The Secret Speech
Throughout the 1940s and 50s, Stalin cut down countless lives with no remorse for anyone. In light of these atrocities, Nikita Khrushchev decided to take a stand. In February 1956, Khrushchev gave his famous secret speech during the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party. In the speech he denounced Stalin and “exposed the Stalinist Terror and Cult of Personality” (Eidelman 1). Khrushchev’s speech was widespread all throughout the USSR with every person receiving a rendition. After Khrushchev’s address, he gained fame and popularity with the people. This led to him becoming the leader of the Soviet Union. Under Khrushchev, the USSR prioritized becoming a world power, like the United States. The biggest changes to the Soviet
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During his time he “played a pivotal role in shaping Russian foreign policy during the Cold War era”(). His leadership was vastly different from his violent predecessor, Joseph Stalin. Stalin was a cold blooded murderer, and surrounded himself with a “cult of personality”(). After Krushchev’s famous speech in 1956, he “pursued a policy of de-Stalinization”(). Khrushchev went even further than de-Stalinization as he attempted “peaceful coexistence with the West”(), started “thawing tensions from the Cold War”(), and brought the Soviets from an “isolationist country to a global …show more content…
Foreign policies implemented under Khrushchev turned the once tough and cold country to a world power that began to peacefully coexist with the Western World. Krushchev advocated for reducing tensions with the United States and “actively engaged in diplomatic efforts to ease the confrontational stance between the two superpowers”(). This approach led to the famous “1959 visit by Khrushchev to the United States and contributed to a temporary thaw in the Cold War”(), which reduced the risk of nuclear conflict. One of Khrushchev's most notable actions was denouncing the excesses of his predecessor, Joseph Stalin, and implementing a policy of de-Stalinization. This policy aimed to dismantle the cult of personality surrounding Stalin, liberalize aspects of Soviet society, and promote a more relaxed political atmosphere. It had a profound impact on Russia by allowing for greater freedom of expression and cultural
Following the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1914, Joseph Stalin took up his position as leader of the Soviet Union. After rising to power, Stalin made drastic changes to Russia that was still torn from war at the time. With his power, Stalin aimed to bring Russia to the top of the world. In the end, while he pushed the Soviet Union’s economy to new heights, his methods were cruel and had negative impacts. After the war, Stalin was determined to turn Russia into a great industrial power.
Soviet Union: What Should Textbooks Emphasize? The Soviet Union, or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that ran under an Authoritarian Communist regime. It was established by Vladimir Lenin in 1917 after the fall of the Russian Monarchy, and officially became the Soviet Union in 1922; The USSR eventually collapsed at the end of 1991 due to destructuring of its centralized government. The history of the Soviet Union is rich and can be difficult to break down. Trying to grasp the Soviet Union’s description for a textbook can be done by separating it into three categories.
Gorbachev was a different leader than the ones before him, due to the Soviet Union’s hope that he would be able to deal with the troubles caused by Reagan’s aggression. He adopted policies such as glasnost and perestroika in order to bring some freedom to the people, and showed a desire for the ending of the Cold War. Gorbachev and Reagan met in four summit meetings. During the second meeting in Reykjavik, Gorbachev agreed to reduce arms, under the condition that Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative not be deployed. Reagan refused this term, saying that “‘There was no way I could tell our people that their government would not protect them against nuclear destruction’” (D’Souza).
“He was determined to establish a sphere of influence that would safeguard Soviet periphery for all time.” (doc. 12) Stalin’s goal was to promote a great country, and he did. His footprint was left behind, as effects of his work is still shown throughout the previous countries of the
Although Russia won, many Russian civilians and soldiers died (“Joseph Stalin – Powerful Communist Ruler”). After World War 2, Stalin continued to dictate. Various examples of this were the initiation of purges, executions and exiles to labour camps to rid him of any opposition or other influences (“Joseph
Throughout Russia’s history, there have been many rulers that tried to manage their country in different ways. Even though, all of these rulers had their own unique ways of ruling, all of them were seen as terrible by the people. This eventually led to a tipping point for the Russian citizens and the Russian Revolution took place. The goal for these people was to gain freedom from their oppressive czar but instead, they got an even worse leader. Joseph Stalin was a leader of the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953 and he was known for his ability to strike fear into people.
