Soviet Expansion

Question 1

How did communism spread throughout Eastern Europe?

Answer 1

• the Red army already occupied the land they had taken from the Nazis, including Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia
• communism was popular in Eastern Europe after the horrors of Nazi occupation
• the soviets made it very difficult for non-communists to gain power in these countries by rigging elections and arresting and executing opponents

Question 2

What was the Long Telegram?

Answer 2

As tensions grew, the US embassy in Moscow sent reports back to the USA

On 22 February 1946, the Long Telegram was sent, which said that:
- it was believed that the Soviets wanted to spread the USSR’s influence as widely as possible
- the USSR saw the USA as its enemy
- any attempt at cooperation between the two would fail

Question 3

What was Churchill’s ‘iron curtain’ speech?

Answer 3

Churchill made a speech while visiting America that said that:
- the USSR was attempting to spread its influence across the rest of Europe and increase its power
- an invisible line had split Europe in two, between the east and the west. He called it the iron curtain.