Booklet 9: Pressure on the USSR 1964-1972: The Brezhnev Doctrine, Prague Spring and Sino Soviet
Relations
1964-1991
Where does this fit into my studies?
Part two: from Détente to the end of the Cold War, c1963–1991
Confrontation and cooperation, c1963–1972
· Confrontation in the Vietnam War: Johnson's policy in Vietnam; the Gulf of Tonkin resolution;
escalation; tactics and relative strengths of the two sides; the Tet Offensive
· Nixon's policies in Vietnam: Vietnamisation; extension into Cambodia and Laos; relations with
China; the beginning of the Paris peace talks.
· Cooperation: attitudes of Khrushchev and Kennedy; Hot line; Moscow Test Ban Treaty; nuclear
non-proliferation treaty; cut back in materials for nuclear weapons
Despite Khrushchev’s presentation of the results, the Berlin Crisis (and Wall 1961) and the Cuban
Missile Crisis Oct 1962 were viewed negatively by the other members of the Party leadership in
Moscow. These crises, in addition to a failure to improve the standard of living in the USSR and the
emergence of China as an alternative power that Communist countries could look to for
leadership, saw the hardliners within the Politburo seek to establish a new leadership that could
restore the position of the USSR at home and in international affairs. Throughout 1964 a group of
Party members planned to oust Khrushchev from power and on returning from holiday in October
1964, Khrushchev resigned under pressure from the rest of the Soviet leadership, he was replaced
by Leonid Brezhnev, the deputy Party leader.
, Causes of the Prague Spring
Discontent and Protest in Eastern Europe
Under Khrushchev there had been a period where there was a degree of freedom for other
communist states to find their own version of communism, as long as they remained a single-party
communist state and were loyal to the Warsaw Pact, this was essentially acceptable to Moscow.
However, under Brezhnev the USSR was looking to re-assert its control and any dissent was to be
repressed (crushed) by force if necessary. Such an approach was to lead to the emergence of
protest movements in Eastern Europe, most prominently in Czechoslovakia in 1968.
The Soviet Union was also facing internal pressures due to the cost of the arms race, shortages of
consumer goods and the breakdown in their relationship with China.
Relations
1964-1991
Where does this fit into my studies?
Part two: from Détente to the end of the Cold War, c1963–1991
Confrontation and cooperation, c1963–1972
· Confrontation in the Vietnam War: Johnson's policy in Vietnam; the Gulf of Tonkin resolution;
escalation; tactics and relative strengths of the two sides; the Tet Offensive
· Nixon's policies in Vietnam: Vietnamisation; extension into Cambodia and Laos; relations with
China; the beginning of the Paris peace talks.
· Cooperation: attitudes of Khrushchev and Kennedy; Hot line; Moscow Test Ban Treaty; nuclear
non-proliferation treaty; cut back in materials for nuclear weapons
Despite Khrushchev’s presentation of the results, the Berlin Crisis (and Wall 1961) and the Cuban
Missile Crisis Oct 1962 were viewed negatively by the other members of the Party leadership in
Moscow. These crises, in addition to a failure to improve the standard of living in the USSR and the
emergence of China as an alternative power that Communist countries could look to for
leadership, saw the hardliners within the Politburo seek to establish a new leadership that could
restore the position of the USSR at home and in international affairs. Throughout 1964 a group of
Party members planned to oust Khrushchev from power and on returning from holiday in October
1964, Khrushchev resigned under pressure from the rest of the Soviet leadership, he was replaced
by Leonid Brezhnev, the deputy Party leader.
, Causes of the Prague Spring
Discontent and Protest in Eastern Europe
Under Khrushchev there had been a period where there was a degree of freedom for other
communist states to find their own version of communism, as long as they remained a single-party
communist state and were loyal to the Warsaw Pact, this was essentially acceptable to Moscow.
However, under Brezhnev the USSR was looking to re-assert its control and any dissent was to be
repressed (crushed) by force if necessary. Such an approach was to lead to the emergence of
protest movements in Eastern Europe, most prominently in Czechoslovakia in 1968.
The Soviet Union was also facing internal pressures due to the cost of the arms race, shortages of
consumer goods and the breakdown in their relationship with China.
