Chapter 2 - Developing Tensions up to 1948 Flashcards
1
Q
What had Stalin achieved by 1948?
A
- Establishment of a defence zone / buffer zone to West of USSR, based on satellite states
- This would reinforce defence capability of USSR against possible future threat from the West
- USSR had succeeded in establishing pro-Soviet, communist regimes across Eastern Europe
2
Q
Which Eastern European countries were pro-Soviet and Communist?
A
- Poland
- Hungary
- Bulgaria
- Romania
- Albania
- Czechoslovakia
3
Q
How did Stalin handle elections in Poland?
A
- DIdn’t simply impose a pro-Soviet communist regime on Poland
- Appeared to allow free, multi-party elections
- BUT had clear intent to ensure the result he wanted would emerge
- Used the pro-Stalin Lublin Government as his instrument of political control
4
Q
Who lead the Peasant Party in Poland?
A
- Stanislaw Mikolajczyk
5
Q
How did communists deal with the Polish Peasant Party?
A
- Communists strengthened their own links with the Polish socialists
- January 1947 = Communists and Socialists merged = Communists became the dominating group within this merge
6
Q
What happened to Gomulka?
A
- Wladyslaw Gomulka = Polish Deputy Prime Minister
- Was not fully pro-Moscow
- He declared that because Poles had fought for their own liberation, they should have the right to determine their own future
- G opposed Soviet policies (believed them irrelevant to Poland)
- 1948 = accused of ‘nationalist deviation’
- 1948 = replaced by Boleslaw Bierut (compliant pro-Stalinist)
7
Q
Why was opposition to Stalin minimal in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary?
A
- Romania = Communists popular as they offered alternative to pre-war regime
- Red Army occupied Romania
8
Q
How did Communists deal with elections in Bulgaria?
A
- Gradualism
- Manipulated elections
- Forced removal of opponents
9
Q
How did the Communists deal with Petkov?
A
- Agrarian = strongest political opponent of communists (lead by Petkov)
- Agrarian party won over 20% popular vote in October elections
- BUT Petkov accused of false charges = executed
- Agrarian party was forcibly absorbed into Bulgarian communist movement
- April 1947 = all other political parties had been banned
10
Q
What tactics were used to ensure Communist control in Hungary?
A
- Allying with other political groups to challenge power of their greatest opponent (Smallholders Party)
- Political opponents arrested
- Elections manipulated and rigged by communists
11
Q
How was a lack of Communist support in Hungary dealt with?
A
- Hungarian communists didn’t display the loyalty Stalin wanted
- They formed close links to Yugoslavia (which had a non-Soviet regime)
- 1949 = Rajk (Communist leader) executed for ‘anti-Soviet’ activities
- 1949 = all political opposition to Moscow-backed Hungarian communists had disappeared
12
Q
Why were communists popular in Czechoslovakia?
A
- Czech Communists had given rural peasants land at end of war = popular
13
Q
How did Communist power increase in Czechoslovakia?
A
- Members from rival non-communist groups resigned in 1948 = Communists could create an alternative right-wing group
- Result = Edvard Beneš (respected President) agreed to support communist-dominated government
- When Beneš resigned (June 1948) = pro-Moscow Communists left in complete control
14
Q
Edvard Beneš
A
- Czechoslovakia President
- Highly respected
- Agreed to support communist-dominated government
- Resigned in June 1948
15
Q
How did Soviet influence over Yugoslavia change?
A
- Leader = Marshal Josip Broz Tito (committed Stalinist)
- Communist movement in Yugoslavia firmly in place when war ended
- By 1948 = Soviet influence over Y limited
- Stalin determined to keen to impose Soviet influence over economic and foreign policies of Southern and Eastern European states
- These states had to conform to Stalin’s interests
- Yugoslavia refused to be Soviet puppets
16
Q
What did Soviets do in response to Yugoslavia’s disloyalty?
