Soviet Bloc please post your Position Paper (the questions about your bloc and your character) by commenting on this post
Questions for Soviet Union Bloc
1. Who are you? What is your personal history? Where are you from? What is your ideology? What are your goals? Why do you make certain decisions (what makes you tick?)?
2. What is your official position during the simulation? What power does that position hold? What issues will your character/position face historically during the late 50s-early 60s
3. What is your relationship with Khrushchev? With the other members of the bloc?
4. Using the notes given on the blog describe the state of :
a. U.S.-Soviet Relations
b. The Soviet Economy
c. Domestic Affairs
d. The Soviet Military
e. Communist Bloc/Warsaw Pact
f. Foreign Relations (with specific attention to Cuba, China, and the UN)
5. Using the notes on the blog (http://hsc2009-10.blogspot.com/) and your own research
describe the build up to the Cuban missile crisis, your involvement, and your characters
opinions on what should be done now (at the start of 1961)?
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Cliff Hegedus
ReplyDeleteAlexander Alexeyev
Soviet Block Position Paper
1. My role is Alexander Alexeyev, and I am the Soviet Ambassador to Cuba. Before my promotion, I was the chief of the KGB station in Cuba, so I have personal connections to the Soviet Intelligence Agency. Since I was promoted to bring Soviet rockets to Cuba for the purpose of negotiating with the United States, I am one of the newest members of the Soviet bloc, and one of the most eager to prove myself to Khrushchev and to the rest of the Soviet Union.
2. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, my official position is the Soviet Ambassador to Cuba. Because I am one of the most prominent Soviet officials placed in Cuba and I have been there a long time, I have developed a close personal friendship with the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. Naturally, Khrushchev sometimes asks me to convince Castro to do something that he may not feel confident about, even though the USSR wants it done. In fact, the main, if not only, reason I was promoted was to convince Castro to let the Soviet Union install missiles in Cuba. I told Khrushchev at a Defense Council Meeting that Fidel would be opposed mainly because the international opinion of Cuba was becoming increasingly positive, and threatening the United States would do nothing but draw negative attention to Cuba. Because Khrushchev thought that installing rockets in Cuba was so important, he told me to go back to Cuba and try to convince Castro otherwise. So I did, and I told Fidel that among other things, I told Castro that it would help the socialist camp. He also realized that Soviet missiles in Cuba might be a deterrent to what seemed to be an inevitable American invasion, and on those grounds he agreed to accept the missiles. My position is a virtual gateway between the governments in Moscow and Havana.
3. My relationship with Khrushchev is healthy, although not especially close. Because I am in Cuba the large amount of the time and because of the traveling and communication restriction of the time period, I do not get to see the Soviet leader nearly as much as the other bloc members stationed in Moscow. In addition, I was just recently promoted to the Soviet cabinet, so I do not personally know Khrushchev as well as some of the other members. However, Khrushchev is the person that promoted me to my current powerful position, so I work very hard to live up to my new job and be a significant player in the Soviet bloc.
4. A. Although the Soviet Union and its people had great distaste towards the US, Khrushchev worked hard to maintain a policy of peaceful coexistence. On the Americans’ side, they too maintained the policy of Containment set up by the Truman administration, not looking to invade the USSR to drive back Communism. Khrushchev took several steps to enforce his policy of peace, such as multiple meetings with several American presidents. However, there were some times when there was increased tension between the two superpowers. One such time was when Khrushchev demanded to be given control of the western parts of Germany in addition to Eastern Germany. When he did not get what he wanted, he ordered the construction of the Berlin Wall, a major thorn in the side of Soviet-American relations. The US also had its periods of aggression, like the time that an American spy plane was captured while gathering surveillance of the USSR. Although there were several periods of hot-headedness and aggression, the Soviet Union and United States worked hard to maintain their continued status of peaceful coexistence.
ReplyDeleteB. Since the beginning of the Stalin regime, the Soviet economy was divided into several “Five Year Plans.” Khrushchev came to power at the beginning of the sixth Five Year Plan, and when gained control, he shifted the economy to focus on oil and coal production, in addition to developing and improving the chemical industry of the USSR. The economic growth of the country was substantial, with dramatic increases in the gross national income and industrial production.
C. The most significant domestic policy issues of Khrushchev’s regime was distancing himself from the idea of anything to do with Stalin. He gave speeches denouncing Stalin, made details about some of Stalin’s atrocities public, and even tried to peacefully defeat his political enemies. This was significant because of the fact that Stalin would always imprison or quietly kill his enemies so he would have no competition. But because Khrushchev wanted to do nothing like his predecessor, he ended up having to deal with political enemies throughout his time in office.
D. The Cold War began with both the USSR and the US concentrating on the build up of their respective nuclear weapons stockpile. Although the US had a much larger amount of warheads, the strength of the Soviet military was still considerable, and at some times dangerous. For example, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet generals in Cuba did not need approval from Khrushchev to fire a rocket at the United States. In addition, Khrushchev became increasingly nervous as the crisis wore on because the Soviet military was so eager to make the first strike that it was in danger of defying orders. Because of the defeat of the Hungarian uprising, the Soviet Union made it clear that it would use its military if necessary to control its eastern allies.
E. The Communist Bloc and Warsaw Pact were not at all about to collapse, but neither could be described as completely stable. The attempted Hungarian rebellion began with the threat to leave the Warsaw Pact and break ties with the USSR. The Soviets feared that this might prompt a mass disintegration of the Communist Bloc, so they used their superior military force to crush the uprising. This caused all of the other countries to not attempt a revolution, but some still had discontent with their Soviet parent.
F. The Soviets had a very good relationship with Cuba. The USSR has been providing the Cubans with military and economic aid for years, and both sides are glad to have a fellow influential Communist leader on the world stage. I am very good friends with Fidel, and give him advice on many various issues. However, the relationship with China has degraded very quickly. Although many countries look upon the Soviet policy of peaceful coexistence with the United States favorably, China thinks that the USSR should be planning a nuclear war against the western superpower. It despises this Soviet policy so much that it breaks away from the Communist bloc and begins test to try to construct its own arsenal of nuclear missiles. This entire situation greatly increases tension between China and the Soviet Union.
ReplyDelete5. The United States had failed in several attempts in overthrowing the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro, increasing tensions between the two countries. Because of the fact that Khrushchev failed to achieve any of his goals during the Berlin Crisis, he began to feel that the NATO countries were boxing in the Soviet Union economically and militarily. This feeling was especially caused by the undercover shipment of US missiles to a base in Turkey, which meant that American missiles could now reach Moscow or any part of the Soviet Union. In order to keep the United States from attempting an attack on any part of the USSR or the Communist Bloc, Khrushchev decided to ship Soviet missiles to Cuba to be used as a protection and a warning against America. My main, and essential, purpose in the Cuban Missile Crisis is to convince Castro to accept the Soviet missiles, which I do successfully. Although I do not believe that the Cuban missiles should be launched at any point, I do believe that placing them there is the right course of action. I think that the missiles should now be used as a powerful bargaining chip to achieve Soviet goals.
Sources:
1.http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12707.html
2.http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-11372.html
3.http://countrystudies.us/russia/13.html
4.http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/causes.html
5.http://books.google.com/books?id=bnuvCJQnS0kC&pg=PA423&lpg=PA423&dq=alexander+alexeev+cuban+missile+crisis&source=bl&ots=u6DqqGv3Wp&sig=T3O_A3pNueHb4CXYMK81i1Nu6GQ&hl=en&ei=_SsnS9K6LYO0lAfF_eylDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CCMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Duncan McNeil
ReplyDeleteLeonid Ilyich Brezhnev
1) I was assigned Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev who was the President of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. He was born 19 December 1906 in Kamenskoeto Ilya Yakovlevich Brezhnev and his wife Natalia Denisovna. At different times he would describe himself as Ukrainian, or later on as he moved through party lines as a Russian. My ideology is that of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. My goals are to receive a technical education, at first in land management where he started as a land surveyor and then in metallurgy. Then graduate from the Dniprodzerzhynsk Metallurgical Technicum and became a metallurgical engineer in the iron and steel industries of eastern Ukraine. Later join the Communist Party youth organization, the Komsomol and then the Party itself in. and eventually become its leader. I make my decisions based on whether it will further my own goals, the goals of the Communist Party, and the goals of the Soviet Union.
2) My official position is President of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. The Chairman of the Presidium overseas the duties of the Presidium which consist of promulgation of decrees, interpretation of current Soviet laws, dissolution of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the basis of Article №47 of the Constitution of the USSR and setting new elections carrying out a national referendum on its own initiative or at the request of one of the republics of the Union, abrogation of decrees, issued by the Council of Ministers of the USSR and Council of Ministers of the republics of the Union in case there is a discrepancy with the law. Issues I will face will be upholding the laws and decrees of the USSR.
3) I am Khrushchev’s protégé and eventually became a senior member of Khrushchev’s entourage. I was a high ranking member of the communist party, close to the Khrushchev, and was the President of the Presidium which made most other beneath me.
4) A) The relations between the US and the USSR was tense, they watched each other and struggled for power of the post WWII world.
B) The USSR had a strong economy, and all of the communist countries supporting it.
C) The USSR did not want Germany to regain its former power due to the USSR’s massive citizenry losses and proximity to the country.
D) The Soviet had a strong military, was able to hold the Iron Curtain, and had nuclear capability.
E) The Warsaw Treaty’s organization was two-fold: the Political Consultative Committee handled civil matters, and the Unified Command of Pact Armed Forces controlled the assigned multi-national forces, with headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. Furthermore, the Supreme Commander of the Warsaw Treaty forces also was the First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR, and the head of the Warsaw Treaty Unified Staff also was the First Deputy Head of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Therefore, although ostensibly an international collective security alliance, USSR Dominated the Warsaw Treaty armed forces, as the USA dominated NATO Pact.
