HIST 1400 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Cuban Missile Crisis, On The Cult Of Personality And Its Consequences, De-Stalinization
Notes 4-23-18
The Collapse of Communism
● De-Stalinization and ‘The Thaw’
○ 1953
■ Stalin Dies
○ 1955
■ Nikita Khrushchev completes consolidating power to lead USSR
○ February 1956
■ Khrushchev gives the ‘Secret Speech’ to the Communist Party leadership
denouncing Stalin’s extremism
● Says Stalin was too brutal
● Didn’t follow true marxism
● Overshadowed Lenin
■ Within weeks, people around the USSR read it
○ Policies of Khrushchev are known as “De-stalinization”
■ Period of Time is known as “The Thaw”
● Opens up economy
● More avenues for avg. people to rise up
● More freedom of speech
● Shuts down camps
1956: Poland, Hungary, Suez
● June: Polish workers protest govt.
○ Inspired by Secret Speech
● October-November: Hungarian govt. Announced increasing political reforms ultimately
declaring an end to communism
○ USSR Invades
■ Reimpose communist party and execute hungarian leader
● “Limit” to Kruschev
● Suez Crisis: Israel, UK, and France invade egypt; US and USSR jointly demand they
withdraw
Leonid Brezhnev and Re-Stalinization
● 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis and bad harvests in 1962 and 1963 due to Khrushchev's
American inspired economic reforms cause Soviet leadership to lose faith in him
● 1964: Central Committee removes Khrushchev from power, replacing him with Leonid
Brezhnev
● Brezhnev begins to centralize power under him and end the Thaw
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Document Summary
Nikita khrushchev completes consolidating power to lead ussr. Khrushchev gives the secret speech" to the communist party leadership denouncing stalin"s extremism. Within weeks, people around the ussr read it. Policies of khrushchev are known as de-stalinization . Period of time is known as the thaw . More avenues for avg. people to rise up. Announced increasing political reforms ultimately declaring an end to communism. Reimpose communist party and execute hungarian leader. Suez crisis: israel, uk, and france invade egypt; us and ussr jointly demand they withdraw. 1962: cuban missile crisis and bad harvests in 1962 and 1963 due to khrushchev"s. American inspired economic reforms cause soviet leadership to lose faith in him. 1964: central committee removes khrushchev from power, replacing him with leonid. Brezhnev begins to centralize power under him and end the thaw. Nato needs to be called in just in case. 1969: richard nixon becomes us president, begins detente policy easing cold war.
