The Cold war thaws Section 17.5

Destalinization Stalin dies in 1953 causing Khrushchev to take over leadership Khrushchev denounced Stalin and started the process of destalinization: purging the country of Stalin’s memory The USSR still controlled its satellite nations in Eastern Europe even though many started to reject communism Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, East Germany

Revolt in Czechoslovakia Due to his failure in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Khrushchev was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev Brezhnev instituted many repressive policies Limits on free speech, religion Secret police When Czechoslovakia tried to loosen controls, members of the Warsaw Pact invaded in order to reinstate communism

The Soviet-Chinese split The Chinese remained committed to communism but began to resent being in the shadow of the USSR The Soviets grew upset when the Chinese refused to share nuclear secrets and ended economic aid Fighting broke out briefly between the 2 countries but eventually they agreed to maintain peace

Brinkmanship turns to detente After the Cuban Missile Crisis and repeated protests of the Vietnam war, the policy of brinkmanship slowly changed to a policy of détente Détente: a lessening of cold war tensions Both Superpowers agreed to adopt the policy of detente

Nixon visits communist powers In 1972 Nixon became the first U.S. President to visit communist China and the Soviet Union Nixon & Brezhnev sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT): a 5 year agreement that limited the amount of nuclear weapons each country could have By 1975, 33 countries had agreed to working toward détente and cooperation

The collapse of detente In 1981 Ronald Reagan became president and moved foreign policy away from détente He increased defense spending and introduced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI): a program to protect against enemy missiles

Review Question #3 What effects did destalinization have on Soviet satellite countries? Destalinization did not change life in satellite nations. Their resentment of the Soviet Union often turned to active protest

Review question #4 What changes did Alexander Dubcek seek to make in Czechoslovakia in 1968, and what happened? Dubcek loosened controls on censorship and offered a period of reform. On August 20th, armed forces from the Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia in order to keep the country from rejecting communism

Review Question #5 Why was the policy of brinkmanship replaced? A series of crises (Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War etc.) caused widespread popular protests. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson sought to lessen tensions so as to avoid nuclear war