F) Thus, in the immediate years after the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed, the Soviet Union became its closest ally. Soviet design, equipment and skilled labor were set out to help industrialize and modernize the PRC. But the extent of actual support, while not insignificant, fell well below Chinese expectations. In the 1960s, relations became deeply strained following the Sino – Soviet Split.
5) The reason for placing nuclear weapons in Cuba was that the US had placed 15 nuclear weapons along the border of Turkey. My involvement was that I assisted Khrushchev in his work. My opinions is that we shouldn’t withdraw the missiles it will make us look weak and make us lose some control over communist nations.
Samantha Waldman
ReplyDeleteVladimir Yefimovich Semichastny
Westfield YMCA
Historical Simulation Committee
Questions for the Soviet Union Bloc
1. I am Vladimir Semichastny, Chairman of the KGB. He was born in Grigorevka, Soviet Union on 15 January 1924 and worked as a spy and politician. He had been campaigned for the job of Chairman by his predecessor Alexander Shelepin. Nikita Khrushchev assigned Semichastny to the role of Chairman of the KGB in November of 1961. Semichastny was very passionate about the capturing of intellectuals and he regarded them as being part of a plan for ideological destruction of the Soviet Union. One example of this is having spoken out against Boris Pasternak, the writer of Dr. Zhivago. He did not approve of the light the novel shed on the Soviet Union and that Pasternak was openly displaying defiance for his home country. During his time as Chairman, he was responsible for the arrests of a number of Russian writers who had published their ideas abroad. The writers were both tried after the arrest. Semichastny was involved in many embarrassing events for the KGB, similarly to Shelepin. One example is when Semichastny ordered the arrest of Yale Professor Frederick Barghoorn on his visit to Moscow. He sanctioned the arrest in hopes that Barghoorn would be charged as a spy. However, Barghoorn was a good friend of John F. Kennedy, who insisted that the suspicion was ridiculous and Barghoorn was released. Some speculate that Semichastny was appointed to Chairman of the KGB at the young age of 37 because he lacked political experience and Khrushchev wanted to downplay the power and importance of the KGB at the time. Semichastny was also violently anti-western culture, fueling some of his future decisions such as his participation in the ouster of Khrushchev.
2 Vladimir Semichastny held the position of Chairman of the KGB from 1961 until 1967. Chairman of the KGB (Committee of State Security) is a secret service police in the Soviet Union. It is in charge of monitoring of members of the Communist party, administrators, military and Soviet dissidents. It also controlled espionage abroad. The KGB was involved in a number of high profile embarrassments as previously stated. Perhaps the most prevailing challenge during Semichastny during this time was the fact that the KGB had been sidelined under Khrushchev.
3.Semichastny had a primarily negative relationship with Khrushchev. He possessed very conservative views and was strong against strongly western culture. He disagreed with Khrushchev’s relatively pro-western ideas and participated in the ouster of Khrushchev in later years. Khrushchev also looked to diminish the power of the KGB in his attempt at the de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union. Semichastny along with Brezhnev and Kosygin all worked to remove Khrushchev from leadership. Brezhnev later proved to have very conservative views similar to those of Semichastny. Semichastny also had a very strong relationship with his Chairman of the KGB predecessor, Shelepin.
4
ReplyDeletea. The United States and Soviet Union were currently at the height of the cold war and were both trying to prove themselves to be the more powerful country in the post-war world. The two countries experienced increasing tension and were in constant competition with one another. The competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union can be seen in the arms race, wherein the countries tried to develop more advance military weapons than each other’s, and the space race, where both countries tried to outmatch each other in their accomplishments in outer space. Despite the Soviet Union’s efforts, they were losing the arms race and lacked the ability to launch nuclear weapons at the US. There was also the U.S.’s funding of anti-communist efforts in Vietnam and their fear of the spread of Stalinism in the west. This split separated the world in two, democratic nations versus communist nations, creating the iron curtain.
b. The Soviet Union’s economy experienced a time of great growth during the 1950’s. In 1957 the Soviet Union sent the first satellite into space, and in 1961 they sent first man. Its economy was geared towards industry and production and by 1960 it was supplying 12.5% of the world’s goods, almost half of the United States. The Soviet Union was the world’s largest supplier of iron, coal, and cement. During this time the Gross National Product was rising at 6% a year. Khrushchev predicted that in twenty years the Soviet Union’s economy would surpass that of the United States.
c. With Khrushchev now in power he focused on the de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union. He also held relatively pro-western ideas and was focused on making peace with the United States. Many leaders in the Soviet Union violently disagreed with these ideas, which probably lead to his ouster in later years.
d. The previous ‘Red Army’ was renamed the Soviet Army at the end of WWII and changed from a militia to a regular army. In 1949 the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb after receiving espionage information, and was mainly a copy of the United States’ atomic bomb. They then entered the arms race with the United States, both countries trying to outdo each other in military advances.
e. The Communist Bloc or Soviet Bloc refers to countries that were on the communist side of the iron curtain. The Communist Bloc consisted of countries such as Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. These countries were heavily under Soviet influence. The Warsaw Pact was a treaty between Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania. This pact was made to rival that of the NATO Pact, which was a treaty between 28 different countries that were on the democratic side of the iron curtain.
f. When Khrushchev came to power he claimed peaceful coexistence with the west. This caused many communist countries to challenge Soviet ideology, such as China. Fidel Casto’s rise to power and transition to Communism in Cuba caused Castro to fear American attack. The Soviet Union and Cuba then entered discussion about the Soviet Union supplying them with nuclear weapons.
5. Castro had led the communist party in Cuba and had successfully overthrown President Fulgencio Batista, who had been supported by the United States. This proposed a direct threat to the United States, seeing as there is a close proximity between the two countries and the U.S.’s fear of the spread of communism. In 1960 Cuba also chose to openly align with the Soviet Union, trading sugar for oil, funding, and machines. With the alliance Cuba consented with all of the Soviet Union’s policies becoming a satellite state. This alliance between Cuba and the Soviet Union only added to the mounting tension with the United States. In 1960 the U.S. stopped all trade with Cuba and ended all diplomatic relations previously held with the country. All the tension between the countries eventually led up to the United States’ embarrassment in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Castro then asked the Soviet Union for the instillation of missiles in Cuba to defend against the United States. Semichastny was very against western ideas and he would probably insist on the firing of the nuclear weapons on the United States. Since before now firing atomic bombs was impossible due to geography, he would see it as the perfect opportunity to take down the powerhouse of the west.
ReplyDeleteSources
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/vladimir-semichastny-728766.html
http://www.faqs.org/cia/docs/57/0000968996/THE-KGB%27S-ROLE-IN-SOVIET-POLITICS.html
http://en.allexperts.com/e/v/vl/vladimir_semichastny.htm
http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch33.htm
http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/events-timelines/04-cuban-missile-crisis-
timeline.htm
Veronica Fulton
ReplyDeleteMontgomery High School Delegation
USSR Bloc
Władysław Gomułka- First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party
1.Who are you? What is your personal history? Where are you from?
What is your ideology? What are your goals? Why do you make
certain decisions (what makes you tick?)?
My role is Władysław Gomułka. His parents had immigrated to the US before he was born but returned to the USSR disillusioned. When Wladyslaw finished primary school, he trained to be a locksmith. At 16 he joined the youth Socialist movement and later went onto join the Communist Party of Poland. In July 1942 he moved to Warsaw, he later became a member of the Central Committee of the newly founded Polish Workers’ Party. Gomulka was sent to jail by the USSR leader Stalin, but when Premier Khrushchev began the de-Stalinization process, he was set free. Khrushchev, and his growing support in Poland, regained his political titles. Władysław Gomułka feels strongly against any opposition of Communism.
2. What is your official position during the simulation? What power
does that position hold? What issues will your character/position face
historically during the late 50s-early 60s?
Władysław Gomułka was appointed First Secretary of the Polish United Workers’ Party by Premier Khrushchev. He was a political figure in left-wing resistance and represented the People’s Republic of Poland. After being imprisoned by Stalin, in October 1956, he regained his freedom through de-Stalinization. He introduced many reforms to Poland during the 50-60’s. In the late 60’s he was taken out of power because he could not adjust to the new economic and social problems in Poland.
3. What is your relationship with Khrushchev? With the other
members of the bloc?
At a crucial meeting in Warsaw in October, Wladyslaw convinced Nikita Khrushchev to respect Poland’s independence. He was soon after named the head of the Poland’s United Workers Party. For the next few months, Khrushchev and Gomulka kept in direct communication. For the first time in the history of Poland, communism was the popular party. Many concessions were given to the Poles. Gomulka was allied with many high powered members of the bloc such as Leonid Brezhnev and Aleksei Kosygin.
4. Using the notes given on the blog describe the state of :
a. U.S.-Soviet Relations
The US and USSR were in a war that had no direct fighting between the two. The Cold War was fought against the opposing ideals. The US believed in democracy, while the Soviets spread communism. The Cold was a time of little communication between the two superpowers: 1945-1991. Each superpower struggled to dominate the world.
b. The Soviet Economy
The Soviet economy was built on multiple “Five Year Plans.” The Five Year Plans took almost 50 years to actually accomplish what was wanted. When Krushchev took power, he changed the focus to oil and coal production. There was a large middle class made up of scientists, engineers, and bureaucrats. Russia invested much of its productive capacity in its nuclear program, missile program and space program.
c. Domestic Affairs
Krushchev was against anything that was to do with Stalin. The Premier began de-Stalinization soon after the late Premier’s death. Communists focused on creating satellite nations and spreading the ideals of Communism.
d. The Soviet Military
ReplyDeleteAlthough the Cold War was not fought using weapons, each superpower built up their military just in case. During the Cuban missile crisis, the Soviet military were slowly building bases in Cuba, causing alarm to the Americans. These bases were close enough to hit areas of the US, and the Kennedy Administration was unsure if they would actually fire.
e. Communist Bloc/Warsaw Pact
While the Americans had NATO, which included countries such as Canada, the USSR was a part of the Warsaw Pact with 7 other satellite nations. The USSR controlled the other nations and was able to use them for political or military reasons. One of these nations happens to be Poland, the place which Władysław Gomułka represents.
f. Foreign Relations (with specific attention to Cuba, China, and
the UN) Under Stalin, many European nations felt suppressed which led some to rebel. After his death, Khrushchev promised to ease off on the repressive control. When Khrushchev announced a peace policy with the West, China denounced the Soviet ideology and broke away from the Soviets. The USSR went to Cuba, who was made an ally by Fidel Castro, to propose an area to launch missiles from Cuba.
