1. WHAT IMPACT DID THE POST- STALIN THAW HAVE ON SUPERPOWER RELATIONS 1953-62? UNIT 3 ESSAY TOPIC 1.

2. KEY FOCUS POINTS: WHAT WAS THE USSR’S POLICY OF PEACEFUL COEXISTANCE? WAS THIS KHRUSHCHEV’S POLICY OR HIS PREDECESSORS? WHAT WERE THE USA’S POLICIES UNDER EISENHOWER, DULLES AND KENNEDY: ‘NEW LOOK’, ‘MASSIVE RETALIATION’, ‘BRINKMANSHIP’, ‘FLEXIBLE RESPONSE’. EVIDENCE OF A THAW? EVIDENCE OF INCREASED TENSIONS? OTHER FACTORS THAT LED TO A ‘THAW’: ECONOMIC REALITIES, NUCLEAR ARMS RACE AND PERSONALITIES.

3. USSR POLICY OF ‘PEACEFUL COEXISTANCE’ IMPACT OF DEATH OF STALIN: DEFINITION OF ‘PEACEFUL COEXISTANCE’: WHY DID IT DEVELOP? LEADERSHIP CONTEST – BERIA, MALENKOV, KHRUSHCHEV IMPACT: REALITY OF POLICY BEHIND THE SCENES?

4. USA FOREIGN POLICY; ‘NEW LOOK’, ‘MASSIVE RETALIATION’, ‘BRINKMANSHIP’ AND ‘FLEXIBLE RESPONSE’. HOW DID THE FOREIGN POLICY DIFFER FROM TRUMAN? IMPACT OF EISENHOWER, DULLES AND KENNEDY: DEFINITION OF THE POLICIES: WHY DID THE POLICIES DEVELOP? REALITY BEHIND THE SCENES?

5. EVIDENCE OF A ‘THAW’ 1953-1962? DE-STALINISATION: THE AUSTRIAN STATE TREATY: SOVIET WITHDRAWAL FROM FINLAND, 1956: ARMISTICE IN KOREA 1953 MOLOTOV CALLED FOR REUNIFICATION IN 1953 GENEVA CONFERENCE OF APRIL 1954 – FRENCH WITHDRAWAL FROM INDO- CHINA REUNIFICATION OF AUSTRIA IN 1955 THE GENEVA SUMMIT JULY 1955 – FIRST MEETING SINCE POTSDAM AND EISENHOWER’S CALLS FOR ‘OPEN SKIES’ CULTURAL EXCHANGES OF SCIENTISTS, MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS KHRUSHCHEV’S VISIT TO USA IN SEPT 1959 SUMMIT MEETINGS PARIS 1960 AND VIENNA 1961

6. EVIDENCE OF INCREASED TENSION: USA’S POLICIES OF ‘BRINKMANSHIP USA’ INCREASE IN MILITARY MOLOTOV’S PROPOSAL OF UNIFICATION OF GERMANY REJECTED DULLES WALKS OUT OF GENEVA CONFERENCE 1954 WEST GERMANY ADMITTED INTO NATO IN 1955 KHRUSHCHEV REJECTED EISENHOWER’S ‘OPEN SKIES’ POLICY KHRUSHCHEV BOASTING ‘WE WILL BURY YOU’ IN VISIT TO US IN 1959 AND REFUSAL OF ENTRY TO DYSNEYLAND. PARIS SUMMIT 1960 COLLAPSED OVER US U-2 SPY PLANE SHOT DOWN OVER SOVIET AIRSPACE AND PILOT CAPTURED AND PUT ON TRIAL HUNGARIAN UPRISING 1956: WARSAW PACT ESTABLISHED IN 1955 SPACE RACE: ARMS RACE: BERLIN CRISIS AND BERLIN WALL

7. HOW FAR WERE USSR AND USA POLICIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ‘THAW’? USSR POLICIES RESPONSIBLE? USA’S POLICIES RESPONSIBLE? ECONOMIC REALITIES RESPONSIBLE? NUCLEAR ARMS RACE RESPONSIBLE? ROLE OF PERSONALITIES RESPONSIBLE? YOUR OPINION: WAS THERE A ‘THAW’? IF SO WHO OR WHAT WAS RESPONSIBLE?