CW intensifies

• In 1945, the USA dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities.
• In 1952, the USA developed the H-bomb (hydrogen bomb).
• In 1949, the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb.
• In 1953, the Soviet Union developed the H-bomb.
• The nuclear arms race led to both superpowers having nuclear weapons, which was a powerful reason why a cold war did not become a hot war.
• The formation of the Warsaw Pact led to two opposing alliances in Europe separated by the Iron Curtain, both planning for military action against the other, including the use of nuclear and conventional weapons.
• The Warsaw Pact gave the Soviet Union direct control over the armed forces of its satellite states, thus strengthening its grip on Eastern Europe.
• The Warsaw Pact was a collective defence treaty involving the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Albania and Bulgaria, set up on 14 May 1955 following West Germany’s entry into NATO on 9 May 1955.
• The Cold War intensifies with the formation of the Warsaw Pact and the nuclear arms race.
• After Stalin died, Soviet leader Khrushchev indicated Soviet control would relax, but when Hungary started to move away from Soviet influence, the Soviet Union tightened its control for fear that if Hungary left the Warsaw Pact, other countries would follow.
• Hungary suffered a lot under Stalin’s control, with food and industrial products being shipped off to Russia, and any opposition being ruthlessly wiped out.
• Matyas Rakosi was a brutal ruler, known as the ‘Bald Butcher’, who called himself ‘Stalin’s best pupil’ but was known as the ‘Bald Butcher’.
• Communist rule became very unpopular in Hungary.
• The Hungarian uprising in 1956, showing a statue of Stalin that had been pulled down.
• Destalinisation led to the Soviet Union no longer seeing itself as a dictatorship, instead it became a one-party state, governed by the Politburo with Khrushchev as its leader.
• Many Hungarians mistakenly believed that the end of Stalin’s rule would bring an end to communism in Hungary, especially as Soviet troops had already withdrawn.
• Imre Nagy was arrested, tried and executed.
• Some countries boycotted the 1956 Olympics in protest.
• Stalin's death in 1953 led to Khrushchev taking over as Soviet leader.
• Over 5000 Hungarians were killed as a result of the invasion, including around 1000 Soviet troops.
• Nagy wanted to leave the Warsaw Pact and become a neutral country, hold free elections leading to no more single-party communist government, and have UN protection from the Soviet Union.
• Nagy and his government were deposed.
• The USA supported Hungary’s uprising with money, medical aid and words.
• Soviet control retightened across Eastern Europe.
• Khrushchev disapproved of Nagy’s reforms and proposals, fearing that if Hungary left the Warsaw Pact, other countries would soon follow.
• In October 1956, poor harvests and bread shortages led to Hungarians starting to demonstrate against communist control, with statues of Stalin pulled down and local communists attacked.
• A new leader, Janos Kadar, was appointed in Hungary.
• Kadar’s policies were more moderate than those of other Soviet satellite states and resulted in Hungary having better living standards than other East European states.
• In 1956, Khrushchev hinted in his 'secret speech' that Soviet control would relax.
• Hungarians, aware that the United States was not prepared to help them, grudgingly accepted this modified form of communist rule.
• On 4 November 1956, Khrushchev sent 200 000 Soviet troops into Hungary to depose Nagy and restore order.
• Kadar introduced the Fifteen Point Programme, which aimed to re-establish communist rule in Hungary.
• Khrushchev appointed a more liberal Prime Minister for Hungary, Imre Nagy, in the hope that the situation would calm down.
• Many Hungarian soldiers loyal to Nagy and the revolution fought against Soviet troops.
• The United Nations condemned Soviet actions.
• The USA accepted 80000 refugees from Hungary.
• Khrushchev wanted to prevent rebellions in other communist countries, such as Poland, and hoped he could do so by making an example of Nagy.
• Khrushchev claimed that communists were being slaughtered in Hungary, but a number of Hungarian communists had been killed and members of the state security forces, the AVH, attacked in the violence of October 1956, which took place in Budapest and other Hungarian towns and cities.
• Khrushchev feared the unrest would spread to other satellite states.