Transcript Khrushchev and the Warsaw Pact

Khrushchev and the Warsaw
Pact
Is the Cold War thawing now that
Stalin is dead?
Stalin dies in 1953 of a heart attack.
Nikita Khrushchev will become first secretary of
the Communist Party in 1953, then Prime
Minister in 1958 - 1971
After Stalin’s death, the Communist Party support was
weakened due to Stalin’s killings.
Leadership switches hands between Georgy Malenkov
(Prime Minister immediately after Stalin), Lavrenty
Beria (head of the Soviet secret police and a deputy
prime minister), and Vyacheslav Molotov.
Khrushchev gains support throughout these 5 years.
While denouncing Joseph Stalin in a speech
one day, Khrushchev was interrupted by a
voice from the audience:
"You were one of Stalin's colleagues," the
man declared. "Why didn't you stop
him?"
"Who said that!?" Khrushchev roared.
This was followed by a terrified silence - only
broken at last by Khrushchev himself.
"Now..." he said in a quiet voice, "Now you
know why."
De-Stalinization (1956)
Khrushchev:
“After Stalin’s death, the Central Committee began to implement a policy of
explaining concisely and consistently that it is impermissible and foreign to
the spirit of Marxism-Leninism to elevate one person, to transform him into a
superman possessing supernatural characteristics, akin to those of a god.
Such a man supposedly knows everything, sees everything, thinks for
everyone, can do anything, is infallible in his behavior.
Such a belief about a man, and specifically about Stalin, was cultivated among
us for many years. The objective of the present report is not a thorough
evaluation of Stalin’s life and activity. Concerning Stalin’s merits, an entirely
sufficient number of books, pamphlets and studies had already been written
in his lifetime. Stalin’s role of Stalin in the preparation and execution of the
Socialist Revolution, in the Civil War, and in the fight for the construction of
socialism in our country, is universally known. Everyone knows it well.
At present, we are concerned with a question which has immense importance for
the Party now and for the future – with how the cult of the person of Stalin
has been gradually growing, the cult which became at a certain specific stage
the source of a whole series of exceedingly serious and grave perversions of
Party principles, of Party democracy, of revolutionary legality.”
Speech Delivered: February 24-25 1956;
http://www.marxists.org/archive/khrushchev/1956/02/24.htm
De-Stalinization (1956)
• Khrushchev reveals the following in his speech
to Congress:
– Stalin’[s purges
– Creation of the myth (Stalin as a hero)
– Accused Stalin of destroying democracy
• This came as a shock to the audience, some
fainted in disbelief
• Khrushchev distances himself from the purges
stating that they took place before he came into
office (1939) – not altogether true
Process of De-Stalinization
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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Speech 1956 that denounces Stalin
Removal of Stalin’s body from the mausoleum in
Moscow
Releases prisoners held in Gulags
Greater policy of peace with the West
Freedom of media
Tolerance of religions
Not all completely fulfilled but steps taken towards
most of them
De-Stalinization is not capitalism, it is getting back on
track with communism
“You do not like Communism. We do not
like capitalism. There is only one way out
– peaceful co-existence.”
(Khrushchev speaking on a visit to Britain in 1956)
“We may argue. The main thing is to argue
without using weapons.”
(Khrushchev speaking in 1959)
Did Khrushchev really believe in
peaceful coexistence?
1. Arms Race: 1953 Russia develops the
Hydrogen Bomb
2. 1955 Burma and Afghanistan given economic
aid for supporting Russia
3. Space race:
•
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1957 Sputnik is launched
1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first astronaut to
orbit the earth
4. Propaganda war
5. Warsaw Pact
Propaganda War
Title: "American
Imports and
Exports“
Explanation:
American soldiers
are bringing in
Coca Cola, Kodak
film and
cigarettes, and
removing
Germany's art
treasures. This
was part of the
general claim that
the U.S. was an
uncivilized
country.
Propaganda War
Title: "The Resurrection"
Explanation: Konrad
Adenauer, the West
German chancellor, is
presented as standing
in Adolf Hitler's place,
carrying an American
flag and reading a fine
speech.
Warsaw Pact 1955
“Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and
Mutual Assistance Between the People's
Republic of Albania, the People's Republic
of Bulgaria, the Hungarian People's
Republic, the German Democratic
Republic, the Polish People's Republic,
the Rumanian People's Republic, the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and
the Czechoslovak Republic, May 14,
1955”
Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
• Use of the UN to settle disputes, not force
• Cooperation of securing peace
• Cooperation between treaty members in case of
an armed attack
• Joint command of armed forces
• No coalitions or alliances that conflict with
Warsaw Pact
• Respect the sovereignty of each country
• Foster economic relations
• 20 years, then reviewed by Polish government
for another 10 years
1964 Warsaw Pact Plan
• “Plan of Actions of the Czechoslovak People’s
Army for War Period “
• After an “assessment” of the “enemy”, it was
feared that NATO would launch a nuclear attack
on Czechoslovakia
• Russia to aid in attacking Western Germany –
attack calls for the use of 96 nuclear missiles
and 35 nuclear bombs
http://se2.isn.ch/serviceengine/FileContent?serviceID=PHP&fileid=9F6
4B1FE-9E5A-DF9E-885C-CBC8BB7BFAD3&lng=en
America Responds
1.
