Transcript The Soviet Union as a Superpower

The Soviet Union as a Superpower
Chapter 30 (3 of 4)
Soviet Union a World Power After WW2
• Built up military
and heavy industry
Soviet Union a World Power After WW2
1) What technology did the U.S.S.R. acquire in 1949?
Soviet Union a World Power After WW2
Soviet Control Eastern Europe
East Europe Easy Targets for Takeover
• Relied on selling grain to western Europe, so hurt in
1930s by Depression
• Aristocrats owned all the land and supported
authoritarian rulers who protected their property
Soviets Drive Out Nazis
Make Eastern Europe Communist
2. What eastern European nation was
communist, but acted independently
of the Soviet Union?
Yugoslavia
What do these 2 men have in common?
They are both named Tito
Josef Tito
• President of
Yugoslavia during
Cold War
• Kept Yugoslavia
independent of
Soviet Union
East Europe Under Soviet Control
• Soviets help communists in those countries
repress rivals (including Roman Catholic Church)
• Collectivization in agriculture
• 5 Year Plans to build industry
3. What alliance was formed
amongst Soviet satellite nations
Warsaw Pact (1955)
Joseph Stalin Dies (1953)
4. I was premier of the Soviet Union
from 1955 – 1964. Who am I?
Nikita Khrushchev
De-Stalinization
De-Stalinization
• Nikita Khrushchev
denounces Stalin
• Stalin too hard-line (ex:
Purges)
• Despite this, Soviet
maintained strict control
over eastern Europe
Soviet Tension
in East Europe
Berlin Wall (1961)
• Built to stop people
from fleeing to
West Germany
Escapes over (and under) the Wall
• 171 people were killed or died attempting to
escape Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989
• Most famous tunnel was dug in a graveyard
where Germans would come to mourn the
dead and then “disappear” as they dropped
into the hole that was dug.
• More than 50 people escaped that tunnel until
a woman left her baby carriage behind, leading
to the tunnel’s discovery and closure
• There were many more tunnels to the other
side of the wall, but most of them either caved
in or were discovered
• Altogether, there were 71 tunnel projects and
20% of those were successful in escaping the
Berlin wall.
Escape From Communist East Berlin
5. What year was the Berlin Wall torn down?
1989
Poland (June, 1956)
• Polish began protesting Soviet-led communist rule
• Army put down rebellion, but Soviets agreed to
some changes
• Ended collectivization
• Catholic Church tolerated
• This sparked Hungary to begin uprising
Hungary (1956)
• Hungarians against Soviet control
• Soviets allow Imre Nagy to be Prime Minister
• When Nagy said Hungary withdrawing from
Warsaw Pact, Soviet troops called in
• 30,000 Hungarians killed brutally, and uprising
put down
Hungarian Revolution 1956
Causes
The basic cause of the Hungarian revolution was that the Hungarians
hated Russian communism:
Poverty
Hungarians were poor, yet much of the food and industrial goods they
produced was sent to Russia.
Russian Control
The Hungarians were very patriotic, and they hated Russian control –
which included censorship, the vicious secret police (called the
AVH after 1948) and Russian control of what the schools taught.
Catholic Church
The Hungarians were religious, but the Communist Party had banned
religion, and put the leader of the Catholic Church in prison.
Help from the West
Hungarians thought that the United Nations or the new US president,
Eisenhower, would help them.
Hungarian Revolution 195
On 23 October, there were riots of students, workers and soldiers.
They smashed up the statue of Stalin, and attacked the AVH and Russian
soldiers.
Hungarian Revolution 1956
Later that evening, the Revolution started at the
HUNGARIAN RADIO STATION where the students tried to
broadcast their demands.
On 24 October, Imre Nagy took over as Prime
Minister. He asked Khrushchev to take out the Russian
troops.
On 28 October, Khrushchev agreed, and the
Russian army pulled out of Budapest.
29 October – 3 November: The new Hungarian
government introduced democracy, freedom of
speech, and freedom of religion
On 4 November, at
dawn, 1000 Russian
tanks rolled into
Budapest. By 8.10 am
they had destroyed the
Hungarian army and
captured Hungarian
Radio – its last words
broadcast were ‘Help!
Help! Help”!’
Hungarian people – even
children – fought them
with machine guns.
Hungarian Revolution 1956
Young people took up arms to fight,
getting guns and ammunition from
the Hungarian police stations and
army depots.
Hungarian Revolution 1956
The Freedom
Fighters even
made Molotov
cocktails to
throw at the
tanks.
Hungarian Revolution 1956
Although the
Freedom Fighters
fought valiently for
another week, they
were no match for
the Soviets, and
within a few days,
the Hungarian
Revolution was over.
It is estimated that
about 3,000 Hungarians
were killed during the
uprising. About 12,000
were arrested and
imprisoned. Of these,
between 400 and 450
were executed. An
estimated 200,000
people managed to
escape to the West.
Hungarian Revolution Video (9:00)
Czechoslovakia: Prague Spring (1968)
• Czech leader Alexander Dubcek begins series of
democratic reforms
• Soviets send in troops and order Dubcek to
Moscow
• Dubcek sent back and repeals his reforms
Changes in Eastern Europe
• The arrival of communism in eastern Europe
ended the long-held power of the aristocracy
• Culturally, Russia began to have more
influence over eastern Europe than the West
• Russia had to have its troops ready to stop
discontent in eastern Europe, taking away
from potential Soviet power elsewhere
Postwar Soviet
Domestic Policy
Under Stalin Soviets Had Strict Limits
• Strict limits placed on travel and the media,
• Soviet people and culture isolated from world
• Communist bureaucracy grew under Stalin
• To keep job and advance, had to be loyal to
communist ideology and to Stalin
• Led to bland, boring officials
Communist Leaders Controlled Culture
• Art and literature censored to ensure they
were pro-Soviet
• Education used to train Soviet bureaucrats
and create a loyal citizenry
Soviets Greatly Reduced Influence of Church
6) What was the majority church in Russia?
• Orthodox Christianity
So, what did Soviets do to limit church:
• Church couldn’t teach religion to anyone
under 18
• Schools taught religion was superstition
• Soviet leaders stirred up anti-Semitism and
limited the freedom of Jews
7) In the past, Russia had launched government
sponsored attacks on Jews. What were these
called
• Pogroms
Soviets opposed Western culture
• Mocked Western artistic styles as
too decadent (morally poor)
• New forms of Western culture
barred from Russia (older forms,
such as classical music, remained)
• Socialist Realism = Popular Soviet
art style; glorifying heroic workers,
soldiers, and peasants
Economy and Society
Under Stalin, Soviet Union Industrialized
8) What were Stalin’s industrialization programs called?
• 5-Year Plans
• Soviet industrialization different than West
• In Soviet Union government controlled industries
• Despite industrialization, Soviet economy lacked
consumer products (ex: cars, light bulbs, etc.)
• These items hard to get, had to wait on long lines
Similarities Between Soviet Society and
Western Society
• Leisure activities - sports, movies, television, and vacations to the beach
• Different social classes emerged (workers v. educated middle class)
• Lower birth rates, focus on nuclear families (not extended families), less
infant deaths, better diets and medical care, and parents focused on
education for their children (though children in Soviet Union more
strictly disciplined, both at school and at home)
• Minority groups the ones with the highest birth rates (in Soviet Union,
that group was the Muslims in the southern Soviet republics)
• Difference: Western women homemakers while Soviet women needed
to work in factories, and women played large role in some professions,
including medicine