The thawing of the cold war was marked by destalinization, the sino-soviet split, and detente.
Destalinization
Destalinization was a political reform launched at the 20th Party Congress (February 1956) by Soviet Communist Party First Secretary Khrushchew that condemned the crimes on Stalin. This destroyed Stalin's image and an infallible leader, and promised to return to socialist legality and Lenninist principles of party rule. As a result, there was shock among communists throughout the world who had pledged unwavering support and loyalty to Stalin, damaged the prestige of the Soviet Union, caused friction in the communist movement, and contributed to the uprisings in Poland and Hungary. |
Sino-Soviet Split
The split between the two most powerful Communist nations, the Soviet Union and China, most definitely marked the thawing of the cold war. The collapse of the Sino-Soviet Alliance marked the transformation of the cold war from bipolarity to multi-polarity. The destalinization of Krushchev caused friction between China and the Soviet Union, and is responsible for instigating the dissolution of their alliance. Mao Zedong exploited ideological conflict for domestic purposes. The final breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance occurred in mid 1966, coinciding with the Cultural Revolution happening in China. Mao Zedong broke party relations in 1966 by his refusal to send a delegation to the 23rd Soviet Party Congress. For a detailed timeline of the Sino-Soviet Split, click here. |
Detente
The majority of the cold war had been marked by a policy of brinkmanship, or " foreign policy practice in which one or both parties force the interaction between them to the threshold of confrontation in order to gain an advantageous negotiation position over the other. The technique is characterized by aggressive risk-taking policy choices that court potential disaster" (britannica.com), between the US and the Soviet Union. As the cold war began to thaw, however, the foreign policy became detente, or a "release from tension". It had been marked by events such as the signing of the Outer Space Treaty, which forbade missiles in space. Then President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger were committed to improving East-West relations and planned to engage in Soviet Trade Agreements, increased cultural exchanges, and arms limitations negotiations. The US also supported the Sino-Soviet split by recognizing the People's Republic of China, which they had previously refused to do. |