American Senator Joseph McCarthy (Rep) begins his witchhunt for communists in America
•
Losing support in his first years as a senator and is advised to
start a campaign to seek out communists in the Democratic part
to gain support
Works with Jack Anderson (a journalist) to trade information
about politicians, J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI
Claims that there are communist spies feeding intelligence to
the Russians and were therefore traitors to America
He goes wild with allegations – had a list of 205 alleged
communists that he later cuts back to 57 (part of the American
Communist Party)
Hollywood actors and writers were accused (Charlie Chaplin,
Orson Welles) – before McCarthyism
Targets anti-American books to rid of
HUAC (House-UnAmerican-Activities-Committee est 1934)
used to try suspected communists
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sentences include jailing (Alger Hiss) or execution (Julius & Ethel
Rosenburg)
America Responds
2. Propaganda War
“Today’s headlines shout of battles with the
Communist hordes in Korea – of Red Riots in
Rome and Paris and Berlin! But there’s
another secret battle taking place – RIGHT
HERE, RIGHT NOW! An unheralded,
underground fight between communism and
democracy for the youth of America. Here is
the story of my part in this battle… A tale of
love and communism, laughter and death…”
America Responds
3. Arms Race
• US Hydrogen
Bomb in 1952,
Russia in 1953
• Possession of
this technology
may have
stopped the
escalation of the
Cold War (MAD)
• Russia
focuses on
quantity of
missiles, US
on quality
• 1967 China
develops Hbomb
Arms Race
• 1955 500,000 troops stationed in West Germany (leads to
creation of the Warsaw Pact)
Arms Race
• B-52 Bombers that
could travel
6000mi to deliver
Nuclear bombs
Arms Race
• 1957
DEW Line
(Arctic
Defense
Early
Warning)
system
developed
– in
Canada
Arms Race stats 1967
NATO
WARSAW
2.6 million
4 million
TANKS
13,000
42,500
ARTILLERY
10,750
31,500
TROOPS
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/nuclear_arms_race.htm
America Responds
4) Space Race
“We have a long way to go in the space
race. We started late. But this is the new
ocean, and I believe the United States
must sail on it and be in a position second
to none.”
President John F. Kennedy, 1962
America Responds
4) Space Race
• Originates from the race to launch long
range rockets with nuclear warheads
• Satellites used for photographing enemy
areas
• Moon landing was not military, but a
defined goal of this race – part of civilian
activities and was publicized
Space Race
Sputnik:
• Launched in Oct 4,1957
• Instruments to measure density of
atmosphere
• Launch rocket = ICBM (intercontinental
ballistic missile)
• Strikes absolute fear in Americans
• Leads to the creation of NASA
• US launches Explorer 1 Jan, 1958
– Discovers radiation belts around the Earth
Space Race
Man in Space
• March 23, 1961 Russia launches
“Ivan Ivanovich”, a mannequin to test
their space suit
• April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin is
launched into space and
orbits the Earth once
• Pressures the US (Kennedy)
into speeding up their efforts
and they set their goal to get
to the moon first
Slide Rule
This is what engineers used to make
calculations about rocketry!!
Soviet Firsts
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal1
14/SpaceRace/sec300/sec331.htm
RUSSIA
USA
•April 1961 First man in space,
Yuri Gagarin's one-orbit flight
(Vostok 1)
•1961 First full day in orbit,
Gherman Titov (Vostok 2)
•1962 First two-spacecraft mission
(Vostoks 3 and 4)
•1963 First long-duration mission,
five days in orbit (Vostok 5)
•1963 First woman in space,
Valentina Tereshkova (Vostok 6)
•March 18, 1965, Aleksei Leonov
became the first person to venture
outside an orbiting spacecraft.
•May 1961--American astronaut
Alan Shepard went briefly into
space, but not into orbit, Mercury 3
•February 1962--John Glenn spent
five hours in orbit on Mercury 6.
•June 1965--Gemini IV astronaut
Edward White made the first U.S.
spacewalk.
Firsts Continue
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal1
14/SpaceRace/sec300/
RUSSIA
USA
• September 1968 unmanned
Zond spacecraft circles the moon
and returns to Earth
• October 1968 unmanned
circumlunar flight
• December 1968 Apollo 8 orbits
moon with crew and returns safely
• May 1969 lunar descent module
is tested to a low altitude above
the moon
• July 21, 1969 America’s Apollo
11 mission lands on the moon and
the space race ends
(Russia lacked a rocket reliable
enough to land on the moon but they
had everything else, suit, orbiter, etc.)
• 1970 landing of robotic roverphotos and analyze rock samples
(overshadowed by the American
landings)
America Responds
5) U2 Spy Planes 1956
• Flies higher than fighter planes
• Equipped with the highest resolution
cameras
U2 photo (circa 1957)
Tyaratam Missile
Testing Range