Global ConnectionsGlobal ConnectionsUnit 12Unit 12

Stalin’s USSREastern and Western Europe

The United States

The Reign of StalinThe Reign of StalinPost WW II the # 1 problem facing the

USSR was the lack of an industrial baseSolution: Soviet workers were asked to

work with very little return for themselves◦Mostly heavy industry◦Profit used to purchase machinery and Western

technology◦Result: 40% increase in production from Pre-war

levels Problem: Soviet people shortchanged (conditions,

consumer goods)

The Khrushchev EraThe Khrushchev EraMarch 5th 1953 Stalin diesAfter a scramble for power the General

Secretary of the Com. Party Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the leader

1956: Mr. K condemns Stalin and began a policy of De-Stalinization◦Consumer goods, agricultural reform, more

military spending◦Result: Industrial production fell

All of this combined with foreign policy failures led to Mr. K’s retirement in 1964

Behind the Iron CurtainBehind the Iron CurtainBy 1947 USSR dominated E.

Germ, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Czechoslovakia◦These countries all had Soviet troops

and only one political party (“Satellites”)

◦Economies and societies modeled on the USSR

Albania and Yugoslavia: both had strong independent communist parties during the war and resisted Soviet domination

Yugoslavia and Marshall Tito (Josef Broz) in power until his death in 1980

Marshall Tito

Revolts against CommunismRevolts against CommunismProblems with Communism in Eastern

Europe◦Many countries began to pursue different socialist

paths (late 1950’s) 1956 Poland: Reforms of Wladyslaw Gomulka cut short

by the USSR

HungaryHungary 1956 Hungary: Imre Nagy declared Hungary a

free nation◦Krushshev rolled tanks into Budapest◦Nagy was arrested and later executed

CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia 1968 Czechoslovakia: After the resignation of Antonin Novotny (little Stalin) Alexander Dubcek was elected to run the Communist Party◦Reforms (speech, press, democracy, independence) led

to the “Prague Spring”◦August 1968 the Soviets crushed the reforms and

removed Dubcek

The end of the Cold WarThe end of the Cold WarBy the 1970’s US Soviet relations had

reached a new phase called Détente◦Relaxation of tensions and improved relations

However, in 1979 this was broken by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (Brezhnev Doctrine)◦To restore a soviet regime◦US President Jimmy Carter boycotted the 1980

Olympics in Moscow◦Ronald Reagan refers to them as the “Evil

Empire” Aid to Afghan rebels New arms race

JFK and LBJ

Truman and MacArthur

Leonid Brezhnev

Nikita Kruschev

Mikhail GorbachevMikhail Gorbachev

Began a new era in Soviet politics by instituting radical reforms◦Glasnost: Openness in discussing problems◦Perestroika: Restructuring (economic and

political) Began with limited free enterprise and a market driven

economy Discovered that none of this would work without

political reform◦1988: The congress of the peoples deputies◦1990: allowed non-communist parties to organize◦Separated the party and the government by creating a new

position of President of the USSR