Events of The Thaw

East Germany 1953

 Following Stalin’s death the Soviet leadership began to adopt a more moderate and less
oppressive system of governance; giving the USSR a chance to approach the west in a
new light
 Lavrenti Beria, a potential leader of the USSR and long-serving head of the Soviet secret
police, proposed reunification Germany as a means of improving relations with the
Western world, arguing that ‘All we want is a peaceful Germany and it makes no
difference to us whether or not it is socialist’.
 However Walter Ulbricht, the dictator of communist East Germany, had other ideas, he
was still a dedicated Stalinist, and had no desire to liberalise or unify his country.
Ulbricht had just begun a programme of Soviet-style industrialisation to increase the
speed at which socialism was imposed upon East Germany. However the
industrialisation scheme required the introduction of longer working hours and price
rises, which were deeply unpopular amongst the East German people. Workers’ in the
country began striking to show their anger at these changes.
 These strikes gradually escalated into a nationwide uprising against communist rule in
June 1953.
 Ultimately Soviet troops were required to restore order to Germany, with roughly
25,000 people being arrested, and 400 executed. The uprising indicated that the Soviet
government was not willing to liberalise too much, and that Stalinist leaders such as
Ulbricht were secure in their positions.

Impact on International Relations:

 Many western leaders hoped that Stalin’s death would signal in a new era of peace in
Europe. Germany was symbolic of divisions in post-war Europe; the USSR’s aim for it to
be reunified filled the west with hope that the Soviet Union was willing to compromise
and liberalise.
 However the Soviet Union’s harsh response to the uprising swiftly ruined any hopes of
German reunification. This in turn indicated to the west that the communist world had
no real interest in peace or liberalisation, a feeling that was only compounded upon
when the East German government accused America of inciting and funding the
protestors as a means of destabilising the country.
Guatemalan coup d’état 18th-27th June 1954:

The 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état (18–27 June 1954) was a covert operation carried out by
the United States Central Intelligence Agency that removed the democratically elected
President Jacobo Árbenz and ended the Guatemalan Revolution.
Guatemala had been ruled since 1930 by the dictator General Jorge Ubico, supported by the
United States government. His regime was one of the most brutally repressive military
regimes in the history of Central America. In return for US support he allowed the US
military to establish bases in Guatemala. In 1944, Ubico's repressive policies resulted in a
large popular revolt against him, led by students, intellectuals, and a progressive faction of
the military. In what was later called the "October Revolution", Ubico was overthrown,
resulting in Guatemala's first democratic election.
The elections were won by Juan José Arévalo who was leading a coalition of leftist parties
known as the Revolutionary Action Party. He implemented a series of social reforms
including minimum wage laws, increased educational funding and near-universal suffrage.
Despite his policies being relatively moderate he was widely disliked by the United States
government.
Following the coup Guatemala was ruled by a series of US-backed military regimes until
1996. The coup sparked off the Guatemalan Civil War against leftist guerrillas, during which
the military committed massive human rights violations against the civilian population,
including a genocidal campaign against the Maya peoples.

Berlin Foreign Ministers Conference 25th January-18th February 1954

What Happened?

 A conference held in Berlin

 Included French, British (Eden), American (Dulles) and USSR (Molotov)
 Held between January 25th and February 18th 1954
 Wanted to discuss Korean War, Indo-China war with France, European Security
(specifically a unified Germany) and the future of Austria with a peace treaty
 Little progress was made in all areas, except in Austria as Russia agreed to withdraw
troops but only if it remained neutral
 The Geneva agreement was agreed upon

The Effect on Foreign Policy?

