Contradictions of the USSR foreign policy. Kennedy. Soviet-American relations. THE HISTORY OF SOVIET RUSSIA - USSR

SOVIET RUSSIA. Brief history of the USSR

 

USSR IN WORLD POLITICS: FROM "COLD WAR" TO "THAW"

Contradictions of the USSR foreign policy. Kennedy. Soviet-American relations

 

Having formulated the thesis on the peaceful coexistence of the two systems at the XX Congress of the CPSU, recognizing the legitimacy of the Yugoslav way of development, the Soviet leadership created a precedent for other states in choosing ways of further movement. All this, as well as the economic difficulties caused by the mistakes of the leadership, led to the fact that in the summer of 1956 the opposition revived within the ruling parties and in society as a whole - political instability arose in Poland and Hungary. In the autumn of 1956, N. Khrushchev, V. Molotov, N. Bulganin and A. Mikoyan visited Warsaw to resolve the situation. The dissolution of collective farms, the removal of K. Rokossovsky’s Minister of Defense and his return to Moscow, the promise to lead the country to socialism by the “Polish way”, material assistance from the USSR, and the election of V. Gomulka to the post of head of the Polish United Workers Party helped to normalize the situation, in Poland.

 

According to a different scenario, events unfolded in Hungary, where the copying of the Soviet model of socialism took place and the cult of the “Hungarian Stalin” M. Rakosi took shape. On October 23, 1956, a multi-thousand-day demonstration of students who put forward a number of requirements began - from the abolition of military training and Russian language lessons to the withdrawal of Soviet troops and the creation of a government headed by I. Nagy.

 

The leadership of the Hungarian Workers' Party, wanting to reassure the people, called for the leader of the widespread opposition group Imre Nagy, an old communist who was persecuted by M. Rakosi, who arose in 1956. The government of Nadia demanded the withdrawal of the Soviet armies from Budapest. After that, in Hungary, there was a massacre of those who remained loyal to the old regime. Taking into account the latter circumstance, in the USSR it was decided to eliminate the insurrection by military forces. On November 4, 1956, Operation Whirlwind began, resulting in the death of about 2.5 thousand rebels and 720 people from the Soviet Army. Imre Nagy found refuge in the Yugoslav embassy, ​​but was soon arrested, taken to Romania, and some time later returned to Hungary, where he was executed in June 1958. With the help of the USSR, the new Hungarian government of J. Kadar restored eliminating many of the shortcomings that caused the massive popular uprising in 1956

 

One of the hottest spots in the world from 1958 to 1961 remained Berlin. Despite the fact that the USSR established diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States of America opposed any official recognition of the GDR. The lack of legal recognition of East Germany had serious consequences for the USSR, since it meant encouraging those who nurtured the idea of ​​revenge and return to a single great German state. Trying to break the resistance of his Western partners, Khrushchev used the only pressure weapon in his hands, Ber-ling. In August 1961, the famous wall was erected overnight, which isolated West Berlin from the rest of the GDR. As a result of this step, Germany was finally divided.

 

A special place in the late 50s - early 60s. occupied Soviet-American relations, which had a decisive influence on the course of the cold war. The possibility of improving relations between the two powers was demonstrated by the visit of the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers N. Khrushchev to the United States, which took place from September 15 to September 27, 1959. The meeting of the Soviet leader on American soil was "top notch". The first visit of the leader of the USSR to the USA, of course, could not tear down all the obstacles to the rapprochement of great states. Nevertheless, both N. Khrushchev and D. Eisenhower, in a memorandum summarizing the results of the negotiations, noted that the arms race costs enormous expenses and generates great danger. The leaders of the two countries thus came to the conclusion that the limitation of armaments is the most important issue in current international relations. The world was waiting for a return visit to the USSR by the President of the United States, scheduled for 1960. There was a real opportunity to end the cold war. However, the incident with the US U-2 reconnaissance aircraft shot down on May 1, 1960 in the Sverdlovsk region buried all expectations. N. Khrushchev took back his invitation to D. Eisenhower to visit the USSR. Soviet-American relations were frozen for a long time.

 

In November 1960, the representative of the Democratic Party, D. Kennedy, won the presidential elections in the United States. Under the new president, defense spending was increased, and one of the first foreign policy actions was a break in diplomatic contacts with Cuba, where in early 1959 democratic forces led by Fidel Castro took power. Relations between Cuba and the United States have become openly hostile. The Soviet Union decided to give the small country all-round support: political, economic and military. In July 1962, a grandiose operation under the code name "Anadyr" began to deploy in the immediate vicinity of the United States a group of troops capable of conducting independent military operations at a distance of 11,000 km from supply bases. The first combat units arrived in Cuba in early August, and the redeployment of nuclear warheads soon began.

