"If the Soviet empire still existed, I'd be terrified.
The fact is, we can afford a fairly ignorant presidency now."
-Newt Gingrich
The fact is, we can afford a fairly ignorant presidency now."
-Newt Gingrich
TOPIC 9: From Khrushchev to Brezhnev to Gorbachev
Khrushchev
First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1953-1964. Nikita Khrushchev was the most colourful Soviet leader and is best remembered for his dramatic, oftentimes boorish gestures and "harebrained schemes" designed to attain maximum propaganda effect. His enthusiastic belief that Communism would triumph over capitalism, and the fact that he was the only Soviet leader ever to be removed peacefully from office--a direct result of the post-Stalin thaw he had instigated in 1956.
Stalin died in March 1953. Khrushchev became leader of the party shortly afterwards, but it took him several years to consolidate his position. In February 1956, he made a secret speech to the 20th Party Congress, denouncing Stalin. It caused a sensation in the Communist Party and in the West, although Khrushchev failed to mention his own role in the Stalinist terror. The speech initiated a campaign of 'de-Stalinisation'. Khrushchev also attempted to improve Soviet living standards and allow greater freedom in cultural and intellectual life. In the mid-1950s, he launched his 'Virgin Lands' campaign to encourage farming on previously uncultivated land in the Kazakh Republic (Kazakhstan). He invested in the Soviet space programme, resulting in the 1957 flight of Sputnik I, the first spacecraft to orbit the earth. |
Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was the archetypal Soviet politician associated with classic Cold War politics in the 1970’s. Seen as a hard line Communist, Brezhnev initially showed no intention of lessening the Cold War but by the time of his death, Brezhnev had met Richard Nixon, the US President, and some detected a thaw in relations between the Soviet Union and the United States.
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until his death. A career Party worker, Brezhnev rose up through the ranks to become a Political Commissar in the military during WWII, and later served as General Secretary of Moldavia (1950-1953) and Kazakhstan (1954-1956), before finally making it to the Politburo (then called the Presidium) in Moscow in 1957. He was one of the key figures in the ouster of Nikita Khrushchev in 1963 (the only time a General Secretary was removed from the job before his death), and subsequently succeeded him at this post. Brezhnev proclaimed that the Soviet Union had achieved "Developed Socialism"; in future years, the latter part of his reign would be called the "Period of Stagnation". On the world scene, Brezhnev presided over the successful invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and the horribly unsuccessful invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. It was on his watch that Richard Nixon came to the USSR and ushered in a period of detente between the two superpowers. |
Gorbachev
In 1984, Mikhail Gorbachev’s mentor at the Kremlin, Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party, died. In 1985, when Andropov’s successor, Konstantin Chernenko, also died, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party. Gorbachev inherited the issues that Andropov and Chernenko had been struggling to tackle, including serious domestic problems and escalating Cold War tensions. But Gorbachev’s youthful energy and enthusiasm gave the Soviet Union hope that a new generation of leaders geared toward positive change had taken charge.
During his term as general secretary, Gorbachev was engaged with U.S. president Ronald Reagan in a costly race to amass nuclear weapons in space. The expense put further stress on the already suffering Soviet economy. Gorbachev worked diligently to create reforms that he believed would improve the Soviet standard of living. By providing more freedom and democracy to Soviets, he strove toward “glasnost” and “perestroika,” openness and restructure. He worked toward establishing a market economy that was more socially oriented. Gorbachev’s reforms were also geared toward increasing productivity and reducing waste. Even a couple of years prior to his appointment, Gorbachev had attempted to improve Soviet relations with the leaders of Western nations. Ronald Reagan was initially distrustful, but when he met with Gorbachev at the first Geneva arms summit in November 1983, Reagan was surprised to find that “there was warmth in [Gorbachev’s] face and style.” Reagan recognized “a moral dimension in Gorbachev.” Over the next three years, Reagan and Gorbachev met at four additional summits, during which their relationship further warmed as they collaborated on bringing the Cold War to a close. |
Instructions:
- Read the from following sources: "History - 20th Century World: The Cold War (purple text)" and chapter 14 of the text "Modern World History (blue text)". Also read the supplemental sources from the various Cold War units we have covered in class.
- Complete the following table below.
Exam Questions
Paper 3 Questions
Paper 3 Questions
- Assess the view that Khrushchev’s policies were a failure both at home and abroad between 1955 and 1963. (May 2005 & 2007)
- In what ways, and with what success, did Brezhnev direct domestic and foreign policies in the Soviet Union between 1964 and 1982? (May 2006)
- Compare and contrast the parts played in the Cold War by two of the following: Khrushchev; Brezhnev; Gorbachev. (Nov 2005)
- Compare and contrast the foreign policies of Khrushchev and Brezhnev. (Nov 2006)
- Analyse the successes and failures of Soviet policies towards Germany and the eastern European satellite states during the regimes of Khrushchev and Brezhnev. (Nov 2007)
- “I am not an adventurer, but we must aid national liberation movements.” To what extent does Khrushchev’s assertion explain his foreign policy between 1953 and 1964? (May 2008)
- Analyse the successes and failures of one of the following European heads of state: Franco, Gorbachev, Salazar. (May 2008)
- In what ways, and to what extent, was Gorbachev responsible for the break up of the USSR? (May 2009)