There is combox discussion of the Hungarian Uprising in relation to the Suez Crisis so we should check how these events were connected in the timeline of Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History:
"Conflict was inevitable once Eisenhower's death from surgical complications elevated Nixon to the U.S. presidency in June, 1956. Cold War paranoia distorted Nixon's reactions to unrest within the Communist bloc in the autumn of that year. Covert U.S. aid to the Hungarian rebels so enraged the Soviet Union that it backed Egypt past the limits of prudence during the Suez Crisis."
-Sandra Miesel, The Psychotechnic League IN Anderson, The Complete Psychotechnic League, Volume 1, (Riverdale, NY, October 2017), pp. 3-4 AT p. 3.
Observations
(i) Here, indeed, the US helps the Hungarians and this affects Suez.
(ii) Richard Nixon is active in two timelines! (My friend Andrea, whose opinions I respect but do not always accept, thinks that Nixon was not too bad - but made a mistake with Watergate.)
(iii) Since the US and Iran are a current issue and since we recently mentioned Titoism, let us also read the next two sentences of Miesel's account:
"The savage Mideast war that followed left Socialism dominant throughout the region and the U.S.S.R. in possession of northern Iran.
"The assassination of Tito shortly afterwards enabled the Soviets to bring Yugoslavia back under their control." (pp. 3-4)
We can imagine people living in that timeline although it is not ours. Having mentioned Nixon, we must follow these events a short way further but I will now summarize. Internecine strife made Russian policy unpredictable. Tension increased in 1958. Russia threatened a new Berlin blockade and China seized two Nationalist-held islands. Nixon taking a stand on both these fronts simultaneously precipitated:
"...a pre-emptive strike at the West on Christmas Eve, 1958." (p. 4)
Therefore:
"1958, the year the H-bombs fell, set human history careening in a new direction." (p. 3)
It would have done.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, Pres. Eisenhower might have died in 1956, with VP Nixon succeeding him. One of Nixon's weaknesses was paranoia, but I think that was directed more against internal political opponents, not foreign adversaries of the US. I get the impression Nixon always tried to be objective in foreign affairs.
And I'm still disgusted by how the West stood by and did nothing to help the Hungarians trying to overthrow the Soviet controlled puppet gov't. Khruschev hesitated, after all, for a few days before he sent in the Red Army.
Ad astra! Sean
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