How Did Nikita Khrushchev Come To Power

When Stalin died in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev came into power. He brought about huge changes such as the de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, the progress of the early Soviet space program, and ‘several relatively liberal reforms in areas of domestic policy’. However, as to quote the internet, ‘Hoping eventually to rely on missiles for national defense, Khrushchev ordered major cuts in conventional forces. Despite the cuts, Khrushchev 's rule saw the most tense years of the Cold War, culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Some of Khrushchev 's policies were seen as erratic, particularly by his emerging rivals within the Party, who quietly rose in strength and deposed him in October 1964’. Not only that but Khrushchev’s own personality was erratic and inconsistent doing things in international meetings that would

The Secret Speech ‘sparked considerable liberalization in Poland and Hungary’. People in Europe saw de-Stalinization as a sign that they could have greater freedom from the Soviet Union and Communism in general and became increasingly violent. The Soviets gave pressure to have the more moderate Nagy put to power yet executed him when he gave in to demands to introduce multi-party democracy and to leave the Warsaw Pact. This shows the inconsistency of Khrushchev’s policies and actions.

The Berlin Crisis in 1961 is another example of Khrushchev’s foreign policies. ‘Walter Ulbricht, the East German leader, had wanted the solution of the Berlin Wall for some time but had been over-ruled by Khrushchev. As the situation grew more desperate, Khrushchev changed his mind’. Referred to in the West as the ‘wall of shame’, the East German government preferred to call it the ‘anti-fascist protective barrier’. It could be seen either as consistent with Khrushchev’s other anti-Western policies or inconsistent with his talk of ‘peaceful