 Overall, not much physically changed except Austria
 Although, the Geneva conference was agreed upon which was monumental for the
future as it established laws that were still in effect today. Made to discuss peace in
Korea, mainly.
 Differences still clear, nobody wanted to compromise on their position as each side
felt threatened
 Russia was not willing to allow free and fair elections in Austria
 Although treaty being held which proved diplomatic intent, ended in deadlock and
highlighted the difficulty of the relationship between the USSR and the USA.
France and Indochina

 French Indochina was a federal collection of colonial states owned by the French. It
was condensed in the mid 1880’s and early 1890’s after a series of wars with native
inhabitants.
 Several insurrections, encroachments from other powers and wars with surrounding
countries along the history of the colony marked it as a volatile area; but staunchly
French.
 This superiority in the area lasted until the Second World War when Thailand
launched a war upon the colony for territorial gains with moderate success.
 Japanese forces occupied Northern areas of the colony from September 1940 and
held it until the end of the war.
 After the war, the French attempted to re-assert themselves as a dominant power,
but faced resistance from the Viet Minh; a coalition between communists and
nationalist inhabitants under Ho Chi Mihn.
 The Chinese held the formerly Japanese territory, and dominated the region not
allowing the French to re-take it.
 When communists in the southern territories attempted to establish a communist
state, British and French troops responded and restored French control. This began
the 1srt French-Indochinese war in December 1946.
 After 7 years the Viet Minh supported by the USSR and the PRC emerged victorious.

Effects and Responses:

The United states, given their distraction in Korea and the establishment of communism
china in 1949, where entirely uninterested in Ho Chi Minh’s (north Vietnamese communist
leader) cry for independence and US aid during the war against France.

As a result, the US reacted to the French attempts to reclaim Indochina positively, hoping to
incorporate France into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, created April 4 th 1949. The
US also needed French support rebuilding western Germany.

In early 1954, With the French struggling under the aggression of Viet Minh’s siege,
countries such as Britain and other NATO members did not help, seeing it as a lost cause.

After France pulled out of Indochina, the French, Vietnamese, Chinese and American agreed
to meet in Geneva in mid-1954. Agreements reached;

The French and Vietnamese agreed to cease-fire and a 17 th parallel was drawn across the
country. The French would remain in the south and Ho Chi Minh’s in the North.

Secondly, an agreement was reached that neither the North, nor the South would join
alliances with outside parties; Laos and Cambodia where to remain neutral.

However, the US did not partake in the second agreement, establishing its own government
in Southern Vietnam. By this time, however, the French had pulled out.
Warsaw Pact Formed, 14th May 1955

What was it?

The Warsaw Pact (formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance)
was the military compliment to their policy Comecon, which was established in retaliation to
the West’s Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid (the granting of economic aid to countries
within Eastern Europe).

The formation of the Pact was driven by the USSR’s desire to dominate central and Eastern
Europe. With Stalin’s ideological and geostrategic ideals motivated him to pursue the
implementation of the Pact, as he wanted to spread his Communist and Social ideals over a
large spectrum and emerge as the global leader of the socialist movement.

What was its impact?

The Warsaw Pact was a response to NATO as well as the re-militarization of West Germany
in 1954, both of which posed a potential threat to the Eastern countries.

Although it was stressed by all that the Warsaw Treaty was based on total equality of each
nation and mutual non-interference in one another's internal affairs, the Pact quickly
became a powerful political tool for the Soviet Union to hold sway over its allies and harness
the powers of their combined military.

When Hungary tried to remove themselves from the agreement in 1956, Soviet forces
moved to crush the uprising; and, in 1968, Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia (with
support from five other Pact members), after the Czech government began to exhibit
'Imperialistic' tendencies.

This also defies the idea of the thaw as this would be interpreted as confrontational in the
US as it defies the policy of peaceful coexistence.

Austrian State Treaty (15 May 1955)

Formal treaty establishing the Second Austrian Republic as an independent state. Despite
Austria's participation on the German side during World War II, the Allies decided at the
Yalta Conference in February 1945 to treat Austria as a liberated nation and not a defeated
one when the war was over. It took more than a decade, however, to decide exactly what
that meant. During that period, Austria remained divided and occupied among the four
victorious Allied powers.

