Khruschev's Thaw

From Moscowiki

Stalin’s successor was Nikita Khruschev. Once loyal to Stalin, he suddenly transformed into comparatively liberal Soviet governor. At the 20th Party Congress he denounced Stalin’s crimes; as a result thousands of political prisoners were released and rehabilitated, forbidden books were published and many Stalin’s crimes were revealed. Artists, poets, writers could breathe rather freely and many very interesting works in every art were created. This period is known as "the Thaw".

In the mean-time, the Soviets continued to be rather aggressive in their foreign affairs. In 1956 Soviet tanks invaded Hungary and in 1962 the world was one millimetre away from the nuclear war after Khruschev’s decision to base nuclear missiles on Cuba.

Right after the World War II the Soviet Union and the USA started an arms race (Cold War), each trying to prove its position as the leading state. Under Khruschev the Soviets made fantastic progress in space industry and in 1961 won the race sending the first man to space. The name of the Soviet hero was Yury Gagarin.