A
- June 1948 = Yugoslavia expelled from Cominform
- Y’s leaders accused of abandoning Marxist-Leninism = no longer conformed to acceptable political position
17
Q
How did the USA exploit Yugoslavia’s position?
A
- Yugoslavia only able to survive because of USA’s offering of economic aid
- Any state the USSR opposed was seen by USA as a friend
18
Q
What was the ‘Long Telegram’?
A
- 22nd February 1946
- Sent by George Kennan (2nd ranking officer)
- Sent from US embassy in Moscow to US State Department in Washington
- Fundamental in shaping of US policy towards Soviet Union and determining USA’s role as a global power
19
Q
What did the ‘Long Telegram’ state?
A
- Emphasised that the USSR saw West as hostile and menacing
- Kennan drew conclusions on the direction of US foreign policy
- Argued that USA must be prepared to threaten use of force to ensure unity amongst its allies
- Urged USA to adopt proactive role, particularly in Europe
- Referred to urgency for action by USA
20
Q
What did the ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech state?
A
- 6 March 1946
- Iron Curtain has formed across Europe
- All states in Soviet sphere are subject to Soviet influence and high amounts of control from Moscow
- USSR want the possibility of war (but not war itself)
- USSR was to indefinitely expand their power
21
Q
What was Stalin’s response to the ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech?
A
- Stalin delivered response 10 days later:
- Presented Soviet Union as peacefully seeking Eastern European allies to reinforce its own security
- USSR was using traditional Soviet explanation for its policies towards Eastern Europe
- Oct 1946 USSR analysis of international relations = further justification for Soviet policy in Eastern Europe
- Foreign Minister Molotov accused USA of being an imperialistic power, and to have abandoned Declaration on Liberated Europe (agreed at Yalta)
22
Q
How did the Greek Civil War change US foreign policy?
A
- Stalin had agreed Greece should remain within Western sphere of influence following war
- When Greece liberated from Nazi occupation, civil war broke out between monarchists and Greek communists
- Britain had been providing aid to anti-communist forces in Greece
- Feb 1947 = Britain announced this aid no longer available and appealed to USA to take on the financial burden
23
Q
What was the impact of the Truman Doctrine?
A
- 1947
- Held fundamental importance in terms of international relations
- Institutionalised suspicion between the sides as the basis of East-West relations for at least the next 25 years
- First step in Containment as basis of US post-war foreign policy (next step = Marshall Plan)
24
Q
What were the possible motives for the Truman Doctrine?
A
- Blunt piece of diplomacy to keep Soviets from aiding Greek Communists, had no relevance to US policy beyond Greek Civil War
- Designed to protect democracy, w/ no aggressive intent to any other state. Response to Soviet aggressive political, strategic and ideological expansionism in Eastern Europe
- Means of Truman demonising Soviets to US public to justify his aims of turning USA into a global power
- Wanted to provoke USSR = wanted Cold War as wanted to justify USA’s role as defender of freedom and enable USA to function as a world power
- Make other states militarily and economically dependant on USA = trade relations and political allies
25
Q
Why did Stalin establish Cominform?
A
- September 1947
- Determined to respond to US economic imperialism and reconstruction of Germany through Marshall Plan
- Late 1947 = convinced USA not interested in international relations that was based on multiple spheres of influence, coexisting
- Previously believed Capitalist states would collapse, but was now certain USA were engineering anti-Soviet, US-led global alliance
- Wanted to undermine US strategy
26
Q
What happened during the first Cominform meeting in Poland?
A
- Communist representatives from across Europe summoned
- In preparation for creation of Communist Information Bureau
- Andrei Zhdanov (author of Zhdanov Doctrine) spoke at this meeting
- Z convinced USA wanted to establish anti-Soviet empire based on economic dependancy upon USA for states who entered US sphere of influence
27
Q
What was the purpose of Cominform?
A
- To unite and coordinate the role and actions of Communist groups throughout Europe
- This was in order that Communist Party functioned as a united whole under the direction of Moscow
