I. The Soviet Union (USSR) under Khrushchev: 1956-1964
A. Stalin’s Last Years
1. Following WWII, Joseph Stalin imposed new Five-Year Plans emphasizing extensive industrialization.
2. Stalin insisted on absolute obedience. Dissent brought imprisonment, slave labor, or death.
3. Stalin’s reign of terror came to an abrupt end with his death in 1953. After a brief period of “collective leadership,” Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the Soviet Union’s unrivaled leader.
B. Khrushchev’s Secret Speech
1. In 1956, Khrushchev boldly attacked Stalin in a “secret speech” delivered at the Twentieth Communist Party Congress in Moscow.
2. Khrushchev denounced Stalin’s reign of terror and repudiated his “cult of personality.”
C. De-Stalinization
1. Khrushchev’s program of de-Stalinization involved all the following:
a. Shifting some resources toward producing more consumer goods
b. Curbing the power of the secret police
c. Granting more freedom to writers and intellectuals
2. De-Stalinization permitted Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to publish One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. This short but powerful novel described the horrors of life in a Stalinist concentration camp.
3. Boris Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago illustrated the limits of de-Stalinization. The novel celebrated the human spirit and challenged the principles of communism. Although it was published in the West, Soviet censors denounced Pasternak and refused to allow him to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.
D. Sputnik
1. In 1957, a beaming Khrushchev proudly announced that the Soviet Union had successfully launched a 184-pound satellite named Sputnik into orbit around the earth.
2. Sputnik quickly became a symbol of Soviet technological prowess. Sputnik’s success played a key role in contributing to the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States.
E. Cold War Confrontations
1. The Berlin Wall
a. Between 1949 and 1961, more than 3 million East Germans fled to West Germany by crossing into West Berlin.
b. On August 13, 1961, the East German, with Khrushchev’s support, began construction of a concrete wall along the border between East and West Berlin.
c. The Berlin Wall stopped the flow of refugees while at the same time becoming a symbol of Communist oppression.
2. The Cuban Missile Crisis
a. Khrushchev precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis by constructing nuclear missiles in Cuba.
b. After a tense confrontation with the United States, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles in exchange for a U.S. promise to not attack Fidel Castro.
c. The Cuban Missile Crisis undermined Khrushchev’s credibility and played a key role in his ouster from power in 1964.
F. Eastern Europe
1. De-Stalinization raised hopes for more freedom in Eastern Europe. A wave of strikes and protests swept across East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary.
2. The protests in Hungary quickly escalated into a major crisis when Hungary’s liberal Communist leader, Imre Nagy, promised free elections and called for the removal of Soviet troops.
3. Khrushchev responded by ordering the Red Army to invade Hungary. After intense fighting, the Soviets crushed the rebellion and executed Nagy.
4. The United States did not assist Hungary because it lay within the Soviet sphere of influence.
A. Czechoslovakia and the Brezhnev Doctrine
1. In Czechoslovakia, a new communist leader, Alexander Dubcek, initiated a program of democratic reforms saying he wanted to create “socialism with a human face.”
2. Alarmed by Dubcek’s reforms, Brezhnev called on the other Warsaw Pact countries to invade Czechoslovakia and remove Dubcek from power.
3. Brezhnev justified the invasion by claiming that the Soviet Union (USSR) and its allies had the right to intervene in the domestic affairs of other Communist countries. This declaration became known as the Brezhnev Doctrine.
4. The United States refrained from taking any action because Czechoslovakia lay within the Soviet sphere of influence.