POLAND, HUNGARY AND

NUKES

POLISH CRISIS After Tito-Stalin split there was a purge

of communists in Eastern Europe 1949 Polish culture was organized on

the Soviet model After Stalin’s death 1953 people began

to voice their anger at the communist party

1956 Polish leader, Boleslaw Bierut dies with no one to take his place

POLISH CRISIS Public protests erupted,

the party refuses to elect a Soviet loyal leader (Rokossowski) and instead elect Wadislaw Gomulka

Gomulka had been kicked out of the communist party in 1951 for “nationalist” tendencies and had not been rehabilitated

POLAND There’s a surprise visit by Soviet leaders

at a meeting of the Polish Communist Party, the Poles refuse to let them in

Soviets accuse them of anti-Soviet behavior and threaten an invasion.

Gomulka promises:(1) Poland will remain in the Soviet Bloc

(2) Communism would stay in power (3) Poland would remain in the Warsaw

Pact and support Soviet policies

SOVIETS SUPPORT GOMULKA AS LEADER

OUTCOMES OF POLISH CRISIS Persuaded Soviets to forgive Poland’s

debts to USSR Ended collectivization Made a compromise with the Roman

Catholic Church (becomes important in the fall of communism in Poland in the 1980’s)

Reinstated censorship of the arts Public feels betrayed and becomes

cynical & apathetic

HUNGARIAN CRISIS Rakosi was an ultra Stalinist

leader, kills or imprisons over 200,000 after Tito-Stalin split

After Stalin’s death Rakosi was kicked out and the more liberal Imre Nagy took control

Nagy relaxes censorship and oppression

Rakosi regains control and cracks down on the people. Soviets replace him with Erno Gero, who was more liberal

THE UPRISING University of Budapest

students organize meetings, inspired by the Poles

Gero made a Stalinist speech that infuriates the people who expected more freedom

Mass demonstrations occur against the government, a statue of Stalin is destroyed

Hungarian Secret Police fire on the crowd when they try to take over the Radio station

THE UPRISING More demonstrations occur calling for

Nagy to be in power, troops sent to break them up end up joining them

Hungarian Politburo panics and appeal to Soviets for help and appoint Nagy as Prime Minister, yet keep Gero as the real leader

Soviets arrive and agree to remove Gero and replace him with Janos Kadar

THE UPRISING Revolutionary feelings sweep through

Hungary, inflamed by American radio broadcasts suggesting help from the West…it never comes

October 27th Nagy creates a coalition of communists, October 28th Soviet forces begin to withdraw…

October 31st, Soviets were told Hungry would become a multi-party state and would leave the Warsaw Pact, becoming a neutral country

CRISIS GETS WORSE Soviets could not afford to let this

happen Czech, Romanian, Bulgarian, and

Chinese leaders call for Soviet intervention

France, England and Israel attack Egypt over the Suez Canal, diverting World attention away from Hungry

November 1st Soviets put Kadar in power and denounce Nagy as a counter-revolutionary

THE INVASION November 3rd, Hungarian defense

minister was arrested by the Red Army and Soviet forces advance on Budapest

THE INVASION Fighting broke out between protestors

and Red Army, 20,000 are killed Nagy seeks refuge in the Yugoslavian

embassy in Budapest. He is lured out by the KGB

Nagy and his friends were taken to Romania where they are executed and buried in an unmarked grave

180,000 Hungarians flee across the border into Austria

THE OUTCOME Marshall law is imposed and mass arrests

occur Soviets allow Kadar to provide more

consumer goods to the people and a very gradual relaxation of tension

The people never forgot or forgave what happened to Nagy, whose memory helps to bring down communist rule in 1989

Worldwide communists begin to question their beliefs and the Soviet Union

NUCLEAR ARMS RACE 1956 US spy planes illegally fly over

USSR taking pictures of their defense sites

A US research program was created to observe USSR from space

1957 British explode their 1st hydrogen bomb

1957 Both USA and USSR have Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM’s) that can travel 6,000 miles

NUCLEAR ARMS RACE July 1960 US creates the Polaris

Submarine, able to fire nuclear missiles and get really close to the USSR

1 Polaris Sub could carry more destructive power than ALL the bombs dropped in WWII

1961 President Kennedy announces program to build nuclear bomb shelters & pamphlets are given out on how to survive a nuclear attack

NUCLEAR ARMS RACE US military worked on the Single

Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP), a plan on how to win a first strike against the Eastern Bloc, launching 3,200 nuclear missiles at 1,060 targets…= 285 MILLION DEAD

US POLICIES Eisenhower and Dulles create policy of

MAD: Mutually Assured Destruction to deter from a nuclear war. If everyone dies, then don’t start a war

Another foreign policy for the US was Massive Retaliation: If one of our friends is attacked we will NUKE you.

Thus the communists should not try anything or they will destroy the world because we will nuke everything…

phew, I feel much safer