WHAT IMPACT DID THE POSTSTALIN THAW HAVE ON
SUPERPOWER RELATIONS
1953-62?
UNIT 3 ESSAY TOPIC 1.
KEY FOCUS POINTS:
• WHAT WAS THE USSR’S POLICY OF PEACEFUL COEXISTANCE?
• WAS THIS KHRUSHCHEV’S POLICY OR HIS PREDECESSORS?
• WHAT WERE THE USA’S POLICIES UNDER EISENHOWER,
DULLES AND KENNEDY: ‘NEW LOOK’, ‘MASSIVE RETALIATION’,
‘BRINKMANSHIP’, ‘FLEXIBLE RESPONSE’.
• EVIDENCE OF A THAW?
• EVIDENCE OF INCREASED TENSIONS?
• OTHER FACTORS THAT LED TO A ‘THAW’: ECONOMIC
REALITIES, NUCLEAR ARMS RACE AND PERSONALITIES.
USSR POLICY OF ‘PEACEFUL COEXISTANCE’
• IMPACT OF DEATH OF STALIN:
• DEFINITION OF ‘PEACEFUL COEXISTANCE’:
• WHY DID IT DEVELOP?
• LEADERSHIP CONTEST – BERIA, MALENKOV, KHRUSHCHEV
IMPACT:
• REALITY OF POLICY BEHIND THE SCENES?
USA FOREIGN POLICY; ‘NEW LOOK’, ‘MASSIVE RETALIATION’,
‘BRINKMANSHIP’ AND ‘FLEXIBLE RESPONSE’.
• HOW DID THE FOREIGN POLICY DIFFER FROM TRUMAN?
• IMPACT OF EISENHOWER, DULLES AND KENNEDY:
• DEFINITION OF THE POLICIES:
• WHY DID THE POLICIES DEVELOP?
• REALITY BEHIND THE SCENES?
EVIDENCE OF A ‘THAW’ 1953-1962?
•
DE-STALINISATION:
•
THE AUSTRIAN STATE TREATY:
•
SOVIET WITHDRAWAL FROM FINLAND, 1956:
•
ARMISTICE IN KOREA 1953
•
MOLOTOV CALLED FOR REUNIFICATION IN 1953
•
GENEVA CONFERENCE OF APRIL 1954 – FRENCH WITHDRAWAL FROM INDOCHINA
•
REUNIFICATION OF AUSTRIA IN 1955
•
THE GENEVA SUMMIT JULY 1955 – FIRST MEETING SINCE POTSDAM AND
EISENHOWER’S CALLS FOR ‘OPEN SKIES’
•
CULTURAL EXCHANGES OF SCIENTISTS, MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS
•
KHRUSHCHEV’S VISIT TO USA IN SEPT 1959
•
SUMMIT MEETINGS PARIS 1960 AND VIENNA 1961
EVIDENCE OF INCREASED TENSION:
•
USA’S POLICIES OF ‘BRINKMANSHIP
•
USA’ INCREASE IN MILITARY
•
MOLOTOV’S PROPOSAL OF UNIFICATION OF GERMANY REJECTED
•
DULLES WALKS OUT OF GENEVA CONFERENCE 1954
•
WEST GERMANY ADMITTED INTO NATO IN 1955
•
KHRUSHCHEV REJECTED EISENHOWER’S ‘OPEN SKIES’ POLICY
•
KHRUSHCHEV BOASTING ‘WE WILL BURY YOU’ IN VISIT TO US IN 1959 AND REFUSAL OF
ENTRY TO DYSNEYLAND.
•
PARIS SUMMIT 1960 COLLAPSED OVER US U-2 SPY PLANE SHOT DOWN OVER SOVIET
AIRSPACE AND PILOT CAPTURED AND PUT ON TRIAL
•
HUNGARIAN UPRISING 1956:
•
WARSAW PACT ESTABLISHED IN 1955
•
SPACE RACE:
•
ARMS RACE:
•
BERLIN CRISIS AND BERLIN WALL
HOW FAR WERE USSR AND USA POLICIES
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ‘THAW’?
• USSR POLICIES RESPONSIBLE?
• USA’S POLICIES RESPONSIBLE?
• ECONOMIC REALITIES RESPONSIBLE?
• NUCLEAR ARMS RACE RESPONSIBLE?
• ROLE OF PERSONALITIES RESPONSIBLE?
• YOUR OPINION:
• WAS THERE A ‘THAW’?
• IF SO WHO OR WHAT WAS RESPONSIBLE?