The USSR in 50-60 years of the Cold War
School 2086 Anna Dmitrieva Natalia Evgenievna Borodina The economy of War 2016 Personally I choose the USSR in 50-60 years of the Cold War because I have many questions in this area. The history of 20th century I am learning at school now and in our student's book there is a lot of information about foreign countries and about the USSR there is not so many information. That's why I want to learn more about the USSR in the period of the Cold War. I am going to prove that this war benefited USSR's social and political life and economy. I am expecting to learn more information about the social life in the Soviet Union. Personally, this project can help me to remember a historical information about this war.
The USSR after the World War II The country was in hard situation, after the war was very long economy recession. Government had carried many reforms out to raise the economy of the country. An agriculture was restoring faster than a heavy industry. With realizing reforms were social tensions. Some areas of science were subjected to repressions. The reasons of the Cold War were that there was a rivalry between the USA and the USSR, countries tried to have more nuclear weapons than another country and there were ideological antagonisms, which were insoluble problems of two models of society: the socialistic model and the capitalistic model of countries.
Economic changes in 1950-1960
In period of 50-60 years government took reforms which were aimed to improve the production( construction of factories) and to raise agriculture ( the expansion of cultivated areas, the mechanization process). For 1953-1958 agricultural production increased by 34%, compared with previous 5 years. The mechanical engineering, the petrochemical industry and the power industry were rapidly developing. For 1950-1965 production volumes were increased by 5 times. In 1953 on plenum Central committee accepted a decision about raising purchasing prices, write off debts and lowering taxes. You can see that government tried to prove production and agriculture, because they need to compete with another countries, especially with the USA in a military and in a cosmic spheres, for these they had to develop economy of the country.
Political sphere On March 5, 1953 Stalin died. In February 1956, Khrushchev gave a talk on Stalin's cult of personality and after that in September 1953, Nikita Khrushchev was elected a first secretary of Central Committee . In 1957 Nikita Khrushchev became the Soviet leader.
In 1953, the Soviet Union had brought about a rapprochement between China and the USSR. However, at the end of the 1950s the relationship deteriorated. The reason for this was the refusal of China to put USSR's military bases on its territory. In reply, the Soviet Union withdrew from the Chinese military experts, reduced logistical support and turned off the program in the field of nuclear physics cooperation.
In May 1955 there was created the Warsaw Pact. It includes: The USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania.
In 1956 government began the process of rehabilitation of repressed people and their return to their homeland, revised 16 thousand cases.
The most acute was the "Cuban Missile Crisis" in October 1962, which led the world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe. It was caused by an attempt to accommodate Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. This allowed countries to understand that using of nuclear weapons entails a fatal consequences. In 1955 the Soviet Union proposed to convene a world conference on disarmament. As a result, in the early 60-ies were signed agreements on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the prohibition of its tests in three environments.
On13 October, 1964 Plenum the Central Committee took the decision to dismiss NS Khrushchev from all his positions. In the decade of the Khrushchev "thaw" was a significant softening of totalitarianism, which was good for people.
Social sphere Particularly striking results of the "thaw" appeared in literature and art. Works of rehabilitated writers were published. Revival of cultural scene contributed to the emergence of a large number of new literature. Poets R. Rozhdestvensky, Voznesensky Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Bulat Okudzhava, Akhmadulina, film directors Andrei Tarkovsky, G. Chuhray, sculptor E. Neizvestny gained recognition and worldwide fame. The USSR joined UNESCO. In 1958, the International Tchaikovsky Competition of performers was organized and also the Moscow Film Festival was resumed. In the Khrushchev decade, science was successfully developing . In the study, huge funds were contributed to build scientific centers. Especially successful were achievements in space exploration. On October4, 1957 the USSR launched the first Earth satellite, Sputnik. On April 12, 1961 the first human - YA Gagarin flew into space.
Summarizing all information I can say that in general changes were positive, because economy started to raise and production was developing. In social sphere were a lot of changes, some of them was positive and some was negative, there were many programs, reforms and contracts which were aimed to improve the State politics and the international politics. Some events were positive not only for the USSR, but also for another countries, for example in opposition to NATO in May 1955 was created the Warsaw Pact or we could understand that using of nuclear weapons entails a fatal consequences, and now countries try to solve problems amicably. Competition between countries in military and scientific spheres helped to raise the economy of the country and the social sphere. The hypothesis is true according to my findings, the country benefited more than lost.
In my opinion the hypothesis in general is false, because the other wars were not as peaceful as the Cold War, when countries are continuously fighting, they carry a lot of losses. The Cold War is more political confrontation of countries than their fights. We can say that this war is exception from the other.
I researched a lot of information for this project, especially about social sphere. For me it was very useful, because I have remembered all information and I have got information about the USSR, I think I have met my goals.
list of references:
1. Economy (http://historynotes.ru/ekonomika-sssr-v-seredine-50-kh---nachale-60-kh-godov/)
2. Culture (http://historynotes.ru/razvitie-kultury-v-seredine-50-kh-60-kh-godov/)
3. Student's history book of 9th grade(Shubin AV)
4. Cold War (http://files.school-collection.edu.ru/dlrstore/6651d22c-b363-d829-3e4c-16593b50a572/1010223A.htm).
