Soviet Control over Eastern Europe

Question 1

Timeline of USSR leaders

Answer 1

Stalin: 1924-53
Khrushchev: 1953-64
Brezhnev: 1964-82
.
.
Gorbachev: 1985-91

Question 2

Cominform

Answer 2

•Communist Information Bureau
• set up in 1947
• co-ordinated governments in E. Europe

Question 3

Comecon

Answer 3

• Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
• set up in 1949
• members of Comecon were to trade w/ each other, not the west
• favoured USSR; provided cheap market to buy goods; expensive market to sell goods

Question 4

De-Stalinisation

Answer 4

• “secret speech” in 1956 - denounced Stalin as enemy of the people
• shut down Cominform
• released thousands of political prisoners
• pulled Red Army out of Austria
• dismissed Molotov (Stalin’s Foreign Minister)
• allowed much greater independence for Eastern Europe

• didn’t change idea of buffer zone against west
• created Warsaw pact in 1955

Question 5

Poznan uprising, 1956

Answer 5

• demonstrators attack police over increased food prices in Summer 1956
• 53 workers killed by Polish army in Poznan
• Polish government had no control - Khrushchev moved troops to Polish border
• Gomulka took charge in October
• Gomulka wasn’t totally loyal to USSR - was a nationalist
• agreed communists would stop persecuting Catholic Church

Question 6

Hungarian uprising, 1956

Answer 6

• June 1956 - Rakosi forced out of office by opponents backed by Khrushchev
• Imre Nagy was allowed to form new government
• radical changes: free elections, private ownership; withdrawal of Red Army; Hungary to leave Warsaw Pact
• November 1956 - Soviets invade (1,000 tanks) and kill 3,000 Hungarians, with 200,000 fleeing to Austria
• west was preoccupied with Suez Crisis in Middle East
• Nagy executed

Question 7

Causes of the Prague Spring, 1968

Answer 7

CAUSED BY:
• Czechoslovak economy was in decline —> poor standard of living
• USSR stripping Czechoslovakia of raw materials —> inhibiting it’s growth
• 1967 - Dubcek comes into office and proposes “socialism with a human face”
• less censorship; more freedom of speech; reduction of secret police

Question 8

What happened in the Prague Spring, 1968

Answer 8

WHAT HAPPENED:
• people starting attacking communist leaders who had let them down
• 4 months of freedom of speech
• governments were being grilled on TV
• talks of Social Democratic Party being set up
SOVIET RESPONSE:
• Brezhnev was pressured to restrain reform
• tried arguing he reforms
• couldn’t sanction hen out of fear of the west
• July - Dubcek agreed not to allow SDP but wanted most of reforms
• August - countries of Warsaw Pact demanded political stability
• August - tanks move in with little resistance
• Dubcek removed from power

Question 9

Consequences of the Prague Spring, 1968

Answer 9

CZECHOSLOVAKIA:
• demonstrations until April 1969
• Czech Communist Party purged
• Dubcek sent to be ambassador to Turkey
USSR:
• gave rise to Brezhnev Doctrine
• redefined Communism as a one-party system and that member countries must stay in Warsaw Pact
WARSAW PACT:
• some countries moved away from Moscow
• Romania refused to send troops to Czechoslovakia
• Albania left Warsaw Pact in 1968
COLD WAR:
• worsened relations between East/West
• west protested USSR action
• détente continued
• increased rivalry between China + USSR

Question 10

Discontent in Eastern Europe (Berlin Wall, 1961)

Answer 10

• 1949-61: 4 million East Germans fled to to the west
• East German leader was hardline communist Walter Ulbricht
• Jan. 1961: 20,000 left for West per month
• Berlin was a gap in Iron Curtain

Question 11

Growing tension building up to Berlin Wall, 1961

Answer 11

1955: W. Germany joins NATO
1959: summit conference between Eisenhower and Khrushchev - regarded success
1960: U2 plane shot down, Eisenhower doesn’t apologise —> relations grow cold
1961: Vienna Summit - Khrushchev demands western forces leave Berlin, Kennedy refuses
July 1961: Kennedy increase defence spending by $3.5 bn
July 1961: Khrushchev increased defence spending by 30%

Question 12

What happened? (Berlin Wall)

