW2:
1. Trotsky’s ‘Permanent Revolution’- USSR to propel communism forward and expand as
much as possible.
2. Stalin’s ‘Socialism in One Country’- build up the power of Russia and once security needs
are met then can expand.
During 1930’s Stalin preached his method rather than Trotsky’s up until his death in 1953:
Followed a cautious foreign policy based on traditional Russian security needs.
He was more akin to a traditional Tsarist ruler, than a revolutionary calling for the
workers of the world to overthrow the capitalist system.
He encouraged other communist movements but not actively.
Nicknamed ‘The Red Tsar’ – blend of Soviet nationalist but not committed to
revolutionary communist activities.
Red Plenty:
Time where the USSR and communism seem powerful-ish/ had the greatest potential &
a viable alternative.
Eastern Europe was integrated with the Soviet Union’s economic needs, so that it could
offset weaknesses in Russian industry and agriculture.
Poland, for example, would mine coal and build ships – its area of expertise.
By 1947 many Soviet industries had attained pre-war levels of production, with the help
of 2 million German prisoners of war.
By 1955 industrial production had doubled pre-war levels in Czechoslovakia and East
Germany, while in Poland it was five times as great.
During the years 1955-65 Russian output of oil and electricity increased 300%.
There is economic growth, welfare provisons etc
BUT Independent labour unions were not allowed & government censorship was in
operation.
Impact of death of Stalin
1953:
End of the Korean War
Stalin died on 5 March 1953 – BIG CHANGE FOR USSR FOREIGN POLICY
The inevitable struggle for the succession took place.
Changes of leadership:
Georgi Malenkov became the new head of the Council of Ministers (PM) and general
secretary of the communist party - this was seen as too much power, and very quickly he
was forced to relinquish his position as party secretary.
Nikita Khrushchev became the new party secretary - he used the considerable powers of
patronage that came with the job to develop his own party machine.
In June 1953 Lavrenti Beria (head of the secret police under Stalin) was arrested on false
charges of subverting communist rule in East Germany. In December 1953 he was sent
before a firing squad.
By 1955 Malenkov had been removed from his position as government head and by
1958 Khrushchev was head of the Council of Ministers. Malenkov was sent to Siberia to
, manage a hydroelectric station.
Molotov (Nazi-soviet pact) lost his job as foreign minister and became ambassador to
Outer Mongolia.
Stalin’s death led to eastern European uprisings: GERMANY.
o WHY UPRISING
o East berlin & Germany against brutality of Stalin’s rule
o In June 1953 demonstrations took place in East Berlin against the communist
authorities.
o Workers were threatened with a one-third reduction in wages if productivity did not rise
by 10%.
o Soviet leaders had urged the East Germans to introduce reforms, but the head of the
East German communist party, Walter Ulbricht, was a hard-line Stalinist.
o Ulbricht – communist leader in eastern Europe was more hardline & brutal than soviet
leaders.
Neutral Germany:
o Soviet leadership toying with idea of German neutrality in early 1950’s (west and east
pull out of Germany)
o Wanted because: 1. it costs a huge amount & 2. USSR would not become involved in
fierce competition in central Europe.
o Stalin proposed the idea to the West in March 1952, but it was rejected.
o BUT Austria was declared neutral in 1955 – also was divided
o Ulbricht was far also less keen on the idea - his government was unpopular and the
Federal Republic was more populous – in free elections he would certainly lose.
o Ulbricht decided to accelerate the industrial development of East Germany in an
attempt to demonstrate its importance to the USSR: it was this decision that led to the
uprisings in 1953.
THE UPRISING:
o Marches that began in East Berlin soon spread to Leipzig, Jena, Magdeburg and
Dresden.
o On the 17 June 1953 the Soviets intervened with troops and tanks – typical
uprising put down & control reasserted.
o The disturbances began to spread outside East Germany:
Anti-government riots took place in Pilsen (Czechoslovakia).
Strikes occurred in Hungary and Romania.
Trouble broke out in Siberia.
o Led to revaluation of how they are going to rule/ change of policy in eastern
Europe (backlash against Stalinism):
o Reforms put anti-stalinist in control:
Imre Nagy, was made PM in Hungary in June 1953
Kremlin factionalism, however, meant that Nagy was left
without support 18 months later, and he was expelled from the
party.
Wladislaw Gomulka was readmitted to the Polish communist party in
1956.
o In the USSR thousands of prisoners were released from labour camps in 1953,
55 and 56.
, o 1953-56 soviet diplomacy embarked upon a new course (associated with
Khrushchev) vv
Peaceful Co-existence: 1950’s
We can co-exist without blowing each other up.
