Modern World Civilization
Spring 2008
Stalin and the Cold War
Following in the wake of the
German defeat.
Stalin believe that whomever
occupied a region had the right to impose their own social system on it.
Hence, Eastern Europe was now in
the Soviet sphere.
In time, he thought the British
and Americans would clash and he would inherit the remainder.
Stalin and Heightened Cold War Tensions
Stalin would not let Eastern
Europeans states join the Marshall Plan.
He cut off Berlin and started
the crisis that resulted in the Berlin Airlift.
He threatened to recognize East
Germany.
He was a winner in the Chinese
Civil War in 1949.
And his support for Kim Il Sung
and the start of the Korean War.
The Start of the Doctors Plot
It started with the murder of
Solomon Mikhoels, a leading Jewish/Yiddish actor on Jan. 13, 148.
This was the start of the war on
Cosmopolitans.
In November Stalin waged his last
battle against Jewish culture.
The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee
was dissolved.
25 leading Jewish writers were
arrested and eventually executed in the Lubyanka in 1952.
The Last Purge
The purge started on Jan. 13,
1953.
Jewish doctors were accused of
being paid agents of Israel.
Who were supposed to poison
Soviet leaders.
Arrests were taking place.
Fears were felt in the Jewish
community that this would led to deportations.
When Stalin suddenly died on
March 5, 1953, the fears came to an end.
Background
Born in 1894 on the border zone
with the Ukraine.
He came from a peasant family.
Joined with the Bolsheviks and
fought in the Civil War.
Stalin and the Purges elevated
his career.
He initially was one of Stalins
loyal followers.
With the death of Stalin, he and
is ally Nikolai Bulganin won the struggle for control.
Gaining and Holding Power
He and Bulganin defeated Beria
and Malenkov.
Beria was executed.
In 1956 at the XX Party Congress
he attacked the crimes of Stalin.
But he would no tolerate
dissent.
This was obvious with the
crushing of the Hungarian Revolt in 1956.
Khrushchev did seek
accommodation with the West.
Khrushchev and Crises
Just when you though things were
getting better.
Along came the U-2 Crisis in May
1960.
Followed by the Berlin Crisis
and the Building of the Berlin Wall.
Then the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Still he was the first Soviet
leader to advocate peaceful coexistence.
Khrushchevs Fall
Khrushchev was humiliated by the
Cuban Missile Crisis.
Plus his Virgin Lands program
irritated his party colleagues.
Resulting in a conservative coup
led by Leonid Brezhnev.
Forcing Khrushchev to retire to
his dacha outside of Moscow.
He died in 1971.
Return to Russian Power
Aleksei Kosygin became the
Premier.
But the real power was with
Brezhnev as General Secretary of the Communist Party.
He ended reforms initiated by
Khrushchev.
This was a godsend to the
bureaucracy.
Especially for the KGB which
flourished under Brezhnev.
Prague Spring to Dιtente
When the Soviets and Warsaw Pact
invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 marked the birth of the Brezhnev Doctrine.
Likewise aiding the North
Vietnamese during the Vietnam War.
But reaching out to Richard
Nixon in 1972 with the SALT Agreements.
Then along came Afghanistan.
The Soviet Economy During The Brezhnev
Years
Brezhnev was growing feeble.
As his government and Soviet
Society was in state of decline.
Agriculture and the domestic
economy suffered.
Because of the massive spending
on defense for the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Something that the economy could
not fully tolerate.
Brezhnev died on Nov. 10, 1982
at 75.
The Soviet Union had 10 more
years.
The Soviet Afghan Quagmire
Communist power was established
in Afghanistan on April 27, 1978.
The Communist President Nur M.
Taraki ushered in a wave of reforms that angered many Afghans.
Soon the Afghans rose up and
rebelled first in Herat in March 1979.
Soon Taraki was toppled and
another puppet was installed.
Soviets Seek to Stabilize Afghanistan
stabilizing the country by
garrisoning the main routes, major cities, airbases and logistics sites.
relieving the Afghan government
forces of garrison duties and pushing them into the countryside to battle the
resistance.
providing logistic, air,
artillery and intelligence support to the Afghan forces.
providing minimum interface
between the Soviet occupation forces and the local populace;
accepting minimal Soviet
casualties; and,
strengthening the Afghan forces,
so once the resistance was defeated, the Soviet Army could be withdrawn.
Why Did The Soviets Fail?
The Soviets deployed 40th
Army to Afghanistan.
Too few troops 90,000 to
104,000 to cover an area five times the size of Vietnam.
All told 620,000 served there.
The Americans had 500,000 men.
Soviet military doctrine did not
support such an operation.
Unable to win the war early
contributed to slow death.
Introduction of American
Stingers.
Casualties and Manpower
Officers served a two-year tour.
Enlisted men served 18 months.
14,453 dead (9,511 KIAs, 2,386
died of wounds, 2,556 died of disease or in accidents).
10,751 were invalided out of
service because of the war.
Many were scared because of the
war.
Soviet Leadership During the Afghan War
Brezhnev
Chernenko
Andropov
Gorbachev
Collapse of the Evil Empire
M. S. Gorbachev experienced the
disaster of Afghanistan.
And the disaster of Chernobyl in
1986.
Gorbachev, more than many
others, realized that the Soviet Union need normalization in international
relations.
This happened in 1987.
Gorbachev then introduced
Perestroika and Glasnost.
Both would led to the collapse
of the Soviet Union.
The Walls Come Tumbling Down
Hungary announced that the
barriers with Austria were coming down.
The communist party in Poland
retired in Jan. 1989, with elections
Soon East Germans rushed to
Czechoslovakia for visas.
Soon the walls came down on Nov.
10, 1989.
Soon the regime in Bulgaria come
down as well.
Followed by the collapse of
Nicolae Ceausescu on Dec. 25, 1989.
Too Far, Too Fast
Gorbachev admitted too much.
Katyn and Nazi-Soviet
Non-Aggression Pact.
The reforms angered the Party
establishment.
While they did not go far enough
for the Baltic States.
The Party Conservatives realized
that something had t be done.
The August Coup was in the works
(Aug. 19, 1991).
The August Coup
The liberals wanted further
change in Russia.
Including a multi party state
and more civil liberties.
Pressing Gorbachev for greater
reform measures.
Angering the conservatives who
arrested Gorbachev on August 19, 1991.
Then declared a state of
emergency.
But the effort collapsed.