9. Khrushchev and East-West relations, 1955-60

• May 1955 - the Austrian State Treaty; Federal Republic of Germany is admitted to NATO
• July 1955 - Geneva Summit
• Feb 1956 - Khrushchev's Secret Speech is delivered
• June-Oct 1956 - the Polish Rising
• Oct-Nov 1956 - the Hungarian Rising
• Sept 1959 - Khrushchev and the Camp David talks
• May 1960 - the Paris Summit
• June 1960 - JFK and Khrushchev meet in Vienna
• Revanchism – derived from a French term for ‘revenge’; it is based on this idea that a people, such as those in W. Germany in 1956, may wish to restore their lost territories and thereby threaten Poland’s security 
• Summit – a high level international meeting bringing together leaders who are able to collectively negotiate outcomes that can be implemented; summit meetings represent the opportunity for states to work together to create solutions rather than smaller alliance groups that compete against each other
• De-Stalinisation – Stalin ensured that those EE states that formed the pro-communist, pro-Soviet Bloc served as clones of the communist system developed during his control in the USSR. The Stalinist system was characterised by the cult of personality, centralised planning, a one-party political system, and press censorship. De-Stalinisation involved the removal of some or most of these controls 
• Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (1894-1971) – denounced Stalin’s crimes in 1956, having previously been a Stalinist hard-liner. His motives for this have been hotly debated. He appeared to swing between an attitude of cooperation and one of aggression and provocation. He is most notable for taking the decision to place nuclear missiles on Cuba in 1962. By 1964, he was ousted from power
• Imre Nagy (1896-1958) – leading political figure in post-war communist Hungary. He proposed a ‘New Course’ in socialism in Hungary, and challenged the oppressive control from Moscow. This led to his dismissal as Chairman of the Hungarian Council of Minister. He led the government briefly during the 1956 uprising but in an attempt to flee to Yugoslavia, he was caught, tried for treason, and executed in 1958
• John F. Kennedy (1917-63) – USA’s second youngest president. President from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. He was a committed anti-communist and willing to take a resolute stand against the USSR. He was absolutely determined to retain containment as the basis of US foreign policy