The Soviet Union and Eastern and Southern Europe, 1945-48

Question 1

March 1946

Answer 1

Churchill delivers his ‘Iron Curtain’ speech

Question 2

Feb 1946

Answer 2

Kennan’s ‘Long Telegram’ is sent

Question 3

June 1946

Answer 3

Communist-led Democratic Bloc wins the Polish elections

Question 4

Oct 1946

Answer 4

Communists win 75% of the popular vote in Bulgaria

Question 5

Nov 1946

Answer 5

Communists win 80% of the votes in Romania

Question 6

Mar 1947

Answer 6

President Truman announces his Doctrine

Question 7

Sept 1947

Answer 7

Cominform is created

Question 8

June 1948

Answer 8

Communists control Czechoslovakia

Question 9

what did the percentages agreement and the Yalta Conference confirm to Stalin?

Answer 9

the Eastern Europe and the states that the USSR had liberated from Nazi occupation would fall within a Soviet sphere of influence

Question 10

what evidence was there of Stalin’s intentions of expansion in 1945?

Answer 10

there wasn’t clear evidence that Stalin was intent upon the creation of a communist bloc in Eastern Europe

Question 11

what was Stalin’s initial focus instead of ideological expansion?

Answer 11

influence

Question 12

what were Stalin’s actions in Eastern Europe motivated by?

Answer 12

a determination to do whatever was necessary to safeguard Soviet international interests and Soviet territory

Question 13

what did Stalin complete by 1948?

Answer 13

a defence, buffer zone to the west of the USSR based on satellite states

Question 14

which countries had pro-Soviet communist regimes in place?

Answer 14

Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania and Czechoslovakia

Question 15

what would this buffer zone of allies do?

Answer 15

reinforce the defensive capability of the USSR against any possible future threat from the West

Question 16

what was a common way of imposing communist regimes on Eastern European states?

Answer 16

for communists to form alliances with other left-wing parties and then taken control of them

Question 17

what often happened to opposition candidates?

Answer 17

they were intimidated, and election results were manipulated to ensure a communist victory

Question 18

what were key components for rising communist parties in the Eastern states?

Answer 18

predominantly in anti-fascist wartime resistance and emerged as committed patriots

Question 19

how did the Communist party emerge in Czechoslovakia?

Answer 19

the Communist Party emerged as the largest single party and won 38% of the vote in the relatively free elections held in May 1946

Question 20

why did WW2 lead to a rise in communism in Eastern Europe?

Answer 20

the war had left these states with mass unemployment and economic chaos. For many workers in these states, communism offered a much better prospect than capitalism and the dominance of the economic elite associated with it

Question 21

How did many perceive communists?

Answer 21

as freedom fighters due to their struggle against Nazism

Question 22

what did Communism promise?

Answer 22

employment and social mobility

Question 23

which political party did the rural peasants look to?

Answer 23

the pro-agrarian parties - to deliver redistribution and to be responsive to the particular needs of the very large numbers of rural peasants

Question 24

in what way did Stalin believe was the only was for the communist ideology to be fulfilled?

Answer 24

if the USSR was powerful and Stalin was all-powerful

Question 25

what was a prerequisite to the communist Eastern European states’ survival?

Answer 25

loyalty to Moscow

Question 26

what wasn’t a high priority for Stalin?

Answer 26

the purity of communist ideology operating in Eastern European states

Question 27

what did the leaders of these states have to function as?

Answer 27

Stalinist puppets