WHAT IMPACT DID THE POST-STALIN 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 INDO-CHINA

• 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?