Although the Soviets demanded war reparations from Austria, they never considered Austria
to be a necessary part of their postwar sphere of influence. The other Allies, on the other
hand—and the United States and Britain in particular—viewed Austria's geopolitical position
as an essential outpost in the Cold War. They accordingly made massive financial and
military investments in the state during the decade of occupation. The Austrian government,
led by Dr. Karl Renner and Leopold Figl, carefully and cleverly played upon the East-West
divide to gain independence in return for a promise of neutrality in 1955.
The Austrian State Treaty, signed at the Belvedere Palace in Vienna on 15 May 1955, was
one of the great achievements of Cold War diplomacy. It resolved a decade-old political and
economic standoff among the Austrians, Soviets, and the remaining Allies through a series of
resourceful compromises and demonstrated that peaceful coexistence between the Soviets
and the West was indeed possible.

It was at the initiative of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that the Austrian State Treaty took
form. Once West German forces were incorporated in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO), Khrushchev saw little point in haggling over a divided Austria and instructed his
foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, to settle the issue for good. Austrian Chancellor Julius
Raab was therefore invited to Moscow on 24 March 1955 to discuss the terms of
independence.

Britain and the United States, however, feared that the Austrians would be lured or
pressured into becoming a Soviet satellite or that a pending settlement in Austria would be
used to draw the Germans out of NATO. But the Soviets were more interested in keeping
Austria out of NATO and made generous concessions in return for an Austrian promise of
armed neutrality. Without waiving reparations entirely, the USSR accepted a staggered
payment schedule of $150 million, a ten-year agreement for oil deliveries from Austria, and
a lump sum for the return of Austrian shipping installations.

Geneva’s Summit – ‘The Geneva Spirit’ 18th July 1955

 Meeting on July 18, 1955 in Geneva, Switzerland

 In attendance were “The Big Four”(Eisenhower, Eden, Bulganin and Faure)
 The leaders were accompanied by their foreign ministers (Dulles, Macmillan,
Molotov and Pinay) + Krushchev
 The purpose of the meeting was to bring together the world leaders in order to
begin peace discussions
 Common goal = increased global security
 Only one woman attended the summit (Frances E.Willis)
 Mission = to reduce international tensions
 Summit successful in opening up communication between the leaders
 The creation of an international community was introduced to relieve global
distrust
 The meeting formed the foundation of a unified world where minimal
barriers to trade and common interests would serve to engender diplomacy
 Issue of German reunification
 Krushchev prepared go allow a unified Germany if it was to be neutral
 Complicated by NATO/ creation of West Germany
 Krushchev suggested the Warsaw pact and NATO be dismantled
 West was not prepared to agree but compromise of arms limitations
 President Eisenhower’s ‘Open Skies’ plan
 Krushchev did not accept this offer
 Called for an international aerial monitoring system
 Intended to prevent countries from stockpiling weapons
 Led to the disarmament of all weapons of mass destruction
 Only agree reached was one on cultural exchanges of scientists, musicians and
artists between the USA and the USSR
Khrushchev’s speech – 25th February 1956
 Spoken to the 20th Congress of the
Communist Party.
 Highly critical of Stalin, particularly
regarding the purging of the Communist
Party
 Milestone in the “Khrushchev Thaw”.
Attempt to draw Soviet Communist Party
closer to Leninism.
 Ulterior motive: legitimise and help
consolidate his power.
 Known as the ‘secret speech’ because it
was delivered at unpublicized closed session of Communist Party delegates, guests
and members of press excluded.
 Special passes given out to those eligible to attend with additional 100 former Party
members, recently released from Soviet prison camp network, added to assembly
for moral effect.
 Recalled Lenin’ Testament, in which Lenin had warned that Stalin would abuse his
power.
 Criticised Stalin for failing to make adequate defensive preparations before German
invasion of Soviet Union, for weakening the Red Army by purging leading officers
and for mismanaging the war after the invasion.
 Condemned Stalin for irrationally deporting entire nationality groups from their
homelands during the war. Also condemned Stalin for purging major political leaders
in Leningrad (1949-1950) and Georgia (1952).
 Condemned the “Cult of Personality”.
 Confined indictment of Stalin to abuses of power against communist party. Did not
object to activities before 1934 (political struggles against Trotsky, Bukharin and
Zinoviev and collectivisation).
 The speech was never officially made public until 1989 when it was printed in full in
the Soviet Union.
 Strongest effort ever in USSR to bring political change

