how secure was the USSR's control over europe? Flashcards
Hungary 1956
aims: overthrow rakosi; hold free elections; leave warsaw pact; become neutral in cold war
attitude towards communism: didn’t like losing their freedom of speach; didn’t like presence of red army
attitude towards communism: did not like red army, russian shops and street signs; had to pay for army presence
attitude towards democracy: wanted to become democratic
attitude to the west: wanted eisenhower to support hungary with armed troops
why soviets intervened- tried to leave warsaw pact- domino effect
how they intervened: soviet troops and tanks marched into budapest
how the responded: resisted for two weeks
outcome: 3000 - 30,000 people died
- kadar was put in place as leader
- introduced some of the reforms hungarian people demanded
rakosi- kicked out
gero- unpopular
nagy- unsuccessful
kadar- crushes resistance
czechoslovakia 1968
leaders:
1Novotny
2DUbcek
3svodobo
aims: more freedom of speech; less censorship, 2 parties: ‘social democratic party’
attitude towards communism: didn’t like loss of freedom of speech; censorship; secret police; politicians grilled on TV
attitude towards democracy: possibly have two parties; though dubcek is communist
attitude to USSR- not negative
attitude to west- no problem
why soviets intervened- believed the ideas would spread; brezhnev put under pressure
how they intervened- tanks
how the czechs responded- little resistance
outcome- dubcek thrown out of communist party
- created brezhnev doctrine
how similar were the events in hungary and czechoslovakia
aims- hungary wanted to leave warsaw pact. czechs didn’t. both wanted freedom of speech. hungary didn’t want 2 parties
attitude towards:
communism: hungary wanted to get rid of it. czechs wanted to improve it
democracy: Czechs seem to be more democratic but dubcek is communist. Hungary only want one party
USSR: czechs aren’t negative. hungary doesn’t like red army presence, russian shops and street signs
west: hungary want help. czechs don’t want to leave warsaw pact. hungary do.
why soviets intervened: fear that here would be a knock on effect
how they intervened: tanks entered in czechoslovakia; troops sent in in hungary
how each state responded: hungary more resistance- czechs don’t resist
outcome: - nagy executed
- dubcek thrown out of communist party
causes of hungarian uprising
repression: secret police- 2,000 hungarians executed. 100,000 imprisoned
religion banned under communists
lack of freedom of speech
censorship
economic factors: most industrial goods and food sent back to russia
hungary very poor needs rebuilding; soviets not doing that
standard of living dropped
political discontent- group of w/c hungarians won 57% of the vote yet not in govt. communists in govt with only 17%
krushchev gave hope
berlin wall
- 1961 barbed wire fence constructed
- crossing points sealed or guarded
- barbed wire replace by 100 mile stone wall around the border of west berlin
- commuters no longer allowed to travel from east to west berlin
- allowed to cross but only with a permit; harder to get a permit if you lived in east berlin
- 10,000 border guards, 116 watch towers
why was the berlin wall built?
- western governments used berlin as headquarters for spying activities
- relations with the USA steadily declining sins U2 crisis
- JFK tougher line with communism; both sides increase defence spending
- both fail to agree anything at vienna summit 1961
- german people could freely move from east germany to west berlin
- existence of west berlin frustrated soviet leaders
- much more prosperous than east germany
- advert for western europe and the marshall plan
Solidarity
- poland forced to raise price of goods while still imposing a limit on any rise in wages
- economic crisis
- extreme poverty
- august 1980- workers at lenin shipyard in Gdansk went on strike
- complained about price rises
- led by lech walesa
- strike lasted a week
demands:
- acceptance of free trade unions independent of the communist party.
- a guarantee of the right to strike and of the security of those striking
- an increase in the base pay of each worker as compensation for the price rises
- decrease in the waiting periods for apartments
- day of rest on saturday
- they had a committee, spokespeople and a newspaper which was printed on the shipyard printing press, this enabled them to spread their message
- their demands were national issues which affected the most important industries in the country
- they were never violent
- 10 million people joined from all aspects of life; 80% were polish workers
why did solidarity fail?
- did not stop food shortages or rationing
- standard of living got worse
- ended up being disorganised
- they were accused of holding a meeting in which they were planning to set up a government without the communists
what did solidarity achieve?
- highlighted the failure of the communist party to provide good living standards
- showed corruption
- there were organisations capable of resisting communism
- communists governments could be threatened by people power
gorbachev
- wanted to reform glasnot: - more freedom for the media - allowed news to be transmitted of government corruption and criticism of government officials - freedom of expression - revealed communism's brutal past
perestroika:
- encouraging private ownership
- reducing state control over imports and exports
- allowing trade with non european countries
- allowing foreign investment in russian businesses
- an increase in production of consumer goods
collapse of communism and the soviet union
eastern europe- 1989 brezhnev doctrine abandoned and the red army would pull out
- june 4th- free elections held for the first time in eastern europe since ww2 in poland; solidarity won despite communist attempts to rig the vote
- august 24th 1989- communist rule came to an end in poland when solidarity’s mazowiecki became prime minister
- september 10th 1989- hungarian opens its borders with austria. east germans holidaying in hungary flee towest germany through austria
- border restrictions lifted november 9th 1989; honnecker resigned on october 18th
- berlin wall torn down november 9th 89
- velvet revolution in czechoslovakia november 27th. truble free. communist party collpased.
- romania- nicolae ceausescu refused to leave power. civil war. him and his wife are executed on christmas day
- lithuania anounced its independence on march 11th 1990 but soviet troops sent in (one rule for eastern europe; one for soviet union)
soviet unrest and reform:
- 1985- gorbachev new leader of ussr
- april 1986- chernobyl- showed internal problems in the USSR
- gorbachev introduced glasnot and perestroika . weaken control of communist party
- august 1991- hard line communist politicians and army officers tried sieze power in a coup. this failed
- USSR ceased to exist on December 21st 1991
- gorbachev resigned as leader december 25th; cold war is over
good relations:
- good relations end with soviet invasion of afghanistan 1979. ronald reagan becomes president 1981. passionate anti communist
- USA boycotts 1980 moscow olympics. USSR boycotts 1984 LA olympics
- reagan and gorbachev meet for the first time at the geneva convention 1985. do not agree on anything but theyare taliking again
- they meet again in reykjavik october 1986. relationship improving
military:
- reagan announced star wars. futuristic missile defence. USSR considered a nuclear attack on the USA if the plans ever developed. they didn’t
- concern over reagan’s star wars plans leads to cancelling of strategic arms reduction talks (START) between USSR and usa 1983
- 1983- reagan sends missiles to us bases in britain and west germany. counters soviet ss20 missile.
- reagan doubles us defence spending to $370 billion by 1986. USSR cannoy keep up with the spending or development of technology.
- 1987- reagan and gorbachev sign intermediate niclear forces treaty. committed to reducing their stocks of nuclear weapons.