5. Using the notes on the blog (http://hsc2009-10.blogspot.com/) and your own research
describe the build up to the Cuban missile crisis, your involvement, and your characters
opinions on what should be done now (at the start of 1961)?
The Cold War was a time when the USSR and United States were both ready for any sudden attack. Both countries were fighting to gain the most power in the world. Each superpower built up strong military strength and each had nuclear capabilities. It was an arms race, to see who could be the toughest. No fighting ever occurred but there was always a threat. The USSR secretly began making plans to set up missile launchers in Cuba; America was well within range. The Cuban missile crisis was an escalation of danger in the US. Władysław Gomułka knew about the secret plans of the Cuban Missile Crisis but I do not believe he had any direct ties to the idea. Władysław Gomułka will always believe in going forward and spreading communism and fighting against any opposition.
Citations:
1. "Spartacus Educational." Władysław Gomułka: Poland. Web. 17 Dec 2009. .
2. Werblan, Andrzej. "Wladyslaw Gomulka and the Dilemma of Polish Communism." SAGE journals online. 1988. SAGE, Web. 17 Dec 2009. .
3. "Wladislaw Gomulka Biography." Book Rags. Book Rags, Web. 17 Dec 2009. .
4. Gunther, John. Inside Russia Today. 2nd ed. Harper & Brothers, 1957. Print.
Suraj Mudichintala
ReplyDeletePosing as Vasil Pavlovich Mzhavanadze
Freehold YMCA
HSC (Historical Simulation Committee)
Soviet Q's
1. I am Vasil Pavlovich Mzhavanadze. I am also known as Vasily. I am from Georgia. I was the First Secretary of the Communist Part of the Georgian SSR. I served in the Red Army as a political commissar during World War II. After the war, I was appointed Deputy Commander for Political Affairs under Krushchev. I became First Secretary in Georgia but was known as a symbol of the corrupt government of Georgia.
2. During the Cuban Missile Crisis Period (1961 – 1962), I was a member of the Presidium, the central governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This position basically means I help oversee the actions of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union. Our ideas are passed down through the Central Committee, the Supreme Soviet and the Party Congress. Some issues that my position must come face to face with at this time are making decisions to influence the nuclear standoff between the USSR and the US.
*****something really weird's going on with my computer... half my save files on my computer just dissappeared so im not sure what to do.... I'll see if my dad can get it to work. For now, im just trying to type this out of memory. If my dad can get my computer to work, I'll try posting more stuff by tommorrow, hopefully before that. Sorry*****
Sebastian Barrie
ReplyDeleteHSC: Soviet Bloc
Dec. 18 Assignment
1. The person I will be acting as is Otto Wilhelm Kuusinen, member of the Presidium. Some of his many professions were politician, historian, theorist, and poet. He was born in Lakuaa, Finland 1881. During his early years Kuusinen displayed an interest in writing for student magazines. In these articles he showed his passion for socialism writing such pieces as “Anarchy and Revolution”. He called for the end of capitalism in Russia and his native Finland. In 1905 he got married and had six children. In 1918 he helped found the Finnish Communist Party. He fled to Russia after the Reds were driven out of Finland. While secretly visiting Finland disguised, he helped found The Socialists Workers Party. Among his goals was the final defeat of capitalism and for Communism to truly take over his native Finland. According to his own writings source, Kuusinen hated Finland. He actually wanted his native land to be taken over by the Soviet Union. That is probably what drove the man. He had a goal; to bring what he thought was the correct ideology to Finland.
2. The position that Otto Kuusinen held was a member of the Presidium of Supreme Soviet. Since the Supreme Soviet was the chief council in the Soviet Union, Kuusinen would have held the power of a modern day congressman or Member of Parliament. Among the issues he would have faced were, obviously, the growing tension between America and The Soviet Union. The world itself was splitting into two camps. Socialism and Capitalism, Free thought and controlled thinking, East and West. He would have had to deal with the control of the Soviet satellite states, countries that were held together by The Warsaw Pact. Also there was rising United States involvement in Vietnam. President Kennedy had increased the number of military advisors to South Vietnam. Another example of Soviet-United States hostility was the space race. The Soviets had beat America by sending the first man into space, but The Unites States was not far behind. The tense relations with America was probably what the Presidium talked about the most, and was certainly on Kuusinen’s mind as well.
3. Otto Kuusinen was very highly respected throughout the Soviet leadership community. His relationship with previous Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin was one of respect. He was very skilled, so skilled that Stalin used him as a writer of libels during his purge of Soviet leadership. His relationship with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev was good, mainly because he supported Khrushchev on his theory of giving up the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. What this is idea that the leader of the Soviet Union should not wield such absolute power, as
4a. After the end of World War Two, Germany was divided into four separate zones of occupation. The United States, England, and France occupied most of Western Germany. The Soviet Union occupied what was to come to be known as East Germany. Berlin also was divided in a similar manner. The relationship between The United States and The Soviet Union could be described as “frosty” at best. Both countries were wary of one another’s motives, even while they were fighting together during World War Two. Joseph Stalin was already planning for his submission of Poland during the war, betraying the trust of President Roosevelt. If perhaps Roosevelt had listened to Winston Churchill and not trusted Stalin, the control of Eastern Europe would not have been so definite and long. In most acts made by post-war US government there was motive to an anti-soviet extent. The Marshall plan is a prime example of the mutual distrust between the two super powers. The main thought behind The Marshall plan was one of outwardly good intention. The main intent of the plan was to help feed and rebuild war-ravaged Western Europe. The underlying tone of the plan, however, was to steady the economies of Western Europe as to protect them from Soviet control. The hostility between the US and the Soviet Union was enormous on all levels. It was a competition for everything; military, economically, and technologically.
ReplyDelete4b. The Soviet Economy might have been at it’s strongest during The Cuban Missile Crisis. After World War Two it bounced back from enormous losses during the war. Its population was roughly 210 million area during the 1960s. The population growth is staggering because the enormous losses in manpower would have left many women alone and unmarried. The economy was also making a huge comeback. As measured in Gross National Product, the economy was growing at about 6 percent per year. The Soviet Union had all the potential to be an economic powerhouse. It had the largest long-range fishing fleet along with an enormous amount of natural resources. Also, at this point at this time, The Soviet Union was the world leader in rocketry. But in the end the enormous growth that was anticipated never really panned out. The Soviet Union, even though its economy was promising, lost out to The United States.
4c. Domestic affairs in the Soviet Union during the rule of Nikita Khrushchev were fairly solid, at least compared to the bloody rule of Stalin. Khrushchev was never one to start political purges like Stalin, even though Khrushchev did order “political rehabilitation and reassignment”. One of the things he is most remembered for was actually a speech denouncing Stalin, declaring him a criminal for all the horrible things he did to his own people. Even though Khrushchev did not really gain power legitimately, he had no brutal murderous rampageous to get those who did not support him. He tried to keep Soviet politics to a normal level.
4d. The Soviet military was one of the largest in the world. Its technology was equal to the United States was equal at least on most military levels. However, it was undergoing changes when Nikita Khrushchev took power. Instead of thinking of war as a massive ground operation fought on a land mass like Europe (Stalin’s point of view), He began to consider it one of nuclear deterrence. This is the theory that having a nuclear arsenal discourages your enemy from using theirs. Khrushchev did never want all out war with the US. He always saw the Cold War as on of a cultural struggle where the inherent greatness of socialism would eventually absorb capitalism. During the late 50s there were many changes in Soviet military doctrine. Khrushchev created The Strategic Rocket Forces which he hoped would help cut defense spending. He downgraded Soviet infantry, which traditionally was the main power of the army. He reequipped bombers with missiles and he changed the main bulk of the Soviet navy to submarines.
ReplyDelete4e. The Warsaw pact was the name given to treaty between The Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. The treaty essentially said that each country would support each other in case of attack, similar to the western power’s NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). In was, in actuality, a way of bolstering the defense forces of The Soviet Union and a way to monitor the Soviet influenced countries surrounding it. It gave The Soviet Union equal status with the US when negotiating, since they were both leaders of a group op powers held together by treaty. It also served as a useful counterweight to NATO in a military standpoint. It also gave The Soviets real reason to have troops all over Eastern Europe.
4f. Soviet foreign relations with Cuba by the Cuban missile crisis were in good terms. Fidel Castro was happy to have those nuclear launch sites on Cuban soil. The very threat of having those missiles would help deter any other American supported invasion attempts, such as The Bay of Pigs invasion.
By the time of the Cuban Missile crisis, there was a division between China and The Soviet Union. Even though the two countries had signed a treaty, the 1950 Sino-Soviet treaty, the two powers were undergoing a split due to the difference in their views of communism. There were also other underlying causes. Moscow had not fully supported China’s attempt to gain control of Taiwan. Also, the Soviet Union had not released information concerning nuclear weapons technology to China. By the Cuban Missile Crisis, Chinese-Soviet relations had cooled considerably.
Surprisingly, The Soviet Union had decent relations with The United Nations. They were instrumental in the organizations founding after World War Two. It had argued for China to have a role on The Security Council. It was also steadily gaining support from other countries in UN, largely because many former western colonies were joining and throwing their support for the anti-imperialist ideas of The Soviet Union.