Soviet withdrawal from Finland – 1956

EVENTS
 1947: Finnish-Soviet peace treaty
o Finland had to pay $300 million in reparations to the USSR
o Lost land along its border to USSR
o USSR given 50 year lease to Porkkala region
 Naval base
 Southern Finalnd
 Late 1955: Krushchev was ready to withdraw Soviet presence from Porkkala
o No reason to have it as Finland was a non-communist country
o Had no strategic use
 o Was more of a burden than an asset
 Molotov attempted to overrule this at a meeting of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party, but was defeated
 1956: Porkkala returned to Finland

RESULTS
 1950s/60s: Finland remained fairly neutral
 USSR still able to exercise from influence when they felt like their interests were
threatened (eg. 1962 – forced the withdrawal of a presidential candidate in Finland)
 USA preoccupied with events in Egypt (Suez Crisis)
 Was a positive result of Khrushchev’s ‘peaceful coexistence’ – gave hope to the
West that accommodation and agreement could be reached

Poland 1956

What happened?
• Events of 1956-62 revealed
developments of a series of
important crises that revealed the
superficial nature of the Thaw.
• Khrushchev gave a secret speech at
a closed session of the Twentieth
Party Congress on February 25,
1956
• The speech caused shock
throughout Eastern Europe as he
attacked the crimes committed by
Stalin and his closest associates.
• Led to anti-communist protests in
Poland known as the Poznań 1956
uprising
• Workers demanded better conditions and political change and marches began on
June 28th 1956
• Approximately 100,000 gathered in the city near the local Ministry of Public Security
building.
• 400 tanks and 10,000 soldiers of the People’s army of Poland and the Internal
Security Corps were ordered, by the Polish-Soviet government, to suppress the
demonstrations and fired at the protesting civilians
• The death toll was places between 50-100 people, whilst hundreds of people
sustained injuries.

Impact on Relations
• The Poznań protests were an important milestone on the way to the installation of a
less Soviet-controlled government in Poland in October.
• Hungarian reformers were encouraged by Polish example and started
demonstrations to put pressure on their government
• Realizing the need for a change in leadership, the Polish communists chose a new
leader, Władysław Gomułka, who was considered a moderate; this transition is
known as Polish October.
 • This could be viewed as the USSR biding their time as they believe that the demise of
capitalism was inevitable
• This would also have pleased the West as a moderate leader would be viewed as
‘Peaceful Coexistence’
• Khrushchev sensed the danger in a wave of disturbances sweeping through Eastern
Europe

The Hungarian Uprising 1956

• Calls for liberalisation in Hungry where encouraged by Khrushchev's policy of De-
Stalinisation and the events in Poland.
• Hungarian reformers demonstrated to put
pressure on government.
• Hungarian leader Matya Rakosi informed by
soviets he was too ‘ill’ and replaced by Gero.
• Soviet troops stationed in Budapest forced to
leave city.
• Under soviet pressure Gero was replaced by Nagy,
who was more moderate
• Nagy’s attempt to introduce moderate reforms, known as the ‘new course’ failed to
appease reformers.
• Nagy gave into demands to introduce a multi party democracy and leave the
Warsaw Pact.
• These Reforms were too much for the USSR and Soviet forces where sent in to
establish a new gov under Kadar.
• Order was restored, but at the loss of 35,000 lives including Nagy.
• Soviet Bloc remained in tact.

