Spinrad/World History Ch. 17. 5 The Cold War Thaws Hungarian-students and toppled Stalin statue, 1956

I. Soviet Policy in Eastern Europe and China A I. Soviet Policy in Eastern Europe and China A. Destalinization & Rumblings of Protest Nikita Khrushchev began a policy called de-Stalinization or purging of Stalin’s memory He destroyed Stalin monuments and called for purging the Soviet Union from Stalin’s “cult of personality and called for “peaceful competition” with capitalist states "Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river."

A. Destalinization & Rumblings of Protest in Satellite Countries 3. Hungary hoped for freedom with Stalin’s death. In October of 1956 a popular liberal Communist named Imre Nagy who wanted to end Soviet control in his country formed a new government Hungarians freedom fighters were overwhelmed by a Soviet invasion of tanks and infantry The Soviet Army entered Budapest, the capitol, and took control; executing Imre

B. The Revolt in Czechoslovakia As a result of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 Nikita Khruschev lost prestige and was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev in 1964 Brezhnev adopted oppressive polices limiting human rights in the Soviet Union and throughout Soviet satellite countries

B. The Revolt in Czechoslovakia 3. He adopted the Brezhnev Doctrine that gave the Soviets the right to prevent its satellite countries from rejecting communism This was put into effect when Alexander Dubcek wanted to loosen govt. control and put a “human face” on socialism in the Czech republic—the “Prague Spring” Aug 20, 1968, the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia. 'Lenin wake up, Brezhnev has gone mad.'

C. The Soviet-Chinese Split The Soviets assumed that the Chinese would follow Soviet leadership in world affairs. The Chinese resented being told what to do. The Mao-Stalin 30-year treaty of friendship ended earlywith mistrust and even military skirmishes along the their borders

II. From Brinkmanship to Détente A. Brinkmanship Breaks Down The U.S. and Soviets in the 1970’s begin to back away from the aggressive policies of the early post war years, because they wanted to avoid a nuclear war and world destruction US and Soviet Union wanted to avoid future crises like the U-2 incident and Cuban missile Crisis Tensions remained high. Trying to stop the spread of communism, President Johnson escalated US involvement in Vietnam Nixon’s “détente” would replace brinkmanship as US policy

B. The U.S. Turns to Détente Détente was a policy to lessening Cold War tensions led by Richard M. Nixon This came from a philosophy called realpolitik meaning dealing with other nations in a practical and flexible manner Nixon visited the USSR and was the first president to visit China. “We want the Chinese with us when we sit down and negotiate with the Russians.”

B. The U.S. Turns to Détente 4. Nixon and Brezhnev signed the SALT I treaty limited ICBMs and submarine-launched missiles to 1972 levels 5. In 1975, 33 nations joined the US and USSR in signing a commitment to détente and cooperation, the Helsinki accords

The Collapse of Detente President Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev signed the SALT II agreements in 1979 However, when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan later that year, Congress refused to ratify the arms limitation agreement

The Collapse of Detente Reagan discarded détente and challenged the Soviets Increased defense spending Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI or “Star Wars”) Arming the Taliban and Contras