The Cold War intensifies Flashcards

All 8 cards in this deck

What was the arms race of the late 1940s and 1950s?

The competition to build more powerful nuclear weapons: the USSR tested an atomic bomb in 1949, the USA a hydrogen bomb in 1952 and the USSR in 1953.

What was the Warsaw Pact (1955)?

A military alliance of the USSR and its eastern European satellite states, set up in response to West Germany joining NATO.

What changes did Nagy's government plan in Hungary in 1956?

Free elections, the withdrawal of Soviet troops, and Hungary leaving the Warsaw Pact to become a neutral state.

How did Khrushchev respond to the Hungarian Uprising in November 1956?

He sent Soviet troops and tanks into Budapest to crush it; thousands were killed, many Hungarians fled to Austria, and Kádár was installed as a loyal leader.

True or false? Nagy was arrested and executed after the Hungarian Uprising.

True. He was removed, arrested and executed in 1958, and Hungary was kept firmly inside the Warsaw Pact under Kádár.

What was the international reaction to the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956?

The UN condemned the invasion but the Soviet veto blocked action; the West protested and took in refugees but sent no military help, being distracted by the Suez Crisis.

How did Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation in 1956 encourage unrest in the satellite states?

He attacked Stalin's methods in a speech, freed political prisoners and dissolved Cominform. Many in Eastern Europe took this as a sign they could have more freedom from Moscow, which encouraged protests in Poland and Hungary.

Who was Mátyás Rákosi?

Hungary's harsh Stalinist leader, put in power with Soviet backing. Discontent with his rule grew in 1956, and he was removed; after protests in Budapest in October, the reformer Imre Nagy became prime minister.