The effects of the Hungarian Uprising on International relations 1956

 Polarisation of the Cold War - people in the West were horrified - many
Communists left the Communist Party - and Western leaders became more
determined to contain communism.
 The West realised it could do very little about the Iron Curtain countries – but this
made the western leaders more committed to containment.
 Secretary-General of NATO called the Hungarian revolt "the collective suicide of a
whole people"
 President Eisenhower of USA said "I feel with the Hungarian people." J F Dulles,
American Secretary of State, said "To all those suffering under communist slavery,
let us say you can count on us."
 Ultimately the Hungarian crisis resulted in a rejuvenation of tension between the
East & West, the soviets were still being as ruthless and uncompromising as before,
and their actions were condemned by the East

The Space Race and Arms Race

The space race – 1953-61:

 -The space race was informal competition between the USA and USSR to launch
unmanned satellites, send people into space and land them on the moon
 -The race officially began in 1955 when both the USSR and USA began building
missiles to help launch objects into space – both nations soon after announced they
would launch artificial Earth satellites by 1957/58
 -October 1957 the USSR launched the first ever space satellite, Sputnik
 -In response to Sputnik, which had put Eisenhower under heavy criticism, the
Eisenhower administration created NASA (1958), an agency responsible for the
civilian space programme
 -In January 1958 the US successfully launched their first satellite (Juno I rocket)
 -US Air Force began a program to launch a man into space (Man In Space Soonest) –
they were beaten by the USSR on the 12 th April 1961, who were the first country to
put a man into space, Yuri Gagarin, who orbited the earth in Vostok I – a triumph for
the USSR space program and became a national hero
 -5th May 1961 the US launched the first American into space, Alan Shephard
(although he did not reach orbit, like Gagarin)
 -20th September 1963, at a speech at the UN General Assembly, Kennedy proposed
that the US and USSR should join forces in their efforts to reach the Moon –
Krushchev initially rejected the proposal
 IMPACT ON RELATIONS:
 -The race created a sense of competition and suspicion between the two powers –
heightening tensions as each nation tried to out-do the other to prove themselves
ideologically superior
 -However, towards its concluding years there were efforts for cooperation, although
these were later thwarted

Arms Race

The USA's bombing of Japan in 1945 had showcased to the Soviets the devastating,
unmatchable power of nuclear weapons. It was obvious that unless the Soviets matched this
power, The USA's strength would be vastly superior to their rivals. Therefore, in the years
immediately following the Second World War, both the United States and Soviet
governments drastically raced to excavate supplies of uranium for the development of
Nuclear weapons, both attempting to be stronger than the other. Four years after the
assault on Japan, the Soviets alerted America by detonating their first nuclear bomb in
August 1949 - despite the USA prediction that this wouldn't happen until the mid-1950s.
From this point onwards, both countries continued to spend heavily on the improvement of
nuclear weapons, knowing that this would be decisive in the outcome of the Cold War. The
next milestone in nuclear weaponry came the hydrogen bomb. The USA detonated their first
hydrogen bomb (code named "ivy mike") on November 1, 1953 in the Pacific Ocean. The
Russians responded on October 23, 1955 by testing their own. Throughout the 1950s, both
countries continued to make improvements to their arsenal, for example, producing
intercontinental ballistic missiles. The production of ICBM's was highly significant. Unlike
normal bombs, the missiles could be guided to a specific target without the chance of being
shot down, making nuclear war more of a possibility (anti-ballistic missile systems were not
fully operational until the 1970s). As a result of continuing nuclear development, the M.A.D
doctrine was introduced. The doctrine assured that if either side launched a nuclear missile,
the other would be alerted to subsequently launch their own, guaranteeing mutual
destruction. This development of the arms race had highly significant effects on
international relations. The increasing tension of a potential nuclear and complete
destruction made positive co-operation improbable - both sides were convinced of their
own moral superiority and saw the other as untrustworthy. For example, in 1955, Truman
proposed the 'open skies' plan which would allow each side to fly over each other's military
bases. Truman intended this as a positive agreement, however the Russians saw it as an
attempt at spying and rejected. This shows how the tension of the arms race made any
proposal by the opposite side to be interpreted as a secret, tactical ploy - worsening
relations to an almost impossible degree.