Many of Reagan’s firmness led the destruction and downfall of the evil empire. In 1991, Reagan aggressive policies toward the Soviet Union was a factor that ended the cold war. In the other hand his opposition said that only the good fortune of sane leadership in Moscow save us all from the nuclear apocalypse. Reagan diplomatic legacy was more that his admires or critics are likely to admit.
All these were made in order to limit the Soviet Union power in different countries until Nixon set the limit of United States power. He also presented “Détente” means “relaxation” through which he thought to limit Soviet Union expansion and to limits the revolutions in the Third World. Nixon took dramatic steps such as the visit in China. After this, in 1980 Reagan would be the president of United States. He was anti-communist and rejected the “Détente”.
Introduction Joseph Stalin is perhaps one of the most important and discussed people in Russian history. He was arguably a feared tyrant cursed and despised by many. At the same time, one finds sufficient evidence for the adoration and worship of Stalin that used to exist in the minds of the citizens of the Soviet Union. One reason for this worship was the existence of the so called ‘Cult of Personality’ where Stalin was celebrated as a wise leader, father of all people, and the architect of victory of the Second World War. In his book, The Stalin Cult: A Study in the Alchemy of Power, Jan Plamper states that Stalin’s cult of personality was largely a visual phenomenon.
Post WWl, Russia was still not industrialized, suffering economically and politically and in no doubt in need of a leader after Lenin’s death. “His successor, Joseph Stalin, a ruthless dictator, seized power and turned Russia into a totalitarian state where the government controls all aspects of private and public life.” Stalin showed these traits by using methods of enforcement, state control of individuals and state control of society. The journey of Stalin begins now.
As a ruthless politician, he went to any extent to get his point across. His speech can be considered a far fetched exaggeration. He focused more on manipulating his audience’s feelings, rather inserting logic or credibility. His attempt to insert credible statistics would be fruitless, as he claimed that “800,000,000 people” are under the “absolute domination of Soviet Russia” with an increase of “over 400 percent.” This generalization intended to convince the audience that the enemy was in complete world domination and that the dramatic increase in power was a threat.
Process of Findings The first part of this report will discuss the evidence pertaining to the “genuinely concerned, pragmatic” side to Joseph Stalin’s leadership. Stalin was a leader who was honoured and praised by many of his people in the USSR for various reasons. He was portrayed on propaganda posters as a kind, caring and genuinely concerned leader particularly towards children who were the future of the USSR (Source A). By Stalin being portrayed as a leader who shows genuine concern and care for the children of his country, it propagates the message that children and the entire population of the USSR will have an “enlightened future” under his leadership13 (Source A), and would in turn help Stalin gain more support for himself.
The Soviet Union has been an enigma, but still, a very significant contributor to the history of the world. There have been many rulers in Soviet Union history. The Soviet Union has been through economic successes and downfalls, ages of terror, a world war, was once an ally of the United States, today is an enemy of the US. If we were to add the history from the Soviet Union to our textbooks , what information should be emphasized? There are many important areas about the Soviet Union, three of them are: cultural achievements, military strength and political repression.
The effect Ronald Reagan had on the Cold War was phenomenal. “The West, he said won’t contain communism, it will only transcend communism. ‘ It will dismiss it,’ he explains, ‘as some bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written”’ (look 1). According to the article
Through his role model of a true leader and his great charisma he influenced the Russian citizens to contribute towards his vision of a greater Russia. Vladimir Putin is seen, as a strong leader with brilliant psychological skills that had the power and will to make the decisions and take crazy risks, which he thought, was right for Russian citizens. He was highly people oriented since he new the culture and came from the same background as many Russian individuals and he new what they exactly needed and wanted in a president. But on the contrary his management background helped him to direct and control the Russian citizens by coordinating and harmonizing them to accomplish a mutual goal that was based on their needs and wants. Vladimir Putin created strategies, policies based on the Russian culture, values and views.