After Stalin's death

What year did Stalin die?

5th March 1953

Who were the new leaders after Stalin died?

• Nikita Khrushchev

• Georgy Malenkov

• Eisenhower

• Allen Dulles

• John Foster Dullers

What were the changes in the USSR after Stalin died?

• Malenkov & Khrushchev took over and launched immediately into fundamental reforms including attempts to improve relations with the West.

• A million prisoners were released from Gulag.

• Consumer goods and public housing was promised.

• Cultural controls were loosened.

What is the New Look policy?

It was the national security policy of the United States under Eisenhower that prioritised balancing Cold War commitments with economic stability.

What was included in the New Look policy?

• Reliance on nuclear weapons.

• Money devoted towards the air force.

• Strengthen its ties with US allies and broader anti-communist coalitions.

• “Massive retaliation”

What is the “Massive retaliation”?

It is a nuclear strategy where a state threatens a massive response like a nuclear attack in the event of any aggression from an enemy.

What did the US hope the Soviets would react towards the policy?

The possession of nuclear weapons arsenal would encourage the Soviets to tie the American line.

What is brinkmanship?

A negotiation strategy where one party pushes a dangerous situation to conflict where forces the other side to back down and make concessions.

What did Dulles say about brinkmanship? 

“going to the br

What were the benefits of the New Look policy?

• It was the most cost-effective way of fighting communism.

• It could be used to intimidate the Soviet bloc taking them to the brink of nuclear war.

• It reduced the risk of large-scale conventional war.

What were the drawbacks of the New Look policy?

What did Eisenhower do in order for the policy to go through?

• He decreased the funding of the army and navy. In 1954-58 number of USA personnel dropped from 140,000 to 100,000. 

• He used the CIA to covert operations and enhanced capacity for intelligence by gathering and interviewing the Third World.

What were the assumptions that undermined the New Look policy?

• Superiority of Anglo-Saxon civilisation over other civilisation.

• Protection of US business interests abroad was a legitimate aim of the policy.

• Commitment to making use of alliance designed to contain the USSR and PRC.

Who were the key people of Iran?

• Mohammad Mosaddegh (Leader of Tudeh and the PM)

• Mohammad Panlavi

What happened in Abadan Crisis?

• Between 1951 and 1953, Iran struggled to nationalise its industry because of the Anglo-Iranian oil company (AIOC).

• The Communist party (Tudeh) was jockeying for power with the nationalists. They were seeking to wrest control over the country’s oil and democratise the country.

Who did the USA back up in the Abadan Crisis?

They backed up the British government and the AOIC because:

• They saw the crisis as a potentially establishing force in Iran that could help Iranian government into power which could cause the Soviet expansion in the Middle East.

• Soviet control of Iranian territory would make the defence of Greece and Turkey impossible.

When was Mosaddegh removed by power and by who?

19th August 1953 and was removed by the CIA requested by Britain

When was Mosaddegh arrested and why?

21st December 1953 and was convicted of treason with a 3 year sentence.

Who took Mosaddegh’s place in power?

General Fazlollah Zahedi

What is SEATO?

It’s an organisation that was intended to contain communist powers and protect two former French territories which were Laos and South Vietnam. 

When was SEATO formed?

September 1954 (after Ho chi-minh’s victory over France)

Who were the members of SEATO?

• Australia

• New Zealand

• Pakistan

• Philippines 

• Thailand

• France

• UK

• USA

What is CENTO?

An treaty organisation thats goal was to contain the USSR by having a line of strong states along the USSR’s South Western frontier. 

When was CENTO formed?

24th February 1955

Who formed CENTO?

The Baghdad Pact of February 195

Who were the members of CENTO?

• Iran

• Iraq

• Pakistan

• Turkey

• UK

• USA (joined in 1958)

What happened to Guatemala in 1954?

• Land reforms and nationalization measures were undertaken by the government had significantly improved living standards and the United fruit company.

What is the Guatemalan coup d’etat?

An event that involved the CIA and Eisenhower that attempted to overthrow President Abenz.

What was the operation in the Guatemalan coup d’etat called and when was it created?

