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History CIE IGCSE > How secure was the USSR's control over Eastern Europe 1948-89? > Flashcards

How secure was the USSR's control over Eastern Europe 1948-89? Flashcards

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1
Q

What was Cominform?

(Communist Information Bureau)

A
  • Set up in 1947 as organisation to co-ordinate communist governments in E. Europe
  • Ran meetings and sent out instructions to communist governments about what USSR wanted them to do
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2
Q

What was Comecon?

(Council for mutual economic assistance)

A
  • Set up in 1949 to co-ordinate industries and trade of E. European countries
  • Idea was that members of Comecon traded mostly with one another rather than with the west
  • Provided USSR with market to sell its goods
  • Set up bank for socialist countries in 1964

It favoured the USSR over all its other members

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3
Q

What happened to freedom during USSR control?

A
  • Countries that had always been democratic with free speech suddenly lost right to critisise the govt
  • Newspapers were censored
  • Non-communists put in prison for critisising the government
  • People forbidden to travel to Western Europe
  • Protests (such as East German ones in 1953) were crushed by security forces
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4
Q

What happened to wealth during USSR control?

A
  • Between 1945 and 1955 E. European economies recovered, but soon wages fell behind wages of other countries
  • People there were short of coal to heat their houses
  • Clothing and shoes very expensive
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5
Q

What happened to consumer goods during USSR control?

A
  • People couldn’t get goods such as radios, electric kettles or televisions which were becoming common in west
  • Economies of E. Europe geared towards helping USSR
  • Factories produced items like machinery or electric cables rather than what ordinary people wanted
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6
Q

Give 2 ways in which Krushchev appeared different to Stalin in 1955.

A
  1. He talked of peaceful co-existence with the West
  2. He closed down cominform and released thousands of political prisoners
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7
Q

Which event seems to demonstrate Krushchev as a more promising leader than Stalin?

A
  • In summer of 1956 large demonstrations broke out in Poland, as protestors demanded reforms and the appointment of Wladyslaw Gomulka (Polish wartime resistance leader)
  • There were violent clashes between protestors and police
  • Gomulka was not loyal ally Krushchev wanted bu he compromised and accepted but at same time moved soviet tanks and troops to border (shows he is only willing to compromise so far!)
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8
Q

Who was Matyas Rakosi and why was he resented?

A

Hardline communist Hungarian leader from 1949-56 - resented by the people as they didn’t like losing their freedom of speech and resented presence of thousands of soviet troops and officials in their country

Worst of all, they even had to pay for soviet forces to be in hungary!

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9
Q

What happened to Rakosi in Hungary in 1956?

A
  • In June 1956 group within communist party opposed Rakosi who appealed to krushchev for help
  • Moscow didn’t back him, and ordered him to retire for ‘health reasons’
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10
Q

Who was appointed as the new Hungarian leader after Rakosi?

A

Erno Gero, also hugely disliked by Hungarian people and discontent climaxed on 23rd of Oct when a statue of Stalin was pulled down in Budapest

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11
Q

Who was Imre Nagy and what was his initial impact?

A
  • USSR allowed new gov to be formed under well-respected Imre Nagy in 1956
  • In Oct USSR tanks and troops stationed there since ww2 began to withdraw
  • Local councils created to replace soviet power
  • Several Hungarian soldiers defected from army to rebel cause
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12
Q

Give 3 changes brought about by Nagy.

A

Nagy’s gov planned to:
* Hold free elections
* Wanted total withdrawl of soviet army from Hungary
* To leave Warsaw pact

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13
Q

How did the USSR respond to Nagy’s reforms?

A
  • At first Krushchev seemed to accept some reforms but could not accept Hungary leaving Warsaw pact
  • In Nov 1956 thousands of soviet tanks and troops moved into Budapest, and 2 weeks of fighting followed
  • About 3000 Hugarians and 1000 Russians were killed

Nagy was executed

Western powers protested USSR but sent no help- were pre-occupied with Suez Crisis

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14
Q

What were the outcomes of the Hungarian uprising?

A
  • Krushchev put Janos Kadar in place as leader who took several months to crush all resistance
  • Around 35,000 anti-communists were arrested and 300 executed
  • He introduced some reforms that were demanded but would not waver on central issue of Warsaw Pact
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15
Q

Who was Alexander Dubcek?

A
  • In 1967 Stalinist Czech leader was replaced by Alexander Dubcek
  • He proposed idea of ‘socialism with a human face’
  • Had learned lessons of Hungarian uprising and assured Breznev (new soviet leader) that he had no plans to pull out of Comecon or Warsaw pact
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16
Q

What was ‘socialism with a human face’?