 

The period from 14 to 27 October 1962 became the apogee of the crisis. The Americans declared a blockade of the island and began preparations for a military invasion. The day of October 27th could end in a nuclear catastrophe - an American reconnaissance spy plane was shot down over Cuba. Only due to the firmness of D. Kennedy, who refused to give the order for an immediate air strike, and the counter-steps of N. Khrushchev, were able to prevent the war. The parties came to a compromise. The Soviet Union agreed to withdraw nuclear missiles from Cuba, and Washington, for its part, promised not to attempt to invade the island and keep its allies from this.

 

The withdrawal of the missiles was carried out by the Soviet side without prior discussion of this issue with F. Castro. Therefore, the reaction of the latter to the "capitulation" of N. Khrushchev was volcanic. The extremely difficult negotiations with the American and Cuban parties were forced to lead A. Mi-koyan. On November 20, 1962, the US president announced the end of the blockade of Cuba - the Caribbean crisis was resolved.

 

The events of 1962 ended the split in the Soviet-Chinese relations. The economic, scientific and technical cooperation of the two countries for some time went on increasing, after which the paths of internal development and international strategies of states began to diverge. From January 1956 to February 1959, the USSR undertook obligations to assist China and to build 180 large industrial enterprises. Moreover, on May 15, 1957, the Soviet Union concluded an agreement with the People's Republic of China on the provision of atomic bomb samples with technical documentation for the organization of the corresponding production.

 

The 20th CPSU Congress, which took the course to democratize public life, defuse international tensions, prevent world war, establish business cooperation with the West and refuse to stimulate the world revolution, became the starting point for the exact Sino-Soviet conflict. After this, the parties' disagreements became more and more aggravated, since the Chinese leader Mao Zedong, developing his theory, noted that one should not be afraid of war, it is "more advantageous to us and less advantageous to the West", "a big revolution cannot do without a revolutionary war" .

 

China reacted to the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba as if it was implementing its line of action - “to act with a tip against the tip in the struggle against imperialism”. In a sign of approval of Moscow’s steps, criticism of the Soviet leadership was even suspended. When Khrushchev went back down, he was accused of capitulation, describing the policy of Moscow as the "new Munich". The New York Times noticed then that Beijing had demonstrated its readiness to fight to the last American and to the last Russian.

 

On August 5, 1963, the ministers of foreign affairs of the USSR, the United States and Great Britain signed in Moscow a historic treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water.

 

In October 1964, China blew up its first atomic bomb. But more than 20 years passed before Beijing, having secured sufficient nuclear power and having satisfied its vanity, joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in 1970.

 

The extreme severity of the Soviet-Chinese relations was given by the extension of the PRC of territorial claims to the USSR. The question of "unequal treaties" was raised in the note of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC of September 27, 1963. This was followed by an increase in tensions at the border, the armed conflict culminating in the late 60s.

 

The last diplomatic action of the Soviet government, headed by N. Khrushchev, was a statement of August 10, 1964 in defense of Cuba. This happened after the Organization of American States (OAS) under pressure from the United States accused Cuba of “aggression”, “intervening in the affairs of another state” and demanded that the OAS members break off diplomatic relations with the government of F. Castro.

 

On the whole, the foreign policy results of the postwar twenty years are contradictory and ambiguous. The main result of this period is that the Soviet Union managed to somewhat change the course of the Cold War, proving that with mutual consent and desire, both superpowers can agree among themselves and overcome crises caused by mutual political mistakes. Under N. Khrushchev, our country was perceived by the Western world differently than in the era of Stalinism. First Secretary until the end sought to support the image of the USSR as a peace-loving power. This is evidenced by his recent visits in 1964 to the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Sweden, Norway.

 

Relations with the socialist countries during this period were very complex. Along with normalizing relations with Yugoslavia, the Soviet leadership had to apply political pressure and direct military force in order to keep the GDR, Poland and Hungary in their sphere of influence. The aggravated disagreements with China led to a split in the communist movement, toughened the rivalry in the struggle for influence on the socialist camp

 

 

History of the Soviet Union and Russia in the 20th Century

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