Khrushchev believes in communisms power to do good.
Sometimes the years between 1953 and 1956 with regard to Soviet diplomacy are
called the "New Course" referring to the Soviet--and at first Malenkov and then
Khrushchev--attempt to reduce Cold War tensions.
At the nineteenth party congress in 1953, Malenkov delivered the main report on the
international situation stating ' Peaceful Coexistence’ will win."
Khrushchev solidified the concept in Soviet foreign policy in 1956 at the 20th Congress
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Nikita Khrushchev: in power from 1953
o Born in 1894 into a poor family near Kursk in south-western Russia.
o He received very little formal education.
o He joined the Bolshevik Party in 1918 and served in the Red Army during the
Russian Civil War.
o In 1929, Khrushchev moved to Moscow to attend the Stalin Industrial Academy.
o In 1931, he began to work full-time for the Communist Party, rising through its
ranks to become first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee in 1938.
o The following year he became a member of the Politburo, the highest decision-
making body of the Communist Party.
o During World War Two, Khrushchev worked as a political commissar in the
army.
‘Khrushchev Thaw’ – His era of rule
It saw:
o Limited measures of liberalisation introduced.
o Spending on social insurance rose from 17.2 billion roubles to 70.2 billion
between 1950 and 1960
o Allows publication of ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’ (1962) which was
about the horrors of soviet labour camps & an attack on stalin
The writer, Francis Spufford, in his book Red Plenty has argued that the years 1957-62
were when the USSR looked like a viable alternative to the West and a potential
economic powerhouse.
Examples of peaceful co-existence
Khrushchev tried to demonstrate his commitment to peaceful coexistence:
o He attended international peace conferences - Geneva summit 1955 aka 1st
meeting of US& USSR since Potsdam (10 years)
o He travelled internationally - America's Camp David (1959)
o The World Peace Council founded in 1949 and largely funded by the Soviet
Union attempted to organize a peace movement in favor of the concept
internationally.
o In 1955 Khrushchev visited Tito in Yugoslavia to restore relations
o He also visited India.
o He had a more jovial manner/style – unheard of with Stalin
He’d keen to promote/expand communism globally and increase relations
, o Khrushchev argued that while socialism would eventually triumph over
capitalism, this would be done not by force but by example.
o Khrushchev’s commitment towards communism was displayed in the 1959
Moscow ‘Kitchen Debate’ with Vice President (at the time) Nixon: both the
USSR and America tried to highlight the superiority of their economic
respective systems.
He also Wants to promote communism in Africa – ussr and communism hadn’t been
colonising Africa instead it was capitalistic European countries – communism way to
overthrow colonialism.
1956: USSR
Shows progressive nature of peaceful co-exisistence as well as limitations
February 1956: Khrushchev went before the Twentieth Congress of the Soviet communist party
and delivered the famous secret de-Stalinization speech (Secret Speech), attacking the former
leader as a pathological criminal.
He did this because:
1. He had been a figure in Stalin’s gov: so de-associating himself with Stalin.
2. Trying to offer a more positive stream of communism – attempt to move away from
brutal Stalinist years BUT still totalitarian gov
3. Target audience China – USSR & China relations in decline – by attacking Stalin this
attacks Chinas foreign policy
The speech was never published in the USSR:
o Copies were made available to party members and foreign communist parties.
o The CIA obtained a copy by June 1956.
Stalin’s body was removed from the mausoleum on Red Square and reinterred by the walls of
the Kremlin.
June 1955: Khrushchev visited Tito and expressed regret for earlier tensions.
All of these actions seemed to hold out hope that the countries in Eastern Europe could
acquire greater autonomy.
Expectation of greater reform in Eastern Europe:
Poland uprising: 1956
o 28 June 1956, locomotive workers in Poznan (one of Poland’s major industrial centres)
went on strike against government imposed wage cuts.
o This turned into a city-wide strike was put down in a few days (53 killed).
o Wladislaw Gomulka (moderate), was readmitted to the party and restored to the Central
Committee, although Stalinists remained in the majority.
o By the autumn, it seemed clear that Gomulka would be appointed General Secretary.
o Soviet troops were placed on alert around Warsaw as a show of strength.
o Demonstrators now took to the streets against Soviet power .
o Gomulka promised Moscow that he would preserve communist rule and that Poland
would remain a loyal member of the Warsaw Pact.
Hungary Uprising: 1956
o Most significant area of tension
o An example of dual nature of peaceful co-existence – one hand progressivism, on the
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