Download presentation
Presentation is loading. Please wait.
Published byBeverley Barnett Modified over 9 years ago
1
Global Connections Unit 12 Stalin’s USSR Eastern and Western Europe The United States
2
The Reign of Stalin Post WW II the # 1 problem facing the USSR was the lack of an industrial base Solution: Soviet workers were asked to work with very little return for themselves ◦Mostly heavy industry ◦Profit used to purchase machinery and Western technology ◦Result: 40% increase in production from Pre-war levels Problem: Soviet people shortchanged (conditions, consumer goods)
3
The Khrushchev Era March 5 th 1953 Stalin dies After a scramble for power the General Secretary of the Com. Party Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the leader 1956: Mr. K condemns Stalin and began a policy of De-Stalinization ◦Consumer goods, agricultural reform, more military spending ◦Result: Industrial production fell All of this combined with foreign policy failures led to Mr. K’s retirement in 1964
4
Behind the Iron Curtain By 1947 USSR dominated E. Germ, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Czechoslovakia ◦These countries all had Soviet troops and only one political party (“Satellites”) ◦Economies and societies modeled on the USSR Albania and Yugoslavia : both had strong independent communist parties during the war and resisted Soviet domination Yugoslavia and Marshall Tito (Josef Broz) in power until his death in 1980 Marshall Tito
5
Revolts against Communism Problems with Communism in Eastern Europe ◦Many countries began to pursue different socialist paths (late 1950’s) 1956 Poland: Reforms of Wladyslaw Gomulka cut short by the USSR
6
Hungary 1956 Hungary: Imre Nagy declared Hungary a free nation ◦ Krushshev rolled tanks into Budapest ◦ Nagy was arrested and later executed
7
Czechoslovakia 1968 Czechoslovakia: After the resignation of Antonin Novotny (little Stalin) Alexander Dubcek was elected to run the Communist Party ◦ Reforms (speech, press, democracy, independence) led to the “Prague Spring” ◦ August 1968 the Soviets crushed the reforms and removed Dubcek
8
The end of the Cold War By the 1970’s US Soviet relations had reached a new phase called Détente ◦Relaxation of tensions and improved relations However, in 1979 this was broken by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (Brezhnev Doctrine) ◦To restore a soviet regime ◦US President Jimmy Carter boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow ◦Ronald Reagan refers to them as the “Evil Empire” Aid to Afghan rebels New arms race
9
JFK and LBJ Truman and MacArthur
10
Leonid Brezhnev Nikita Kruschev
11
Mikhail Gorbachev Began a new era in Soviet politics by instituting radical reforms ◦Glasnost: Openness in discussing problems ◦Perestroika: Restructuring (economic and political) Began with limited free enterprise and a market driven economy Discovered that none of this would work without political reform ◦ 1988: The congress of the peoples deputies ◦ 1990: allowed non-communist parties to organize ◦ Separated the party and the government by creating a new position of President of the USSR
Similar presentations
© 2025 SlidePlayer.com. Inc.
All rights reserved.