Works Used
http://www.Kirjasto.sci.fi/Kuusinen.htm
http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch33.htm
http://hoover.org/publications/digest/3540681.html
http://leweb2.loc.gov/frd/sutoc.html
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/WarPact.html
http://countrystudies.us?china/129.htm
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12698.html
Lara Wolkomir
ReplyDeleteJános Kádár
1. I am János Kádár, the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party. He was born on May 25, 1912 in Fiume, Austria-Hungary. His original name was János Jozsef Csermancik. In 1931, he joined the Hungarian Communist Party, changing his name to János Kádár. Over the next few years, he was constantly imprisoned. He served as prime minister from 1956-1958, when he reinstated communist control. He was prime minister again from 1961-1965. Under his control, Hungary became the most thriving and diverse economy in Eastern Europe, making Kádár one of the most successful national leaders. Kádár was more committed to helping the Soviet Union then going along with what his advisors wanted him to do, which was to become liberated from the Soviet Union’s influence. He allowed Soviet troops to be in Hungary. He sent troops to invade Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring, in 1968, to support the Soviets.
2. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, my position is to be the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party. I am suppose to help the Soviet Union in any way I can, even if it doesn’t benefit Hungary. I will provide the Soviets with troops and try to expand communism throughout Europe. The issues my character might face are some of the other Hungarian officials not agreeing with him, trying not to be put in jail, and trying to help the Soviets successfully.
3. My relationship with Khrushchev is that I greatly respect him. János Kádár has had meetings with Khrushchev but didn’t have a significant relationship with him. Khrushchev looked at Kádár for troops for when the Soviets needed them. He had no significant relationships with anyone in the Soviet Union.
4. a. The state of U.S.-Soviet relations was not good. They were in a war versus each other that had most of the world picking sides. The U.S. favored a democratic government, while the Soviet Union favored a communist government. This divided the world between the countries that liked democracy and the ones that liked communism. Also, both were in an arms race and a space race. Both wanted to produce nuclear weapons and launch a rocket into space before the other.
ReplyDeleteb. The Soviet Union’s economy was very prosperous. They had a large growth in industry and production of goods.
c. Khrushchev wanted to get rid of everything Stalin did. He wanted to be his own leader and not be compared to Stalin.
d. The Soviet military was very powerful. It had nuclear weapons and generals in it that didn’t need permission to use them.
e. The Soviet Bloc was threatened by the Hungarian rebellion that threatened to remove Hungary from the Warsaw Pact. The Soviets used their military and stopped that from happening because if Hungary removed itself from the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Bloc could have been potentially destroyed.
f. The Soviet Union had a good relationship with Cuba. The Soviets had provided them with weapons and troops previously. In addition, because it had a communist leader, the Soviet Union greatly liked it because they had the same ideals and aspirations. Also, because the Soviets didn’t like the U.S. and Cuba feared the U.S., it was easy for the Soviets to convince Cuba to hold nuclear weapons for them. When the Soviet Union created a peace policy with the west, China removed itself from being allies and adopted new ideology.
5. The U.S. had a bad relationship with Cuba. Multiple times, they tried to overthrow Fidel Castro and his communist views but were unsuccessful. The U.S. also created a bad relationship with the Soviet Union because they placed nuclear weapons in Turkey, which would allow the Soviet Union to easily be hit by them. Because the Soviet Union felt threatened, they placed nuclear weapons in Cuba, which meant that the U.S. could easily be hit by them. My character obediently went along with the Soviet Union but he didn’t want any nuclear weapons to be fired against anyone.
Works Cited
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=MWLI179&SingleRecord=True
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=AHim009&SingleRecord=True
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE53&iPin=WWII0338&SingleRecord=True
http://www.photius.com/countries/hungary/government/hungary_government_hungaria
http://www.warsaw-life.com/poland/warsaw-pact
Nora Saari
ReplyDeleteCommunity YMCA Delegation
USSR Bloc
Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov- Member of Presidium
1. Who are you? What is your personal history? Where are you from? What is your ideology? What are your goals? Why do you make certain decisions (what makes you tick?)?
I am Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov. I was born into a peasant family in 1902 in the village Shakhovskoye in Russia. I am an ideologist of the Stalinist school and a defender of Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy. I am extremely conservative and I think that conformity is the best policy. I don’t think anyone should ever deviate from communism and I hate being around Westerners. Because I come from an average family, I don’t think anyone should ever deviate from communism and I hate being around Westerners because they don’t understand all of the positive aspects of communism. I rose quickly throughout the Russian government by taking advantage of mass arrests within the government while Stalin was in charge. I liked him a lot more than Khrushchev. Before achieving the position I have today I was assistant secretary of the Committee of the Poor Peasants and helped to organize a branch in my town. After learning economics at the Institute of Red Professors and the Plekhanov Economics Institute, I officially entered the Russian government. I want to rise through the ranks, but Khrushchev is in the way.
2. What is your official position during the simulation? What power does that position hold? What issues will your character/position face historically during the late 50s-early 60s
I am the member of the Presidium and I am also head of the agitation and propaganda department of the Central Committee. Because I believe in a strict interpretation of communism, I make sure that the masses do not ever feel the need to be different from everyone else. I am in charge of shaping, protecting, and enforcing official ideology through the papers and other forms of entertainment and information. I organize the creation of political cartoons, which help the public believe in our system.
3. What is your relationship with Khrushchev? With the other members of the bloc?
I have the opposite views of Khrushchev. Even though I agreed with him on when we decided to crush the antiparty group in 1957, he is standing in the way of the greater good of Russia. He isn’t a strict interpreter of communism like I am and we usually don’t agree when it comes to the Western countries. He is trying to form a friendly relationship with them, but I only can see them as traders with bad morals. Also, I feel that Khrushchev is ruining the USSR’s economy. He has gotten rid of the Five-Year Plan.
4. Using the notes given on the blog describe the state of :
a. U.S.-Soviet Relations
While Khrushchev was in charge, the USSR tried to have a peaceful coexistence with the United States. The U.S. would take advantage of the USSR while Khrushchev was in charge. The U.S. hated the Soviet Union and hated communism. Khrushchev’s ideas for peace were one sided.
b. The Soviet Economy
The Soviet Economy was created through multiple Five-Year Plans, the first one with Stalin in charge. The newest Five-Year Plan was scratched for a Seven-Year Plan instead, which would include an industrial growth, especially in the chemical industry, and take away from other sectors.
c. Domestic Affairs
Management of the economy was decentralized under Khrushchev, but this caused inefficiency. Taxation of farms was lessened and farm machinery was abolished in an attempt to make everyone equal.
d. The Soviet Military
The military focused on gaining nuclear weapons and always wanted to beat the U.S. but, they monitored the state of the USSR and changed the military depending on the interests of it. If the USSR wanted to take over an area, they would expand their army.
e. Communist Bloc/ Warsaw Pact
ReplyDeleteThe Warsaw Pact was supposed to counteract NATO. It was an alliance between the Eastern European countries. It functioned as a part of the Soviet Ministry of Defense instead of an independent alliance.
f. Foreign Relations (Cuba, China, and the UN)
Khrushchev wished for peaceful coexistence. While China’s population grew resistant to their communist government, Soviets hardly helped China because China did not like the new Soviet leaders and their idea of “peaceful coexistence”. When Cuba became a communist nation, the Soviet Union provided them with weapons and financial support. Even though the UN was established with the help of the Soviet Union, the UN voted to enter the Korean War and fight against North Korea while the Soviet Union was not present to vote.
5. Using the notes on the blog (http://hsc2009-10.blogspot.com/) and your own research describe the build up to the Cuban missile crisis, your involvement, and your characters opinions on what should be done now (at the start of 1961)?
When Khrushchev became the new leader of the Soviets, he tried, unsuccessfully, to create a peaceful coexistence between the Soviets and the Western countries. However, this only hurt his push for communism because China and other communist countries saw this as a lack of commitment to the communist ideals. Then, when the Soviet Union attempted to stand up to the U.S., they refused to listen to the Soviet Union’s plan for Germany. Because of this, the Berlin Wall was built. I think that the Soviet Union should stop trying to be friends with these Western countries. They are only hurting our relations with our true allies. Also, they are taking advantage of our kind ways. We must prove ourselves as the powerful super power we are and make sure that all countries respect us.
Bibliography
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404101334.html
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12707.html
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Cold_War
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12698.html
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12826.html
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/WarPact.html
Katherine Wang
ReplyDeleteKirill T. Mazurov
Soviet Union Bloc - HSC
1. Who are you? What is your personal history? Where are you from? What is your ideology? What are your goals? Why do you make certain decisions (what makes you tick?)?
My name is Kirill Tomfievich Mazurov and I am a Belarusian Soviet politician. From 1949 to 1950, I was the first secretary of the Minsk city committee, and from 1950 to 1953 I was the first secretary of the Minsk regional committee of the Communist Party of Belarus. I have been rewarded the Order of Lenin five times, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War First Class and was a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1971. I have also received other military medals for my time of participation in military actions as a political instructor, battalion commander and an instructor of the army’s political department. Like Khrushchev, I believe in reforms such as emphasis on the production of consumer goods rather than on heavy industry. I prefer to stay out of polemics with my colleagues and to make suggestions that will benefit everyone. I have a genuine appreciation of the complexity and interdependence of the most economic matters. I recognize that in order to help the economy, there needs to be a better balance between the heavy industry, the light industry, and the agricultural sides of the economy.
2. What is your official position during the simulation? What power does that position hold? What issues will your character/position face historically during the late 50s-early 60s?
I am the Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, chairman of the Belarusian council of ministers and the first secretary of the Communist Party of Belarus. The Supreme Soviet passes amendments and controls the laws. However, during the late 50s-early 60s, I did not have a lot to do with the Cuban Missile Crisis as my job did not clash with what was going on at the time.
