Cold War Global War Revision Notes - 3/6

The Global War, 1955-63

Leaders

• Eisenhower 1953-61 / Kennedy 1961-63
• Malenkov 1953-55 / /Khrushchev 1955-64
• Eden 1955-56 / MacMillan 1957-63

• 1954 - Geneva Conference / French withdrawal from Vietnam.
• 1955 - at Geneva Eisenhower proposes ‘Open Skies’ treaty but SU not ready.
• 1956 - Khrushchev wants peaceful co existence, but arms race continues.
• 1956 - Khrushchev wants peaceful co existence, but arms race continues.
• 1957 - Sputnik causes panic in US.
• 1957 - Eisenhower Doctrine extends CW to Middle East. US bases in Saudi Arabia
• 1957 - Sputnik causes panic in US.
• 1957 - Eisenhower Doctrine extends CW to Middle East. US bases in Saudi Arabia
• 1960 - U2 flight shot down – wrecks Paris summit but U2 shows SU’s deficit in nuclear weapons. SU not really interested in nuclear limitation until she has parity with US.US has bases from which nuclear weapons can be launched in Europe and Middle East, then Italy and Turkey
• 1960 - Kennedy elected saying he will spend more on weapons and close the missile gap

1. Khrushchev and East-West relations; Achievements

What was the new Soviet policy?

• Georgy Malenkov, brief party leader after Stalin’s death, advocated a ‘New Course’ strategy which was adopted during the period of collective leadership.
• It stated tat was between capitalism and communism was no longer ‘inevitable’, and that resources should be redirected to consumer goods rather than military.
• Collapse of capitalism was inevitable and nuclear war was senseless.
• Sought to improve relations with West in the short term.
• Peaceful Co-exisentence / the Thaw, pursued from 1956/1957 once Khrushchev assumed power, his ideas mirrored this but also incorporated ‘destalinisation’

What prompted the change of policy?

• Stalin’s death created opportunities for dialogue.
• 25th February 1956, Khrushchev spoke to a closed session of the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, delivering an address laying out some of Stalin's crimes and the "conditions of insecurity, fear, and even desperation" created by Stalin, known as the ‘de-stalinisation’ speech.
• Failure of the Berlin Blockade, Defection of Yugoslavia from the Cominform in 1948, Formation of NATO - humiliating examples of Stalin’s foreign policy mistakes.
• Khrushchev promised improvements in the agriculture and consumer good sectors, military had accounted for a third of expenditure by 1950.

What achievements were made under peaceful co-existence?

A series of summits took place after 1953. Dialogue represented progress although achievements were limited;

• An armistice was agreed in Korea.
• Berlin Foreign Ministers meeting January 1954; noted as constructive, but disagreements were made over reunification. USA wanted free elections but USSR wanted all German government with representatives from both West-East Germany.
• Geneva Conference April 1954; Armistice with Korea confirmed, USSR and USA reached agreement to allow French withdrawal from Indochina. 
• Austria State Treaty 1955; superpowers agreed to withdraw troops after Austria being divided into zones after WWII, Austria would become a neutral state. 
• Geneva Summit 1955; USA and USSR agreed on cultural and scientific exchanges. Eisenhower's proposal of ‘open skies’ (flying over each other to check nuclear stockpiles) was rejected.…