The Soviet Take over of Eastern Europe

Like a plague overlooked by incompetent doctors, the new political order, called communism, spread...  With the power of guns, few communists and mutual agreement of the Allies, Communist Russia became the new ruler over the country. What followed was the systematic destruction of democracy, by terror, murder, corruption, lies and propaganda. People died, were arrested, deported.  The luckiest ones fled the country.  The rest of them entered a dark era. Amateur writer Camelia Krausmann, The Communist Takeover of Central and Eastern Europe after 1945 on Helium.com.

Fact! During 1946–47, Stalin made sure that Communist governments came to power in all the countries of eastern Europe (the countries which Russia had conquered in 1945 ) Europe was now divided into two Blocs ( Groups of countries tied together by military alliance and/or ideologies)

Eastern and Western Blocs

Why did Stalin want to unite all the Eastern Bloc with the USSR

Why did Stalin want to unite all the western Bloc with the USSR Stalin wanted to Create “spheres of influence” in eastern and central Europe. To protect the USSR from invasion. He believed that Communism was the greatest system of government and economics and wanted to spread it acros the world.

How did Stalin gain control of Eastern Europe?

How did Stalin gain control of Eastern Europe? Left troops in the countries after WW1 Arrested opposition Rigged Elections

Activity: Create a Spider gram on how Stalin assumed control. Hungary Bulgaria Poland How did Stalin gain control of Eastern Europe Czechoslovakia Romania

Poland 1945: a coalition 'Government of National Unity' took power;1945: Stalin arrested the non-Communist leaders;1945-7: thousands of non-Communists were imprisoned;1947: the Communist leader, Bierut (trained in the USSR), won an election and became head of state.

Bulgaria 1945: a left-wing coalition ('the Fatherland Front') was elected; 1946: the Communists executed 15000 opponents;Tsar Simeon was driven into exile;1947: the Communists won the election and adopted a Soviet-style government led by Dimitrov (trained in the USSR).

Hungary 1945: a coalition government took power - few Communists were elected ;Rakosi (the Communists' leader) got opposition parties banned; Rakosi got control of the police and set up the AVO;Thousands of non-Communists were arrested;By 1947 Rakosi had power.

Romania 1945: King Michael came back from exile and a left-wing coalition (the 'Plowman's Front') was elected; 1946: there was a campaign of violence against the non- Communist parties; the Communists won the 1946 elections and forced King Michael to abdicate.

Czechoslovakia 1945: a coalition government;the Communists (led by Gottwald) took over the radio, police and army; 1947: secret police arrested non-Communists; 1948: Gottwald organised demonstrations demanding Communism.Masaryk 'fell' from a window and Gottwald took over

How do you think the USA reacted to USSR expansion?

How do you think the USA reacted to USSR expansion? Compared the land grab of Soviets to Nazi’S At first they were uncertain whether to build bridges with the USSR or take a tougher stance in dealing with the Soviets.

The Two events that shaped USA’s Position with the Soviets George Kennan’s long telegram Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech

George Kennan’s long telegram Kennan was a US diplomat in Moscow and expert of Soviet AffairsThe Russians are determined to destroy the American way of life and will do everything they could to oppose America. This is the greatest threat the US has ever faced. The Soviets can be beaten. The Soviets must be stopped. This can be done without going to war. The way to do it is by educating the public against Communism, and by making people wealthy, happy and free.

Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech Prime Minister of England Highlighted the extent of Russian control in Eastern Europe and the threat the to the rest of Europe. Lead to the development of containment ( Stopping the spread of communism in democratic countries)

Containment Explained Believed that USSR was trying to take over the world, but they weren’t in any hurry and could be stopped at any one point of pressure Containment had two parts “The Marshal Plan and The Marshall Aid Program” Truman Doctrine- A commitment to help any country threated by communist aggression Marshall Aid- An aid program designed to stabilize the economies of Europe and prevent the growth of communism in European democracies (13.3 Billion in loans were given by US to European countries )

What do you believe Stalin’s response would be to containment? Worried that the Marshal Aid would require recipients to being their economic principals in line with USA Established COMIFORM COMIFORM- Communist Information Bureau, Their goals was to ensure all communists parties of eastern Europe followed the Soviet model of communism

How did the future of Germany play a part in the cold war? USA refused to give a loan to USSR to rebuild their zone in Germany USA , England, and France merged their Zones into one called Bizonia USA made Marshal Aid available to Bizonia USA created a new currency that was supposed to be for all zones of Germany

If you were Stalin would you be suspicious of the US’s policy to Germany?

If you were Stalin would you be suspicious of the US’s policy to Germany? Yes : Stalin refused to allow the new currency created by the US to be introduced into Eastern Germany In response to Marshal Aid the Soviets inspected all packages headed into western zones of Germany. Stalin Blocked west berlin ; he blocked all traffic moving west to east. He also turned off all gas and electrical supplies in an effort to remove all other occupation from Berlin.

Berlin Blockade Berlin, in Russia's zone, was also split into 4 zones.   But Berlin was entirely within - and surrounded by - the Russian zone.

Berlin Blockade The blockade lasted 318 days (11 months). 275,000 flights carried in 1½ million tons of supplies.  A plane landed every 3 mins.

Results of Berlin Blockade CENA C-Cold War got worse / almost started an all-out war.   E-East and West Germany/ Germany split up.  N- NATO and the Warsaw Pact / North Atlantic Treaty Organization) as a defensive alliance against Russia. NATO countries surrounded Russia; in 1955, the Soviet Union set up the Warsaw Pact – an alliance of Communist states.   A- Arms Race / After Berlin, the USA and the USSR realized that they were in a competition for world domination.   They began to build up their armies and weapons.