Chapter 2 - Developing Tensions up to 1948 Flashcards
What had Stalin achieved by 1948?
- 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
Which Eastern European countries were pro-Soviet and Communist?
- Poland
- Hungary
- Bulgaria
- Romania
- Albania
- Czechoslovakia
How did Stalin handle elections in Poland?
- 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
Who lead the Peasant Party in Poland?
- Stanislaw Mikolajczyk
How did communists deal with the Polish Peasant Party?
- Communists strengthened their own links with the Polish socialists
- January 1947 = Communists and Socialists merged = Communists became the dominating group within this merge
What happened to Gomulka?
- 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)
Why was opposition to Stalin minimal in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary?
- Romania = Communists popular as they offered alternative to pre-war regime
- Red Army occupied Romania
How did Communists deal with elections in Bulgaria?
- Gradualism
- Manipulated elections
- Forced removal of opponents
How did the Communists deal with Petkov?
- 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
What tactics were used to ensure Communist control in Hungary?
- Allying with other political groups to challenge power of their greatest opponent (Smallholders Party)
- Political opponents arrested
- Elections manipulated and rigged by communists
How was a lack of Communist support in Hungary dealt with?
- 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
Why were communists popular in Czechoslovakia?
- Czech Communists had given rural peasants land at end of war = popular
How did Communist power increase in Czechoslovakia?
- 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
Edvard Beneš
- Czechoslovakia President
- Highly respected
- Agreed to support communist-dominated government
- Resigned in June 1948
How did Soviet influence over Yugoslavia change?
- 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