Answer 12

13 August 1961: wall is built
• 50km barrier sealed Al crossing points apart from checkpoint Charlie
• took west by surprise but they didn’t interfere to prevent war

Question 13

Results of Berlin Wall, 1961

Answer 13

• Khrushchev considered it a success
• US complained but didn’t want war
• tension grew - both sides started nuclear testing
• Wall became western symbol of anti communism

Question 14

Solidarity, 1980-81

Answer 14

July 1980: price of meat increases
August 1980: Walesa leads workers with 21 demands - free unions; strikes; freedom of speech; Catholicism.
30 August 1980: Government agrees to all 21 demands
September 1980: membership grew to 3.5 million
October 1980: membership is 7 million, recognised by government
January 1981: peaks at 9.4 million

December 1981: martial law imposed under General Jaruzelski; walesa goes to jail

June 1989: Solidarity wins election - Walesa is first non Communist leader of Eastern European country since 1945

Question 15

Problems in USSR when Gorbachev came to power in 1985

Answer 15

SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROBLEMS:
• poor quality goods
• poor standards of living
• alcoholism
• lack of freedom for enterprises
MILITARY PROBLEMS:
• war in Afghanistan cost too much
• costly arms race
POLITICAL PROBLEMS:
• corrupt government
• cynicism of communist government
• cost of maintaining regime in E. Europe

Question 16

Why was the USSR bankrupt when Gorbachev came to power?

Answer 16

• spending too much on arms race
• spending lots of Afghan war and wasn’t making much progress
• didn’t reward hard work so goods were often shoddy and inefficient

Question 17

Perestroika and Glasnost

Answer 17

Perestroika = permission of buying and selling for profit on an open market

Glasnost = reform/openness - debates on policies, was a major shift in attitude

Both were close to capitalism

Question 18

Gorbachev’s attitude on Eastern Europe, Defence Spending and International Relations

Answer 18

EASTERN EUROPE:
• made it clear that each country was to be responsible for themselves
• wanted Europe to match capitalist quality of life
• wanted reform in all countries
DEFENCE SPENDING:
• began cutting spending on defence
• Red Army shrunk
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:
• removed troops from Afghanistan in 1989
• wanted USSR to use trust and co-operation in future relations

Question 19

Gorbachev’s loosening of control over Eastern Europe

Answer 19

• didn’t use force to keep Eastern Europe under control
• Red Army was unwilling to act due to low morale and low pay
• demand for reforms in Eastern Europe rose, with the people being sick of the poor conditions and restrictions

• July 1988 - made speech to Warsaw Pact countries, planning to withdraw troops from Europe
• Hungary was eager for this, which Gorbachev accepted
• March 1989 - made clear Red Army wouldn’t intervene to prop up Communist regimes in Europe

Question 20

Reagan’s military build up

Answer 20

• 1981 - announced 53% increase in military spending for next five years to $180 bn —> greatest ever military build up in peacetime
• example of projects includes Strategic Defence Initiative (missile shields) and ‘star wars’
• made Cold War tensions worse by destabilising MAD —> war became more likely
• Soviets couldn’t compete with US —> grew tensions

Question 21

Reagan’s support with other countries, support for anti-communists and his speeches

Answer 21

• allies with Thatcher (“Iron Lady”); was allowed to set up missile bases in Britain
• France and Germany gave support to Reagan’s aggressions gainer the USSR

• Reagan sent troops financial/military assistance to anti-communist resistance movements and governments around the world
• supported Contras in Nicaragua from 1981
• sent troops to Granada
• put more pressure on USSR to spend more on communism around the world

• 1981 - communism is “the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat”
• 1982 - predicted communism would end up in “ash-heap of history”
• 1983 - called USSR an “evil empire”

Question 22

Timeline of key changes in USSR

Answer 22

1985 - Gorbachev comes to power
1987 - Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed
1988 - Gorbachev rejects Brezhnev Doctrine
1989 - Gorbachev accepted members of Warsaw Pact could change their own countries without interference (Sinatra Doctrine)
1989 - free elections in Poland won by Walesa and Solidarity (first non communist president of Poland)
November 1989 - fall of the Berlin Wall
1991 - START 1 (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks) signed
1991 - Gorbachev removed from power and Soviet Union is dissolved

Question 23

“People Power”

Answer 23

• Communist control was toppled due to ordinary people taking control

• Example: unification of Germany in 1990