3. What is your relationship with Khrushchev? With the other members of the bloc?
I am a vigorous supporter of Khrushchev and all his ideas. He is the leader of the Soviet Union while I am the Deputy of the Supreme Soviet so our paths cross occasionally as our job is to pass amendments. However, during the Cold War, Khrushchev was very quiet and did not share much information about what was going on with everyone else. I do not work with many members of the Presidium as their jobs are different to mine in the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.
4. Using the notes given on the blog describe the state of:
a. U.S.-Soviet Relations
The relationship between the US and the Soviet Union was bound by ideological, political, and economic factors. Prior to the Cold War, the US was already opposed to the Soviet Union because of their communist government and the fact that Soviet leaders had taken Russia out of World War I. Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union at the time, was a totalitarian leader and his beliefs presented an obstacle to friendly relations with the US. Although an alliance during World War II was formed to defeat the Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union’s aggressive, antidemocratic policy toward Easter Europe had created tensions even before the war ended.
b. The Soviet Economy
The Soviet Economy was geared for heavy industry and military production with a lot of steel and cement. Agriculture was mainly collective with farm workers allowed small private plots. The rigid command economy created by Stalin in the 1930s was not suited for the rapid changes that were part of the technological development and advancement outside the Soviet Union in the 1970s. It was the central government that was doing the investing as the rich did not wish to invest their own money into the industry.
c. Domestic Affairs
ReplyDeleteIn the US, there was a build –up of Civil Rights issues in the late 1950s, including the Little Rock Crisis and the creation of organizations such as the Black Panther and the NAACP. In the USSR, Stalin was tightening the domestic controls, showing the repression by playing up the threat of war with the West.
d. The Soviet Military
Before, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Military was fairly strong. They were advanced in technology and it was being used to keep all the small states of the USSR in order. During the Cold War, there were no military battles; the only reference to military power was the placement of missile in Cuba by the USSR known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. In comparison with the US army and navy, the USSR army had more tanks and the navy had more submarines but the US was more advanced in aircraft technology.
e. Communist Bloc/Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact took place in 1955 and was between several Central and Eastern European Communist states. It was a treaty between Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union, which was signed in Poland and was officially called “The Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance”. It was a military alliance that said that the participating countries needed to come to the aid of others when needed.
f. Foreign Relations (with specific attention to Cuba, China, and the UN)
The Soviet leader Khrushchev had a good relation with the newly elected prime minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, because he supported Castro. Castro agreed for Khrushchev to place protective missiles in Cuba against the US, because the US had missiles in Turkey pointed at the USSR. The Soviet Union got along with China fairly well as they were both communist parties. Because China was communist, it was also a threat to the US because the US tried to interfere with any country displaying the potential of becoming communist and with the presence of Mao Zedong on the chair of China, the US was not happy. On the other hand, the Soviet Union was not on the best terms with the UN as Khrushchev had repeatedly been rude at the meetings with the UN. Apparently, once he had taken off his shoes, waved them about, and slammed them down on the desk and called out in Russian multiple times.
5. Using the notes on the blog (http://hsc2009-10.blogspot.com/) and your own research
ReplyDeletedescribe the build up to the Cuban missile crisis, your involvement, and your characters
opinions on what should be done now (at the start of 1961)?
A big cause of the Cuban Missile Crisis was the race to nuclear arms and nuclear power. Also, Fidel Castro coming into power of Cuba was not good as he was a socialist and a communist and the Soviets liked that. Another big trigger of the Cuban Missile Crisis was the US placing missiles, both defensive and offensive, in Turkey, ready to attack the USSR at any time. The Soviets thought it was unfair that the US were allowed to place missiles in the Turkey so we decided to place missiles in Cuba. Khrushchev at the time was also on terms with the new leader of Cuba as he was also a communist and the US was against any communist governments and countries. I did not have a role in this crisis as I was the Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and our job was to pass amendments and manage the laws. However, I did believe that what Khrushchev did was right and that we should also have the right to place missiles in Cuba if the US can have missiles in Turkey. When the Cubans openly showed their alliance to us, it proved that they were also against the US and I agree with their decision as it helps us and it shows the US that they cannot always have everything they want. I cannot believe that the US attempted the Bay of Pigs and thought it would actually work. The Cuban government was not going to fall for that and it was unsuccessful.
Sources and Citations:
http://en.allexperts.com/e/k/ki/kirill_mazurov.htm
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Kirill_Mazurov
http://en.allexperts.com/e/n/ni/nikita_khrushchev.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/soviet.exhibit/intro2.html
http://www.faqs.org/cia/docs/52/0000969847/SOVIET-LEADERS-AND-SUCCESSION.html
http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch33.htm
http://countrystudies.us/russia/12.htm
Suraj Mudichintala
ReplyDeleteAs Vasil Pavlovich Mzhavanadze
Freehold YMCA Delegation
HSC (Historical Simulation Committee)
Soviet Q's / Position Paper
1. I am Vasil Pavlovich Mzhavanadze. I am also known as Vasily. I am from Georgia. I was the First Secretary of the Communist Part of the Georgian SSR. I served in the Red Army as a political commissar during World War II. After the war, I was appointed Deputy Commander for Political Affairs under Krushchev. I became First Secretary in Georgia but was known as a symbol of the corrupt government of Georgia.
2. During the Cuban Missile Crisis Period (1961 – 1962), I was a member of the Presidium, the central governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This position basically means I help oversee the actions of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union. Our ideas are passed down through the Central Committee, the Supreme Soviet and the Party Congress. My position is similar to one’s position in the President’s Cabinet or the House of Senates today. Some issues that my position must come face to face with at this time are making decisions to influence the nuclear standoff between the USSR and the US. Some other important issues I talk about in the Presidium are free thinking verse controlled thinking as well as the race to space with the US. As of now, the US are our greatest rivals and relations between us are extremely tense.
3. I was named Deputy Commander for Political Affairs under Nikita Krushchev back when he was the leader of a Ukrainian Communist Party. Naturally, I had a closer relationship with Krushchev than some of the other Members of Presidium. In the Presidium, I was valued and respected by the other members, which was just as well because I eventually led Georgia as their First Secretary.
ReplyDelete4. a) The relations between the US and the Soviet could be described as dangerous back in 60 and 61. It was like having two separate gods come down and trying to convince their power to the other. The two countries were rivals and were certainly not friends. The Soviets, in fact, won their race to outer space by sending the first man into space to orbit the Earth. The fact that the US was economically and politically powerful in Western Europe made relations much worse for both sides of the Cold War. In addition, the US had its power over being the first and only nation to have nuclear weapons. However, the USSR eventually caught up, exploding their first atom bomb in 1949. From there on out, the US and the USSR competed technologically which simply pushed them closer and closer to the edge.
ReplyDeleteb) During this time, the Soviet Union was at the peak of its power economically as well as politically. Some of the factors that contributed to its success were central planning and raw material allocation. However, these two factors also led the Soviet’s economy to its demise. Starting from the 60’s, the Soviet’s rates of economic growth gradually started to shrink from enormous to negligible.
c) The most distinguishing domestic affair of Krushchev’s Campaign was his attempt to remove himself from the shadow of Stalin. He believed that what Stalin had done (killing competition for inevitable power) was wrong and evil. One of his goals was to De-Stalinize the USSR. Vasily Mzhavanadze opposed this idea as well as the idea of making peace with the US. He later showed himself to be a corrupt man as he led Georgia for sometime.
d) The USSR’s army came from the origins of its society, the Red Army. In fact, the Red Army was renamed in 1946. It was then known as the Soviet Army. The army was very strong because the Soviet Union required a minimum of 3 years of service in the military if a man was of age and was able.
e) The Warsaw Pact and the Communist Bloc was at one point close to complete disintegration. In fact, were it not for the military strength of the Soviets, the other countries of the Bloc would have rebelled and broken away. Hungary’s attempt and failure to rebel struck fear into the hearts of other countries. This set an example of the punishment for taking suit of Hungary’s actions.
f) Relations between the Cubans and the Soviet were very good. In fact, the Soviet had been aiding the Cubans and Castro for some time now. This allowed for the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Relations between China and the Soviet were, however, a different matter. The Soviet’s attempts to become friends with the US angered China, who thought that the Soviet should have attacked the US.
5. The main reason for Krushchev to place missiles in Cuba was his insecurity for the USSR. My involvement in this matter was great, but as part of the Presidium, it was my duty to remind Krushchev of the number I (Vasil) agreed with this motion due not only to the arms race, but also due to the pure strength of US forces in Turkey. The most important thing to remember was that Krushchev always had an eye out looking at the world. My character simply advises Krushchev to place missiles in Cuba. That is what my involvement was.