A

Less censorship, more freedom of speech and reduction in activities of secret police

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17
Q

What happened in Czechoslovakia as censorship eased?

A
  • Opponents able to critisise failings of communist rule, expose corruption and ask q’s about events in country’s past
  • This period became known as ‘The Prague Spring’ because of all the new ideas emerging
  • There was even talk of allowing another party (The Socialist Democratic party) to rival the communist party
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18
Q

How did the USSR respond to all the change in Czechoslovakia?

A

USSR suspicious of changes taking place so through the summer they tried:
* To intimidate Czechs, Soviet, Polish and East german troops performed public training exercises on Czech border
* It thought about imposing economic sanctions but didn’t as it thought Czechs would ask for help from West
* In July 1968 USSR held conference with Czechs, and Dubcek agreed to not allow new Socialist Democratic Party but insisted on keeping most of his reforms - tensions seemed to ease

19
Q

What happened after the USSR and Czech summit conference?

A
  • On 20th Aug 1968 Soviet tanks moved into Czechslovakia much to the shock of the Czechs and the world
  • Little violent resistance
  • Dubcek removed from power
20
Q

What were the outcomes of the Prague Spring?

A
  • Unlike Nagy Dubcek was not executed but gradually downgraded
  • It became clear that reforming ideas were regarded as a threat to communist rule by all communist leaders
  • It gave rise to the Breznev Doctrine, where the essentials of communism were defined as:
    - a one-party system
    - to remain a member of Warsaw pact
21
Q

What was the problem in Berlin?

A
  • USSR wanted allies out of W.Berlin as it made communism look bad
  • USSR claimed they used W.Berlin as capitalist propaganda to undermine communism (which they did)
  • 1949-61: hundreds of thousands of defectors leave the east
  • They fled to the west as they disliked communism and the economic conditions
22
Q

Why was people leaving the East a problem for Krushchev?

A

Those defecting were often skilled workers or well qualified managers - communist gov could not afford to lose these people, and from Krushchevs point of view, thousands of fleeing communist rule for capitalism undermined communsim greatly - in 1961 150,000 defectors left

This was called the brain drain

23
Q

What was Krushchev’s initial solution to problem in Berlin?

A
  • In 1961 young and inexperienced Kennedy was elected to be US president
  • Krushchev thought he could bully Kennedy and insisted he withdraw US troops from Berlin
  • Kennedy refused
24
Q

What were the consequences of Krushchev and Kennedy’s initial dispute over Berlin?

A
  • At 2am on Sunday 13th Aug 1961, E. German soldiers erected barbed wire barrier along East frontier between E. and W. Berlin, ending free movement between them
  • All crossing points from East to West were sealed, except for one that came to be known as Checkpoint Charlie
  • Border guards were on constant look out and had orders to shoot people trying to defect- hundreds were killed over next 3 decades.

Families were divided, Berliners unable to go to work, chaos + confusion

25
Q

What were the outcomes of the Berlin wall?

A
  • Wall created major crisis as access to East had been garunteed to allies since 1945
  • In Oct. 1961 US diplomats and troops crossed border regularly to see how soviets would react
26
Q

What happened on the 27th of Oct?

A
  • Soviet tanks pulled up to checkpoint charlie and refused to allow any further access to East
  • All day, US and Soviet tanks, fully armed, faced each other in tense stand off
  • After 18h, one by one, tanks pulled back
  • After, Krushchev ordered Ulbricht to avoid any actions that would increase tension
  • Wall stayed and became symbol of division
27
Q

What happened during the 1970’s in Poland?

A

In late 1970’s Polish economy hit crisis and 1979 was worst year for Polish industry since communism was introduced

28
Q

What happened in Poland from July 1980 - January 1981?

A

July 1980 - Gov announced increase in price of meat
Aug. 1980 - Workers at Gdansk shipyard led by Lech Walesa put forward 21 demands to gov including free trade unions and right to strike - also started free trade union called Solidarity
30th Aug 1980 - Gov agreed to all 21 demands
Sept. 1980 - Solidarity’s membership grew to 3.5 mil
Oct. 1980 - Membersip was 7 mil + Solidarity recognised by gov
Jan 1981 - Membership reached peak at 9.4 mil - more than 1/3 of all workers in Poland

Poland already had T.U’s but were ineffective in challenging gov policy

29
Q

Give 3 reasons why Solidarity was sucessful initially and why gov gave in to them.

