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Nikita Khrushchev assumed leadership of the Soviet Union during the period following after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. Khrushchev served as a General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as a Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964.

In Remarkably in 1964, Nikita Khrushchev was forced to leave his post, and the . The Party leadership, comprised of a special “troika” representatives, consisting of (Alexey Kosygin, Leonid Brezhnev, and Anastas Mikoyan initially replaced him) deposed Khrushchev. Eventually, Brezhnev eventually assumed the central role among the three and under Brezhnev’s his rule the Soviet Union expanded its sphere of influence to include much of Southeast Asia, Africa, parts of Central America and the Caribbean. Until  Why was Khrushchev deposed? How did Khrushchev fall from power? How had he alienated the Communist Party leadership? Khrushchev was seen as enough of a concern that until his death, in 1971, the Soviet government closely monitored him. This article will explore how Khrushchevlost the confidence of the Soviet Communist Party and was removed from office.

Khrushchev became famous and most best recognized for his rejection of the “personality cult” that Stalin had fostered during his own thirty-year rule. Khrushchev also attempted the revival of the Communist campaign to suppress all remnant religious institutions in the Soviet Union. Furthermore, Khrushchev supported the invasion and crackdown on Hungary in 1956, the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and the deployment of Soviet weapons in Cuba in 1962.

[[File:Nikita_Khrushchev_in_1959.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|Khrushchev in 1959]]

====Khrushchev foreign and defense policies: on the brink of nuclear war====[[File:Nikita_Khrusjtsjov.jpg|thumbnail|250px|left|Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in 1961]]<div class="portal" style='float:right; width:35%'>====Related Articles===={{#dpl:category=Russian History|ordermethod=firstedit|order=descending|count=8}}</div>When Khrushchev took control, the outside world still knew little of him, and he was initially not highly recognized. Short, heavyset, and wearing ill-fit suits, he was commonly seen as very energetic but not intellectual, and was dismissed by many as a buffoon who would not last long. Although his attacks on world capitalism were virulent and primitive, his outgoing personality and peasant humor were in sharp contrast to the image introduced by all earlier Soviet public figures. He also had very poor abysmal diplomatic skills, giving him the reputation of being a rude, uncivilized peasant in the West and an irresponsible clown in his own country. His methods of administration, although efficient, were also acknowledged as erratic since they threatened to abolish a large number of Stalinist-era agencies.

In foreign affairs, Khrushchev widely asserted his doctrine of peaceful co-existence with the non-communist world, which he had first proclaimed in his public speech at the 20th Party Congress. In 1959, Khrushchev conferred with President Eisenhower, which brought Soviet-American relations to new highs. Notwithstanding these hopeful developments, Khrushchev as a diplomat remained irascible and blunt. Back to Moscow reception, he directed his famous “We will bury you!” comment at the capitalist West. A long-planned summit conference with Eisenhower in Paris in May 1960 broke up with Khrushchev’s announcement that a U.S. plane (a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft) had been shot down over the Soviet Union with its pilot captured. Khrushchev repeatedly disrupted the proceedings in the United Nations General Assembly in September-October 1960 by pounding his fists on the desk and shouting in Russian. At one of the United Nations conferences, he even reacted to a comparison between Soviet control of Eastern Europe and Western imperialism in one of the most surreal moments in Cold War history, by waving his shoe and banging it on his desk.

In 1961, his blustering Vienna A long-planned summit conference with the new Eisenhower in Paris in May 1960 broke up with Khrushchev’s announcement that a U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, failed to achieve plane (a solid agreement on the pressing German question; U-2 reconnaissance aircraft) had been shot down over the Soviet Union built with its pilot captured. Khrushchev repeatedly disrupted the infamous Berlin Wall shortly thereafter. Soviet success proceedings in lofting the world’s first space satellite United Nations General Assembly in 1957 had been followed September-October 1960 by increased missile buildupspounding his fists on the desk and shouting in Russian. Khrushchev made a dangerous gamble in 1962At one of the United Nations conferences, over Cuba, which almost made he even reacted to a Third World War inevitable. He secretly attempted to deploy comparison between Soviet medium-range missiles control of Eastern Europe and Western imperialism in Cuba. Once detected by one of the US, and during the following tense confrontation most surreal moments in October 1962Cold War history, when the United States by waving his shoe and Soviet Union apparently stood banging it on the brink of nuclear war, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles on the promise that the United States would make no further attempt to overthrow Cuba’s communist governmenthis desk.

