Part 7 Stalin dies And the thaw begins Cold War Part 7 Stalin dies And the thaw begins

and began destalinization… Stalin died in 1953, Nikita Krushchev became the new leader of the SU In 1956 He denounced Stalin, and began destalinization… Monuments were Destroyed Stalingrad went back to being Volgograd. He sought “peaceful competition” with the West. But when Hungarian Rebel Imre Nagy leader declared free elections… The tanks rolled

Cuba Missile Crisis January 1959 Fidel Castro and Che Guevara overthrew the Dictator Batista, Che left to start more revolutions Castro stayed and made Cuba a communist country. October 1959 the US put Nuclear Missiles in Turkey April 1961 “The Bay of Pigs” CIA trained Anti-Castro Cubans invaded but Failed when the promised US air support didn’t show up July 1962 Khrushchev begins to build missile sites in Cuba A US spy plane spots them JFK orders a blockade of Cuba to keep the Missiles out The Soviets back down, we promise not to invade Cuba

The Prague Spring The Cuban Missile crisis made JFK look good But Khrushchev look bad In 1964 he was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev brought back repression: Secret Police arrested critics…including Noble Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn In 1968 when Czech Communist leader Alexander Dubcek allowed relatively free speech… the “Prague Spring” Brezhnev ordered a invasion in that August, However In 1972 He met with Nixon (just after N. went to China)

The “Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty” Detente Nixon skillfully exploited the split between the SU and China And got Brezhnev to sign the S.A.L.T. The “Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty” That limited bombers, missiles and nuclear weapons During the 70’s there was a “Détente” or “loosening”b of tension between the US and SU. 1979 Pres. Carter and Brezhnev signed S.A.L.T. 2

Afghanistan and the End of Detente After WW2 Soviet influence Afghanistan grew. When in 1979 it looked like a Muslim rebellion might overthrow the communist Government. The Soviets invaded The US: Congress didn’t ratify SALT 2 Boycotted the 1980 Olympic in Moscow Armed the Rebels (Including one named Bin Laden) Warned the Soviets not to threaten the Oil trade. Elected (1980) anti-communist Ronald Regan The Mujahideen fought hard and in 1989 the Soviet left. They established a Muslin state…the Taliban