The Soviet Union as a Superpower

Chapter 30 (3 of 4)

Soviet Union a World Power After WW2

• Built up military and heavy industry

Soviet Union a World Power After WW2

1) What technology did the U.S.S.R. acquire in 1949?

Soviet Union a World Power After WW2

Soviet Control Eastern Europe

East Europe Easy Targets for Takeover

• Relied on selling grain to western Europe, so hurt in 1930s by Depression

• Aristocrats owned all the land and supported authoritarian rulers who protected their property

Soviets Drive Out NazisMake Eastern Europe Communist

2. What eastern European nation was communist, but acted independently of the Soviet Union?

Yugoslavia

What do these 2 men have in common?They are both named Tito

Josef Tito

• President of Yugoslavia during Cold War

• Kept Yugoslavia independent of Soviet Union

East Europe Under Soviet Control

• Soviets help communists in those countries repress rivals (including Roman Catholic Church)

• Collectivization in agriculture

• 5 Year Plans to build industry

3. What alliance was formed amongst Soviet satellite nations

Warsaw Pact (1955)

Joseph Stalin Dies (1953)

4. I was premier of the Soviet Union from 1955 – 1964. Who am I?

Nikita Khrushchev

De-Stalinization

De-Stalinization• Nikita Khrushchev

denounces Stalin

• Stalin too hard-line (ex: Purges)

• Despite this, Soviet maintained strict control over eastern Europe

Soviet Tension in East Europe

Berlin Wall (1961)

• Built to stop people from fleeing to West Germany

Escapes over (and under) the Wall

• 171 people were killed or died attempting to escape Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989

• Most famous tunnel was dug in a graveyard where Germans would come to mourn the dead and then “disappear” as they dropped into the hole that was dug.

• More than 50 people escaped that tunnel until a woman left her baby carriage behind, leading to the tunnel’s discovery and closure

• There were many more tunnels to the other side of the wall, but most of them either caved in or were discovered

• Altogether, there were 71 tunnel projects and 20% of those were successful in escaping the Berlin wall.

Escape From Communist East Berlin

5. What year was the Berlin Wall torn down?

1989

Poland (June, 1956)

• Polish began protesting Soviet-led communist rule

• Army put down rebellion, but Soviets agreed to some changes

• Ended collectivization

• Catholic Church tolerated

• This sparked Hungary to begin uprising

Hungary (1956)• Hungarians against Soviet control

• Soviets allow Imre Nagy to be Prime Minister

• When Nagy said Hungary withdrawing from Warsaw Pact, Soviet troops called in

• 30,000 Hungarians killed brutally, and uprising put down

Hungarian Revolution 1956

Causes The basic cause of the Hungarian revolution was that the Hungarians

hated Russian communism:

Poverty Hungarians were poor, yet much of the food and industrial goods they

produced was sent to Russia.

Russian Control The Hungarians were very patriotic, and they hated Russian control –

which included censorship, the vicious secret police (called the AVH after 1948) and Russian control of what the schools taught.

Catholic Church The Hungarians were religious, but the Communist Party had banned

religion, and put the leader of the Catholic Church in prison.

Help from the West Hungarians thought that the United Nations or the new US president,

Eisenhower, would help them.

Hungarian Revolution 195

On 23 October, there were riots of students, workers and soldiers. They smashed up the statue of Stalin, and attacked the AVH and Russian soldiers.

Hungarian Revolution 1956

Later that evening, the Revolution started at the HUNGARIAN RADIO STATION where the students tried to broadcast their demands.

On 24 October, Imre Nagy took over as Prime Minister. He asked Khrushchev to take out the Russian troops.

On 28 October, Khrushchev agreed, and the Russian army pulled out of Budapest.

29 October – 3 November: The new Hungarian government introduced democracy, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion

On 4 November, at dawn, 1000 Russian tanks rolled into Budapest. By 8.10 am they had destroyed the Hungarian army and captured Hungarian Radio – its last words broadcast were ‘Help! Help! Help”!’ Hungarian people – even children – fought them with machine guns.

Hungarian Revolution 1956

Young people took up arms to fight, getting guns and ammunition from the Hungarian police stations and army depots.

Hungarian Revolution 1956

The Freedom Fighters even made Molotov cocktails to throw at the tanks.

Hungarian Revolution 1956

Although the Freedom Fighters fought valiently for another week, they were no match for the Soviets, and within a few days, the Hungarian Revolution was over.

It is estimated that about 3,000 Hungarians were killed during the uprising. About 12,000 were arrested and imprisoned. Of these, between 400 and 450 were executed. An estimated 200,000 people managed to escape to the West.

Hungarian Revolution Video (9:00)

Czechoslovakia: Prague Spring (1968)

• Czech leader Alexander Dubcek begins series of democratic reforms

• Soviets send in troops and order Dubcek to Moscow

• Dubcek sent back and repeals his reforms

Changes in Eastern Europe

• The arrival of communism in eastern Europe ended the long-held power of the aristocracy

• Culturally, Russia began to have more influence over eastern Europe than the West

• Russia had to have its troops ready to stop discontent in eastern Europe, taking away from potential Soviet power elsewhere

Postwar Soviet Domestic Policy

Under Stalin Soviets Had Strict Limits

• Strict limits placed on travel and the media,

• Soviet people and culture isolated from world

• Communist bureaucracy grew under Stalin

• To keep job and advance, had to be loyal to communist ideology and to Stalin

• Led to bland, boring officials

Communist Leaders Controlled Culture

• Art and literature censored to ensure they were pro-Soviet

• Education used to train Soviet bureaucrats and create a loyal citizenry

Soviets Greatly Reduced Influence of Church

6) What was the majority church in Russia?

• Orthodox Christianity

So, what did Soviets do to limit church:

• Church couldn’t teach religion to anyone under 18

• Schools taught religion was superstition

• Soviet leaders stirred up anti-Semitism and limited the freedom of Jews

7) In the past, Russia had launched government sponsored attacks on Jews. What were these called

• Pogroms

Soviets opposed Western culture

• Mocked Western artistic styles as too decadent (morally poor)

• New forms of Western culture barred from Russia (older forms, such as classical music, remained)

• Socialist Realism = Popular Soviet art style; glorifying heroic workers, soldiers, and peasants

Economy and Society

Under Stalin, Soviet Union Industrialized8) What were Stalin’s industrialization programs called?

• 5-Year Plans

• Soviet industrialization different than West

• In Soviet Union government controlled industries

• Despite industrialization, Soviet economy lacked consumer products (ex: cars, light bulbs, etc.)

• These items hard to get, had to wait on long lines

Similarities Between Soviet Society and Western Society

• Leisure activities - sports, movies, television, and vacations to the beach

• Different social classes emerged (workers v. educated middle class)

• Lower birth rates, focus on nuclear families (not extended families), less infant deaths, better diets and medical care, and parents focused on education for their children (though children in Soviet Union more strictly disciplined, both at school and at home)

• Minority groups the ones with the highest birth rates (in Soviet Union, that group was the Muslims in the southern Soviet republics)

• Difference: Western women homemakers while Soviet women needed to work in factories, and women played large role in some professions, including medicine