ReplyDeleteCitations
ReplyDeletehttp://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Vasil-Mzhavanadze
http://en.allexperts.com/e/p/po/politburo_of_the_central_committee_of_the_communist_party_of_the_soviet_union.htm
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Vasil_Mzhavanadze
http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch24t65.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/cold-war-1972-1989-the-collapse-of-the-soviet-union
Ofer, Gur. (1987). "Soviet Economic Growth, 1928 - 1985." Journal of Economic Literature 25(4):1767 - 1833.
http://www.answers.com/topic/soviet-economic-growth
http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/the_cuban_missile_crisis.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/causes.html
http://www.johndclare.net/cold_war16.htm
*btw, my computer files were restored... so its all good =]*
1)I am the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. My name is Walter Ulbricht, and I was born in Leipzig, Germany. I have quite an interesting lifestyle. Both of my parents were middle class workers and members of the Social Democratic Party. I chose to join in 1912. I was also a part of the First World War for two years (1915-1917). My time in the war was cut short because I was deserted. Sadly, in 1917 Socialist Unity Party faced a drift because there were varying views on the participation in the First World War. I was opposed to the war. A few years later, I joined the communist party of Germany. As politics became a larger part of my life I found myself supporting the Marxist ideology. The Marxist ideology was that I supported Stalin and his ideas and views of communism, but that I did not want an overseas revolution. I also chose to become a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party. And I found myself organizing events such as “Red Saxony.” I was a terrible agitator, but organizing is my forte. I have a few simple goals that are similar to the rest of my party. I wanted communism to take over Germany. I did not believe in a democracy. Later, in 1928, I joined the German Reichstag. I organized and formulated the plan to attack the Socialists who supported the democratic Weimar Republic, instead of the Nazi’s. The Nazi’s were the real threat. The Nazi’s are the primary cause of all my actions. I did not support them for they tried to wash out all communist and socialist party leaders. I tried my best to rid of them, they were a problem and they needed to be wiped out, not the socialist unity party. However, I lost this battle. I fled my home country of Germany and the German Communist Party was destroyed. Some years later I found myself exiled and then in the Soviet Union. As years progressed, Stalin sent me back to Germany so that I could organize support Soviet occupation.
ReplyDelete2) I have held a various array of positions for numerous committees that have similar beliefs to my own. But in this simulation I am the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party. This means that I am the secretary of the governing party of the German Democratic Republic. Since I helped rebuild the committee I was given said seat in the committee. The position I hold was similar to that of the General Secretary of the United Nations, not to say we have similar views. My position allows me to be the De Facto leader of Germany if the Socialist Unity Party was to take power. I have faced many issues over the past years. Since the Nazi’s took over Germany my life has put in danger. There were numerous leaders before me but they all got killed by the Nazi’s. I was the deputy premier of East Germany and I my idea of closing the border in Berlin was shut down and rejected by the Soviets, instead they wanted me to moderate my policies so that East Germans would stop leaving the country. But, the Berlin wall was built and I helped with it. I was not very content or pleased with West Germany and their beliefs. I was forced to deal with the socialist party as well. I do not really listen to them and I resist Soviet demands. On top of all that my beloved leader Stalin passed away. The main issues I faced where problems with West Germany, and my disagreements with people such as Khrushchev and his policies.
3) I did not agree with Khrushchev and his policies. I did not agree with his views that the Berlin is “unacceptable and simplistic”. Also, I think that it is Khrushchev’s economic policy that is the main cause of the decrease in the population. My idea of the Berlin wall was flawless. I did not like or agree with his regarding the 20th party congress either. Khrushchev was a horrid leader who had terrible policies. He ruined East Germany. I do not really get along with many others. I do what I think is right even if other member’s of the bloc and other soviets tell me otherwise. I do not think that my ideas should be ignored. I am correct and I will follow through with all my plans and ideas as I wish. I will not take orders from other Soviets. I will not be pressured to do so either.
ReplyDelete4) The Soviet Union was not really respected once Berlin was divided. The world was afraid that communism would take over.
A) This is the time of the Cold War. Although there was not physical fighting we were at faults with many nations. The world was torn because many people where denying that a socialistic government would work. The United States and East Germany do not get along very well. We are constantly competing to see who the best is and which government works better. The race for space also is a huge deal. The United States and the Soviet Union are at faults. This problem increased when we decided to invade Afghanistan for their oil after our so thought strong economy failed.
B) The Soviet economy also had a few kinks. A new government with a new ruler is difficult. We were working hard to become a new world superpower as well. We increased wages. We are also the leaders in steel and oil production. We were the future with new single family apartments. Dishwashers and television and various other appliances were also big in the Soviet Union. So one would think that we had a strong economy. We were all fooled, as the new leader Brezhnev tried to fix our economy his efforts also failed. As the years progressed, there was a large decrease in economic growth for numerous reasons. The main was because there was a thinning rate of return on capital interest. This caused a huge setback to what we thought was going to be a long-lived economy. Depletion in oil and gas were large problems as well since they were the main source of our income. The Soviet economy failed miserably.
C) The Soviet Union also was a show. We wanted to be a superpower so we tried hard to make people believe that our nation was strong. When in reality it was not. We faced power struggles internally. The other main domestic issue was our failing economy. It is difficult to be a strong nation when your economy is on the verge of failure and that the money and resources that we had were spent hastily.
D) The Soviet military is known as the red army. To be able to keep our strength we required that all able men would serve in the cold war for at least three years. Our red army worked very hard. They worked hard during the numerous anti-soviet uprisings in the East Germany. They had to keep the peace, and we kept the red army strong. The Soviet Union worked hard to keep the numbers of the men enlisted in the army high; mostly since we were helping Vietnam in their fight against the United States. Also, they had to work hard because there was the race for arms. We had to be on guard at all times so that we did not face a surprise attack at any time. However towards the 1980’s the red army was not doing too much to benefit the Soviet Union. It was just causing financial strain s on the economy. So, in turn the numbers of the red army were drastically reduced.
ReplyDeleteE) The Warsaw pact was extremely beneficial to the Soviet Union. It helped because it established friendly alliances with many nations. And because the Soviet Union was head to head with many overseas nations and even neighboring nations that were allied with the almighty United States, allies were appreciated. The countries that were part of the Warsaw Pact were Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria. The Warsaw pact nations and the NATO nations. The Warsaw pact nations were actually allied after the NATO nations allied.
F) The Soviet Union is allied with China and its leader. I personally played the ruler of china against Khrushchev so that Khrushchev would loosen his policies on East Germany. China is one of my personal allies. China also worked together with the Soviets. Cuba was fond of the Soviet Union too. Cuba looked to the Soviet Union for military and weapon aid. The Soviet Union was a huge ally of Cuba and they are the main reason that there was a Cuban missile crisis. The Soviet Union and the United Nations had a few problems. The United Nations sat numerous country representatives of the Soviets and their policy. The United Nations was just a place where we, the Soviet Union, had to show the other nations that we are serious about our government rule.
Leon Lin
ReplyDelete[Soviet Union Bloc]
Freehold YMCA Delegation
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej – First Secretary of the Romanian Workers’ Party
1. I am Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. I am from Romania. My father was poor. My occupation was a railway electrician. I joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930. In 1933, I took part in a strike, which led to my imprisonment. Three years later, I was elected to the party’s Central Committee where I led the prison faction. During World War II, I was kept in a camp while acting as an activist. However, I escaped in August 1944. The next year, I became the first secretary of the Romanian Workers’ Party. As a local leader, I have quite some power. I have been heavily influenced by Joseph Stalin as I adhere closely to his ways. I want control of the politics in Romania; I have display much nationalism in my actions.
2. My position is the first secretary of the Romanian Workers’ Party. As secretary, I manage and regulate foreign policy. Interaction with foreign nations is supervised under me. I controlled the foreign and economic policy in my time. An example is the Warsaw Pact. I allowed Romania to agree to this pact, where countries like Hungary and Poland made an alliance to defend each other. Furthermore, I help to establish diplomatic relationships with other countries like the United States. In 1954, many political prisoners were released. I issued a massive flurry of arrests to recapture the fugitives. In keeping my loyalty to Stalin’s ideas, many felt opposed to my choice of actions.
3. Nikita Khrushchev was not on my side. His reforms went against my beliefs. He attempted to de-Stalinize Romania. As a close follower of Stalin and his ideals, I was angered by Khrushchev’s ways. In order to counter Khrushchev, I took control of the foreign and economic policies, and I instigated the construction of a heavy industry. This construction went against Khrushchev’s wishes and the Soviet Union’s wishes. Because I was a follower of Stalin, my actions went against many of the wishes of the people of Romania; therefore, my relationship with the other members of the bloc is shaky and not necessarily friendly.
ReplyDelete4. a. The United States and the Soviet Union were not on friendly terms. The Soviet Union, an ally of Cuba, carried dangerous missiles. Because the United States and the Soviet Union were not on good terms, the Soviet Union was more than willing to ask Cuba to hold potentially dangerous missiles. The United States got wind of this missile safekeeping and decided to take action to stop any bloodshed and casualties. At the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union was forced to take back their missiles under the supervision of the United Nations. The trust between the countries decreased even further.
5) The Cuban Missile Crisis was a huge part of history. It was a small issue that the United States escalated to a level which was beyond unnecessary. Cuba was a weak nation that needed stronger rule. The Soviet Union, being the strong superpower that it is saw Cuba as a great ally. The Soviet Union began to build long range defense missiles on the coast of Cuba. The United States was being very nosey and they had U-2 planes fly over Cuba. They saw that there were missiles and they had a breakdown. They thought that Cuba and the Soviet Union had plans to bomb the United States. President Kennedy was at a crossroads. He did not know if he should attack or not. His options were to do nothing, use diplomatic pressure to get the Soviet Union to remove the missiles, to have an air attack on the missiles, to have a full military invasion, or to have a naval blockade on Cuba. Kennedy thought about it for a long while and he eventually decided to blockade Cuba and to prevent all foreign trade. This caused problems when the Soviet Union tried to transport supplies to Cuba. This also caused a great deal of anger. The Soviet Union and The United States were on the brink of war. Finally, Kennedy and the Soviet Union and Fidel Castro, the ruler of Cuba, came to the conclusion that the Soviet Union would remove its missiles in exchange for the removal of missiles in Turkey. I think that the United States blew the missiles that were in Cuba out of proportion. As the leader of the Socialist party I was in control of making sure that the idea of socialism was followed through with. I agreed that Cuba should become an ally for it was yet another nation that became a member of the strong side. The NATO nations were nothing and they are manipulative. I think that this Cuban base was a great creation because it showed the United States that we are serious about or government beliefs and policies.