NeverthelessIn 1961, Chinese communists unfavorably and harshly criticized his blustering Vienna conference with the new U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, failed to achieve a substantial agreement on the pressing German question; the Soviet Union for mishandling this settlementbuilt the infamous Berlin Wall shortly after that. The Sino-Increased missile buildups had followed Soviet splitsuccess in lofting the world's first space satellite in 1957. Khrushchev made a dangerous gamble in 1962, over Cuba, which began almost made a Third World War inevitable. He secretly attempted to deploy Soviet medium-range missiles in 1959Cuba. Once detected by the US, reached and during the stage of public denunciations following tense confrontation in 1960. China’s ideological insist on all-out “war against October 1962, when the imperialists” United States and Mao Zedong’s annoyance with Khrushchev’s co-existence policies were exacerbated by the Soviet refusal to assist Union stood on the Chinese brink of nuclear weapon buildup and war, Khrushchev agreed to rectify remove the Russo-Chinese border. The Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty reached between missiles on the Soviet Union and promise that the United States in 1963, although generally welcomed throughout the world, intensified even would make no further Chinese denunciations of Soviet “revisionism”attempt to overthrow Cuba’s communist government.<ref>Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev: Premier of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics & Leadership of the Soviet Union: http://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikita-Sergeyevich-Khrushchev</ref>

Nevertheless, Chinese communists unfavorably and harshly criticized the Soviet Union for mishandling this settlement. The Sino-Soviet split, which began in 1959, reached the stage of public accusations in 1960. China’s ideological insist on all-out “war against the imperialists,” and Mao Zedong’s annoyance with Khrushchev’s co-existence policies was exacerbated by Soviet refusal to assist the Chinese nuclear weapon buildup and to rectify the Russo-Chinese border. The Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty reached between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1963, although generally welcomed throughout the world, intensified even further Chinese denunciations of Soviet “revisionism”.<ref>Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev: Premier of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics & Leadership of the Soviet Union: http://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikita-Sergeyevich-Khrushchev</ref> ====Khrushchev’s forced removal from office====

Khrushchev’s rivals in the Communist party deposed him largely due to his erratic and cantankerous behavior, regarded by the party as a tremendous embarrassment on the international stage. The failures in agriculture, the quarrel with China, and the humiliating resolution of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, added to the growing resentment of Khrushchev’s own arbitrary administrative methods, were the major factors in his downfall.  On October 14, 1964, after a palace coup orchestrated by his “loyal” protégé and deputy, Leonid Brezhnev, the Central Committee forced Khrushchev to retire from his position as the party’s first secretary and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union because of his “advanced age and poor health”. The Communist Party subsequently accused Khrushchev of making political mistakes, such as mishandling the Cuban Missile Crisis and disorganizing the Soviet economy, especially in the agricultural sector. However, Khrushchev considered his own forced retirement a major breakthrough and successful achievement. He was did not to opposeafter he left office, there were no executions after his coup, and his retirement was “negotiated” as between equals.<ref>Khrushchev’s last days in power - http://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/23/world/son-tells-of-khrushchev-s-last-days-in-power.html?pagewanted=all</ref> Following his ousting, Khrushchev spent seven years under house arrest. He died at his home in Moscow on September 11, 1971.

Despite all, for the Soviet Union and indeed for the entire world communist movement, Nikita Khrushchev was the great catalyst of political and social change. In his seven years of power as first secretary and premier, he broke both the fact and the tradition of the with Stalin dictatorship and established a basis for liberalizing tendencies within Soviet communism. His experience with international realities confirmed him in his doctrine of peaceful co-existence with the noncommunist world – in itself , a drastic break with established Soviet communist teaching, was somewhat successful. He publicly recognized the limitations as well as the power of nuclear weapons, and his decision to negotiate with the United States for some form of nuclear-testing control was of vast importance. Despite his repression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956, his acceptance of “different roads to socialism” led to growing independence among European communist parties, but his Russian nationalism and his suspicion of Mao Zedong’s communism helped create an unexpectedly deep gap between China and the Soviet Union. By the time he was removed from office, he had set up guidelines for and limitations to Soviet policy that his successors were hard put to alter.

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