A
  1. Union was strongest in industries that were most important to gov - shipbuilding and heavy industry, so general strike in these would have devastated their economy
  2. In early stages union was not seen by its members as alternative to communist party - more than 1 mil members of communist party joined Solidarity
  3. Solidarity gained support in West that other uprisings hadn’t - scale of movement made USSR treat the crisis cautiously
30
Q

What happened in Febuary to Solidarity that changed the game?

A
  • In Feb 1981 civilian prime minister resigned and leader of army, General Jaruzelski, took over
  • Jaruzelski and Walesa negotiated to form gov but 9 months later when it broke down, USSR acted - they ordered Red Army to perform training on border and Jaruzelski put Walesa and almost 10,000 other Solid. leaders in prison, suspended Solid. and introduced martial law
31
Q

What was a reason for crushing Solidarity?

A

Solidarity was acting as political party - Gov declared it had secret tapes of Solid. meeting setting up new provisional government - without communist party

32
Q

Why was Solidarity so significant?

A
  • Highlighted failure of communist party to provide good living standards which undermined its claims to be system that helped ordinary people
  • Highlighted inefficiency and corruption
  • Showed that there were organisations capable of resisting comm. gov
  • Showed comm. govs could be threatened by ‘people power’

It also highlighted the nature of soviet control - only thing that kept communists in power was force or threat of it backed by USSR

33
Q

Who was Mikhail Gorbachev?

AKA Gorby

A

Became leader of USSR in 1985

34
Q

What were Gorbachev’s policies in E. Europe?

A

He had 2 messages in March when he called a meeting of Warsaw pact country leaders:
1. ‘We won’t intervene’ - he made it clear that the countries were responsible for their own fates
2. ‘You have to reform’ - they had to reform their own countries. He did not think communism was doomed, but believed the task was to renew it so that it matched capitalism in other areas of public life

35
Q

What were Gorby’s 2 key reforms?

A

Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring)

36
Q

What was Glasnost?

A

He called for open debate on gov policy and honesty in facing up to problems - was not detailed set of policies, but it did mean radical change.

37
Q

What was Perestroika?

A

In 1987 his perestroika programme allowed market forces to be intorduced into Soviet economy. For first time in 60 years, it was no longer illegal to buy and sell for profit.

38
Q

What were Gorby’s 2 other reforms?

A
  1. Reduce defense spending - nuclear arms race was enormous drain on Soviet economy when it was in trouble anyway. After almost 50 yrs on constant war footing, Red Army began to shrink
  2. Improve international relations - Gorbachev brought new attitude to USSR’s relations with wider world. He withdrew Soviet troops from afganistan, which had become a costly but unwinnable war
39
Q

What was the relationship between USA/Reagan and USSR/Gorby at this time?

A
  • Reagans policy towards USSR: get tough
  • Was clear by late 1980’s that USSR couldn’t compete with American military spending - helped Gorby push through military spending cuts
  • Reagan got on well with Gorby himself - as superpower relations improved, USSR felt less threatened by USA, meaning less need for USSR to control E. Europe
40
Q

What were the implications of Gorby’s reform for E.Europe?

A

As Gorby introduced reforms in USSR, demand rose for similar reforms in E.European states as well - most were sick of poor economic conditions and harsh restrictions that communism imposed. Gorby’s policies gave them hope for reform.

41
Q

What did Gorby do in July 1988?

A
  • In July 1988 he made speech to all Warsaw pact countries
  • He planned to withdraw large numbers of troops, tanks and aircrafts from E. Europe
42
Q

Give 2 examples of ‘People Power’ weakening communist control of E. Europe.

A
  1. In Nov 1989 East Germans march in thousands to checkpoints at Berlin wall. Guards throw down their weapons and join the crowds - Berlin wall is now dismantled.
  2. In Nov 1989 there are huge demonstrations in Czechoslovakia, so Czech government opened its borders with the west and allowed formation of other parties

It all started with Hungarians breaking barbed wire fence to non-communist Austria

43
Q

How did the reunification of Germany unfold?

A
  • With Berlin wall down, West German chancellor Helmut Kohl proposed speedy unification of Germany, and Germans in both countries enthusiastically embraced idea
  • Gorby was less enthusiastic, and expected united Germany would be friendlier to West than east
  • After many months of negotiations, Gorby accepted, and on 3rd Oct. 1990 Germany was reunited again
44
Q

Name the summits which helped towards the collapse of communism.

All of these (except named ones) were with Gorby and Reagan

A
  • Geneva 85’
  • Reykjavik 86’
  • INF 87’
  • Malta 89’ (Bush)
  • Washington 90’ (Bush)

History CIE IGCSE (8 decks)

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