ReplyDelete18) http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Walter_Ulbricht
19) http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404706523.html
20) http://en.allexperts.com/e/w/wa/walter_ulbricht.htm
21) http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/history/bl_ulbricht_era.htm
22)http://www.ena.lu/letter-walter-ulbricht-gustav-heinemann-17-december-1969-020400529.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0849942.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/index.html
http://www.hpol.org/jfk/cuban/
http://www.google.com/search?q=cuban+missile+crisis&hl=en&tbs=tl:1&tbo=u&ei=LE8sS5rdAYSulAel98SfBw&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=15&ved=0CEIQ5wIwDg
http://www.jstor.org/pss/222764
b. The economy of the Soviet Union was fairly decent with improvements during the 1950’s and later. Under Khruschev, the economy was more heavily focused on the production of coal and oil, which benefited the countries monetary income and trade. By about 1960, the Soviet Union was supplying approximately 12.5% of the world’s goods. Among these goods were coal and iron, which were abundant in this country.
ReplyDeletec. Khrushchev was very opposed to Stalin’s ideas. He began to de-Stalinize the country. While he tried to make peaceful relations with the United States, he was politically attacked by many because of his anti-Stalin beliefs.
d. After World War II, the Red Army became a regular army under the name of the Soviet Army. In an effort to compete in the arms race, the Soviet Union tested an atomic bomb in 1949.
e. Countries of the Soviet Bloc are very communist. Among these countries are Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and others. The Warsaw Pact was a treaty between Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania where every country in the treaty agreed to defend and protect each other in the event that any of the countries were attacked by a foreign country not in the treaty.
f. Khrushchev was very interested in making peaceful relations with the United States. By doing so, China lost respect for Soviet’s ideas of communism and broke away. After, Soviet became fearful of the United States and began to work harder at the arms race. It later collaborated with Cuba to bring down the United States. It attempted to send missiles to Cuba for safekeeping in case the United States would try to restrain and control Cuba.
5. Before the Cuban Missile Crisis started, the United States had attempted to overthrow Fidel Castro because of his wicked and communist methods; these attempts failed. The United States also placed missiles in Turkey in order to keep a close watch and warn the Soviet Union. In response, Soviet sent its own missiles to Cuba, who welcomed the ally’s weapons; this marked the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States caught wind of this exchange of dangerous weapons and went on high alert and began seeking out boats to Cuba that may have dangerous weapons. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej took part in the Warsaw Pact, where many communist countries nearby agreed to defend each other in case of any foreign attack, including attack from the United States. During the Cold War, in 1963, the United States encouraged the Soviet to make peace with each other. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej agreed to this and did establish friendly relations with the United States.
http://en.allexperts.com/e/g/gh/gheorghe_gheorghiu-dej.htm
http://www.faqs.org/cia/docs/57/0000968996/THE-KGB%27S-ROLE-IN-SOVIET-POLITICS.html
http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch33.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/the_cuban_missile_crisis.html
http://en.allexperts.com/e/n/ni/nikita_khrushchev.htm
Danielle Sumner
ReplyDelete12/13/09
HSC Soviet Union Bloc Questions
!. I am General Nikolai Nikolaevich Voronov. I was born in St. Petersburg on May 17, 1899. I was 6’5” and 225 pounds with blue eyes and blond hair. Clearly, I was an intimidating man. The ‘voron’ in my name Voronov means ‘raven’. When I reached the age of 18, I joined the Red Army. When I was 33, I served as a military attaché to Italy. After a year there, I became Commanding Officer of Artillery 1st Proletarian Rifle Division of Moscow. From there, I served as a Commandant of Leningrad Artillery School, where I enforced discipline, increased the number of artillery schools, and devised new training techniques. I took up several more titles for Artillery Directorate and Air Defence for the People’s Commissariat of Defence. For ten years I was the Commander in Chief of Artillery. I am best known, however, as the general who defeated the Nazis at the battle of Stalingrad in World War II. My other military successes include battles at Kursk, Kiev, and Gomel. It was thanks to my unyielding belief in the Red Army’s artillery battalions that the USSR kept Stalingrad. In 1944, my success as a Red Army general was the cover story for TIME Magazine, and I became a world icon. I was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union on May 7, 1965. My friends described me as witty, shrewd, and well-read. I had many friends, important among them being Joseph Stalin. He and I shared a fondness for the everlasting strength of the cannon and through that we formed a lifelong friendship. My ideaologies lay in Bolshevism and the protection of the working class. I will do anything for my nation because I have extreme loyalty towards the Red Army and to the Soviet Union in general.
2. In the year 1962, I was no longer active as the Chief Marshal of Artillery. Indeed, I was 63 at the time and was no longer very active, period. I had a memoir published in 1964. Still, the role of Chief Mashal of Artillery meant that I was in absolute control of the Soviet Artillery branch. One could also be Chief Marshal of either the Aviation, Armoured Troops, Engineer Troops, or Signal divisions. These ranks were established in 1944. During the late 50’s- early 60’s time period, the Soviet Union was testing the waters with the new U.S. president John F. Kennedy. In 1961 the Soviets accused the United States of arming Cuban mercenaries with weapons and transportation in order to instill a rebellion in Cuba, which triggered hostilities.
3. Both Khrushchev and I served as members of the Red Army during World War II. We had both been in contact with Joseph Stalin so presumably we knew of each other and came into contact several times, although beyond that we didn’t have much to do with each other. In 1946 Khrushchev came into conflict with Stalin over the rebuilding of Ukraine after the war, and their opinions of each other dropped considerably. After that, Khrushchev impugned Stalin’s decisions and leadership. A rivalry formed as the two strived against each other for political power. Because Stalin was a close friend of mine, some of his negative opinions of his political rival probably rubbed off on me.
4a.Ever since the end of WWII, the competition between the Soviets and the Americans took the form of the nuclear, space, and arms races. In 1959 the Americans deployed Jupiter missiles to Turkey and Italy, which did nothing to soothe Soviet anxiety. By the time 1961 rolled around, the Bay of Pigs in April established a deep distrust between the U.S.S.R. and the United States. Still, even as relations spiraled downwards, attempts at peace were made by Khrushchev. Relations plummeted even further on October 14 of 1962, when a U.S. spy plane caught wind of the nuclear missiles being set up in Cuba.
4b. Immediately after the war, the Soviet economy was devastated. Russia refused economic aid from the United States, although they did draw funds from their Eastern European allies. Germany and former Nazi countries were forced to pay reparation to Russia as well. The Soviet Union’s economy had been geared towards a heavy industry and the military. It depended heavily on steel and cement. It was known as a command economy because it was controlled by a central planning commission. Natural resources included oil, natural gas, iron, coal, lead, silver, nickel, copper, and zinc. There was huge population growth, from 190 million in 1938 to 228 million in 1970. The Soviet economy improved slowly, the GNP coming to a stop around 1970.
ReplyDelete4c. Stalin tightened his grasp upon the Soviet populace in the aftermath of the war, executing Russians who had been abroad during the war or who had affiliated themselves with the wrong political party. Limited freedoms gained during the war were revoked. A campaign designed to debase capitalism and endorse socialism. The Soviets also aided budding communist governments in neighboring countries so that by 1948 there were eight new European communist countries. There was also some serious politial strife involving the Berlin Wall in the late 1940’s, which resulted in the democratic-run West Berlin and the communist East Berlin. During the 50s, Khrushchev was campaigning against Stalin and gaining political power. He took over in 1958.
4d. The Soviet military relied heavily on its Artillery division in WWII. After WWII, the arms race sprang up between Russia and the U.S., where both countries were attempting to better outfit their armies with more advanced weaponry. On top of that was the nuclear arms race. While the Soviet military had suffered severe losses in World War II, they were unafraid to use what remained of their army, although they were used to control local populations more than rival world powers.
4e. The Warsaw Pact was a treaty signed by Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the USSR in 1955. It decreed that if one country was attacked, all the other countries listed in the treaty would be required to come to their aid. The pact was essentially a reaction to the NATO treaty signed by democratic countries in 1949.
4f. After Stalin’s death, the relationship between the US and the USSR alternated between relaxation and tension. The Soviets formed a strong alliance with Cuba, generating a trade treaty in 1960. Cuba would send sugar to Russia in return for oil, machines, and money. The Soviet relationship with China started off on good terms when leaders Stalin and Mao formed a Sino-Soviet alliance in February 1950. This pact was at its strongest during the Korean War. The relationship between the two countries slowly disintegrated from there due to China’s strong dislike of the Western world.
1)
ReplyDeleteI am Anatoly Fyodorovich Dobrynin the Ambassador of the United Soviet Social Republics to the United States. This position prior to a conflict of this magnitude had had somewhat diminished importance in retrospect. It was largely the settling of minor issues and political skirmishes. As time progressed, my role began to transform. I as an Ambassador had become the representation of the entire USSR - for better or for worse. My actions were of immediate consequence and therefore requires the utmost premeditation. My influence would serve to make or break the diplomacy between two supreme powers - the USA and USSR.
2)
I am a Russian Statesman who, at the time, is acting Ambassador to the United States - the other polarity of the tense yet temperamental circumstance. As Ambassador, I am supposed to relate the opinions and ideas of the United States and that of the USSR in the most diplomatic fashion possible. Otherwise, the consequences could be nothing less than catastrophic. I have the ability and the obligation to make fast and decisive political decisions on behalf of an entire conglomerate of countries so as to prevent further controversy. Prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis I had a role of lesser importance, for the discretions of the USSR were dealt with by other politicians. However, afterwards, I was appointed secretariat of the Communist Party. My work during the crisis was clearly recognized and very beneficial to not just the USSR.
3)
ReplyDeleteMy relationship with Khrushchev was little more the professional; however, within what ever bounds this may determine, I and Khrushchev understood each other enough for me to be appointed by him at a time where many good alternatives existed. The definition of my role, Ambassador, suggest my remoteness to the inner workings of the USSR politics, but my contribution during the Cuban Missile Crisis is such that I could impact the welfare of the inhabitable earth with even the subtlest action or lack there of. In conclusion, I am essentially a hostage negotiator, and, as is expected, my contact with the hostage himself is limited to say the least.