PBSUCCESS. It was created in August 1954.

What were the outcomes of this operation?

• The CIA and 480 men invaded in 18th June 1954 which was backed by a heavy campaign of psychological warfare.

• The Guatemalan government was intimidated and refused to fight.

• Abenz resigned in 27th June 1954 and while Carlos Armasu became military dictator on 7th July.

What was the Congo crisis?

It was the instability that begun after the independence from Belgium.

When was the Congo crisis?

1960

Who were the key people involved in the Congo crisis?

• Patrice Lumumba (President)

What did Lumumba do in the Congo crisis?

• His socialist party won the election in May 1960.

• He asked help from the UN and received little practical support so he turned to the USSR 

What did the Soviet’s provide Congo?

• Weapons.

• Logistical and material support.

• 1000 military advisors.

What was the USA’s view on Congo turning for the Soviets for help?

They believed that Lumumba was a puppet for the Soviets and that Congo would later become a Soviet puppet too.

What did the CIA say about Congo turning to the USSR?

“Congo experiencing a classic communist takeover”

What is the Geneva Conference?

It was a conference that was intended to settle issues from the Korean War and the First Indochina War.

When was the Geneva Conference?

26th April - 21st July 1954.

Who was Nikita Khrushchev?

What were Khrushchev’s aims?

• Consolidate power.

• To begin a process controlled liberalization which was signaled by the secret speech.

• To cut down corruption and distribute power more effectively.

• To change the political culture of the USSR by freeing-up security services to significantly reduce the number of political prisoners from Gulags.

What was Khrushchev’s foreign policy?

• To pursue “peaceful co-existence” to defuse military tensions with the West and consolidate leadership over the communist bloc. 

• Rebuild relations with Tito’s Yugoslavia

• Dissolve Com-inform.

What is the “peaceful co-existence”?

The idea that individuals, groups or nations with different values and beliefs can love together without hostility.

What is the Secret speech?

It was a speech made by Khrushchev which criticized Stalin and created the de-Stalanization campaign.

When was the Secret speech?

25th February 1956.

What was in the Secret speech that criticized Stalin?

• Stalin’s cult of personality was labelled as “cult of an individual”.

• The fight with Trotsky-ism was purely ideological because Stalin introduced the notion of the “enemy of the people” to be used as heavy artillery in the 1920’s.

• Doctors plot of 1952-53.

• Manifestations of personality cult-songs, city names, lyrics of the national anthem of the USSR.

• Criticized Stalin’s “intolerance, brutality and his abuse of power” against “individuals who had not committed any crimes”

What did Kolakowski say about Stalin?

• “Stalin had simply been a criminal and a maniac”

• “a bloodthirsty paranoiac .. unlimited despotic power over a country if two hundred million inhabitants”

What was the impact of the Secret speech?

• Khrushchev promised to end stalinism throughout the entire Soviet sphere of influence.

• He released many prisoners who had been locked up during Stalin’s purges.

• He closed down Com-inform and called Stalin a “wicked tyrant.

• He dismissed some of Stalin’s most trusted ministers like Molotov.

What were the key events that happened in Yugoslavia in 1955-56?

• Khrushchev visited Belgrade in May 1955 and publicly shamed Stalin for the break in relations in 1948.

• Khrushchev and Tito issue a communique in which they agreed that “the path of socialist development differed in various countries and conditions, that the multiplicity of forms of socialist developments tend to strengthen socialism and that any tendency of imposing one’s opinions on ways and forms of socialist development is alien to both”  which links to poly centrism.

What is poly centrism?

The concept of having multiple centres of authority, power or importance within a single system.

What is the Polish Uprising?

A worker strike which later escalated into violent riots against the communist government.

When was the Polish Uprising?

1956.

What happened during the Polish Uprising?

• Former president Beirut died and Khrushchev elected Ochab to implement de-Stalinisation in March 1956.

• Workers went on strike to protest at wage outs and working conditions.

• Wladislaw was elected as the first secretary of Polish United Workers Party. Khrushchev objected and faced with losing his route through East Germany