4)
The relations between the US and the USSR held much tension and may be blamed for the surplus of angst that surrounded the time period encompassing that of the conference. Patrons of either affiliation factionalized their convictions and antagonized their opposition. The result was a feckless power battle that was ensued by both Kennedy and Khrushchev in a world still in recoil from the latter world war.
The USSR's economy not only epitomized order and stability, it was also an ascending power that would challenge the economical positions held by those who had thought nothing of the threat that lurked in Eastern Europe.
The former Germanic experiences held by members of the USSR leadership contributed greatly to the weariness of extraneous militaristic power in the region. Their plot for power was unparalleled just as the military could have become. In the case of the USSR, it's insecurities were the instigators of transcendence of the old regional motifs of skirmish and poverty. It was with this same military that the USSR was able to hold the Iron Curtain and maintain such belittlement of neighbors to the USSR. The USSR's nuclear and other science programs were colossal influences over the events that were to occur during the missile crisis itself.
The Warsaw Treaty’s organization was comprised of two primary facets: the Political Consultative Committee handled civil matters, and the Unified Command of Pact Armed Forces controlled the assigned multi-national forces, with headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. The First Deputy Minister of the USSR became the supreme commander of the Warsaw Treaty who also headed the Warsaw Treaty Unified Staff also was the First Deputy Head of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR. In consequence, the USSR seized dominance over the Warsaw treaty and the USA the NATO Pact.
The unitive communist front seemed to have a unitive a profound effect upon the People's Republic of China in it's maiden years. They were comrades and allies. Soviet modern technology, scientific research and trained/skilled labor were set out to help industrialize China in order to modernize it and make it a valuable asset to the USSR holistically.
5)
ReplyDeleteThe United States had failed on many accounts in intervening with the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro and the political implementation of communism. Since Khrushchev failed to accomplish the majority of the plethora of feats toward which he endeavored during the Berlin Crisis, NATO countries were pressuring the Soviet Union economically and militarily - almost to the point of what may be considered bullying. A referenced event realizes the validity of this argument: US missiles were erected at a base in Turkey, which meant that American missiles could now reach Moscow or any part of the Soviet Union. In order to keep the United States from attempting an assault on any dividend of the Communists, Khrushchev decided to freight Soviet missiles to Cuba in retaliation. My main, and essential, purpose in the Cuban Missile Crisis is to manipulate tensions between either government in the greatest interest of the USSR as ambassador. It is on this premise that the entire simulation will run.
Works Cited
http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch33.htm
http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/events-timelines/04-cuban-missile-crisis-timeline.htm
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB123/dobrynin.htm
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/e2/83800.htm
Raghav Sahni
ReplyDeleteModel UN
Member of the Presidium
Soviet Bloc
Aleksei Kosygin
Position Paper
1961-1962 was an important time in the course of history. A lot of fascinating, dangerous, and interesting things were happening between these two years. John F. Kennedy was just getting elected into office in January of 1961. The West Side Story was just being released. The first Wal-Mart was being opened. The first James Bond movie was being released named Dr. No. Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single pro basketball game single handedly. The Hulk was being debuted by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
A lot of more serious and complicated things were also happening. Ethiopia was experiencing its most devastating earthquakes of all time. The Death Penalty in New Zealand was abolished. The Soviet Union tested a 58 megaton yield hydrogen bomb known as Tsar Bomba which was the largest explosion made by man so far. Pope John XXIII excommunicated Fidel Castro. Cuba and the Soviet Union signed a trade pact. The United States announced embargo against Cuba. The United States government banned all imports and exports from Cuba. The Soviet Union also promised to send arms to Cuba to help them out. A border conflict between China and India erupted in open fighting.
One important event that happened during 1961 – 1962 was the Cuban Missile Crisis. A U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet Union weapons being installed. A stand-off then ensued the next day between the United States and the Soviet Union, threatening the world with nuclear war.
My name is Aleksei Nikolayevich Kosygin and I am a member of the Presidium. I was born on February 20th 1904 in Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia and I am Russian. I was born into a worker’s family. My father was a lathe operator, and I grew up in the cultured and cosmopolitan capital of tsarist Russia surrounded by increasingly military and radical workers, and I absorbed much from both social cultures.
Throughout my life, I dressed very impeccably, with my shoes always brightly polished; but I could always communicate with ordinary factory hands and knew my way around the shop floor. At the age of 15 i volunteered for the Red Army, distinguishing myself in several Civil War campaigns.
As with others of my generation, the Communist Party rewarded me for my loyalty and commitment by supporting my education after I was demobilized. In 1924, I graduated from the Leningrad Cooperative Technical Institute and began a career in Soviet industry. I even fought in the Russian Civil War.
After finishing school at the Leningrad Cooperative Technical School in 1924, I moved over to Siberia and worked in multiple series of positions in the cooperative movement. It was then in Siberia during 1927, that I joined the Communist Party. After returning to Leningrad, I completed further studies at the Leningrad Textile Institute in 1935. I was first a Premier of the Soviet Union in 1964 to 1980. That was during the reign of Leonid Brezhnev who was a chairman. I was most recognized for my expertise in economics and industry as I had gone to school for those.
In 1964, I succeeded Nikita Khrushchev as Premier of the Soviet Union, sharing overall power with Leonid Brezhnev, the general secretary of the Communist party. By the late 1960s, however, my importance in the party and government hierarchy had diminished and lessened in comparison to that of Brezhnev. He became stronger and stronger while I became weaker and weaker concerning political power. Although I was losing control, I continued my work as a premier.
ReplyDeleteI also attempted to implement economic reforms to shift the emphasis in the Soviet economy from military production and heavy industry to production of consumer goods and light industry. Brezhnev did not support this policy and stymied my reforms. By the end of the decade Brezhnev had become the unquestioned leader of the USSR and my position had become increasingly weak.
As a Premier of the Soviet Union, I introduced various economic measures designed to reform and modernize Soviet agriculture, industry, and trade and hoped to make the nation better stronger. Most of my efforts, however, were demolished by Brezhnev's ignorance and stubbornness. He also had slightly different beliefs than me. I however resigned due to ill health in 1980 and died shortly thereafter on December 18, 1980.
I was no mere apparatchik in my days. From January to July of 1942, I directed economic activities in blockaded Leningrad, earning widespread appreciation for my efforts. My role in managing Soviet Russia’s post-war troublesome economy was also an extremely hard and challenging one. My plans were beset by Stalin’s irrational policies and often whimsical directives. Like Khrushchev Malenkov, and others, I was directly determined and inspired to help lead the U.S.S.R. in a different direction than they were heading. I was trying to end Stalinist abuses and infusing as much rationality and balance as possible in the Soviet planned economy within the limits of that country’s particular communist system.
As Khrushchev brought together his power, I took an increasingly important role in support of rapid industrial growth as opposed to military production goods. I was interested in consumer demands and greater East to West trade. I served late in the 1950s as a chairman of Gosplan, the state planning commission, and as vice- chairman again of the Council of Minister.
The United States and the Soviet Union were very competitive. The United States wanted to beat the Soviet Union in everything and the Soviet Union wanted to beat the United States. These were the only two powerful enough nations that could lead the world after World War II. These two nations wanted to be the best, strongest, and most intelligent nation.
After World War II, countries that believed in democracy made alliances and countries that believed in communism. Some countries that were democratic were: the United States, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Portugal.
These were only some of the democratic countries. Communist governments existed in Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Congo, eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, part of eastern Finland and eastern Romania. These were also only some of the communist countries.
Citations
1. http://www.answers.com/topic/aleksei-kosygin
2. http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Aleksei_Kosygin
3. http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ewb_09/ewb_09_03621.html
4. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947455,00.html
5. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/cold_war.htm
1. I am Vasiliy V Kuznetsov and I am from the Soviet Union. I have a personal history of acting as chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet three times. I joined the communist party in 1927. My goals are to state my opinion on the Soviet Union’s reaction to the U.S. blockade and to try to negotiate an end to the crisis itself. I make the decisions I do because they are what I think is right and they are what I think and believe will help end the crisis.
ReplyDelete2. My official position during the simulation is First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The power this position holds is the power to deal with issues and conflicts with other countries. During the late 50s to the early 60s, the issues I will face are being able to explain to the Soviet Bloc ambassadors in Moscow about the reaction to the crisis.
3. I firmly rejected demands of an iron clad control system must be set up before arms can be cut. All of this will determine whether or not an agreement can be reached on the Khrushchev plan laid before the assembly on September eighteenth. Until then, the extent of control should correspond to the three stages suggested by Khrushchev.
4. A. The relations between the Soviet Union and the US were both driven by ideological, economic, and political factors. These led to a bitter rivalry over the years and the differences in the political systems often kept them from reaching a understanding on key issues. These differences brought them to the edge of another war.
B. There was a strong economic situation and most of the countries were in favor and supported the ideas.
C. The Soviet Union did not want Germany to be put back in control of its previous power position.
D. The Soviet Union had a large and powerful military and were able to get a hold of nuclear weapons.
E. The Communist Bloc/Warsaw Pact was made up of the Unified Command of Pact Armed Forces and the Political Consultative Committee. The Unified command of Pact Armed Forces handled assigning multi-national forces and The Political Consultative Committee handled civil matters.
F. During this time, China and the Soviet Union had grown to become close allies. The Soviet Union had more skilled labor and better equipment but when talking about actual support, it fell below what the Chinese had expected.
5. The build up to the Cuban Missile Crisis consisted of The Invasion at Bay of Pigs and the Economic Actions of the United States. The United States had tried out many different plans and ideas to try and assassinate Fidel Castro who continued to economically isolate Cuba.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Vasilyevich_Kuznetsov
http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/soviet.exhibit/intro2.html