How Did The Cold War Affect East Europe
INTRODUCTION
In 1945, post-World War II, Eastern Europe was somewhat divided into two sets of states; Germany and its former allies (including Romania and Hungary), and countries who had fallen victim to the Nazi regime (including Poland and Czechoslovakia). The continent of Europe itself was left in a ravaged and desolate state after the war, leaving its economies in disrepair; most notably in the East. Due to the dire social and economic situations in these eastern countries, there was a growing, yet substantial desire for political change throughout the populous of this region. The location of these states, primarily situated near the border of the communist empire of the Soviet Union, would come to play a critical role in the political and social developments in Eastern Europe for decades to come.
POST-WWII EUROPE
In February 1945, the Yalta Conference was held in the Russian town of Crimea. Despite the fact that Germany had not yet lost the war, the …show more content…
Allied leaders (U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Leader Josef Stalin) discussed Europe and Germany’s post-war future. It was agreed that France should also have a role in the governing of Germany’s future, and that Germany should accept responsibility for war reparations (However, the Allies were careful not to implement as harsh a penalty as the Treaty of Versailles, which, in hindsight, had stunted Germany’s economic recovery and led to the rise of fascism). The Soviet Union also agreed to allow free democratic elections to take place in countries liberated from Nazi Germany, whilst Churchill agreed to allow the existence of a sphere of Soviet influence over Eastern Europe.
That July, after Germany’s capitulation in May, the Allied leaders met again, this time in the German town of Potsdam, to discuss and finalise the post-war borders of European countries; mainly, Germany. It was decided that Germany was to be split into four separate zones of occupancy; each to be controlled by one of the Allies (United States, France, United Kingdom, Soviet Union), with Berlin, the capital and administrative centre, being divided into four further zones of occupancy. All four zones of occupancy were to be fully demilitarised and German arms manufacturing was forbidden. Whilst the West was mainly concerned with the rebuilding of capitalist structures in Western Europe, the Soviet Union turned its attention to the strategic control of Eastern Europe by way of implementing communism into these struggling states.
USSR + THE GROWTH OF COMMUNISM
After the defeat of the fascist regimes of Germany and Italy in the war, the far-right suffered heavily. Fascist parties in post-war Europe were now either severely weakened or eliminated outright. Between the two World Wars, many of the eastern European countries had experimented with democracy, with varying degrees of success and failure. Communism, fascism’s polar-opposite, became a much more attractive prospect, especially after the triumph and might of the Soviet Union prevailed against the Nazis in the war. Throughout many of these Eastern European states, communism had been outlawed prior to the war. However, after the fall of fascism in Europe, a gap had opened up in the political spectrum for communism to utilise. Josef Stalin and the Soviet Union saw this opportunity. They realised that now was the ideal chance to begin their plan of spreading communism throughout Europe.
The Soviet Union was keen to implement communist regimes in Eastern European countries that would be ultimately subservient to Moscow. Stalin’s aim was to create a “buffer zone” of friendly nations between the Soviet Union and the West, so that Russia could not be invaded again. This process became known as “sovietisation”. To do this, he aimed to spread communism to the eastern countries, whilst retaining the Soviet Union as the centre of all operations. To this end, Russian troops would aid local, domestic communist parties in the eastern countries in establishing a power base in their respective countries. Eventually, though, the Soviets assumed that European countries would not need their aid in instilling communist regimes, as the working classes would eventually see the benefits of their regime and rise up to take power of their own accord.
In 1946, Churchill famously declared that an ‘Iron Curtain’ had now descended and divided Europe into two halves, and that the expanding Soviet power must be stopped . Stalin took this as a declaration of war, and set-about establishing the Cominform; an alliance of communist countries with the purpose of exchanging information in the fight against their western enemies. Over the coming years, several other international organisations and treaties of mutual assistance were formed and signed between these eastern states. In 1947, the Allies combined their three occupation zones into the German Federal Republic, commonly known as West Germany.
EAST GERMANY
After the partition of Germany, per the Potsdam Conference, Russia sought war reparations from their newly-gained territory in eastern Germany. This included the confiscation of land, labour, and enterprise throughout eastern Germany. Some 25% of companies in the new Soviet zone were taken over. Collectivisation of land and a focus on developing heavy industry similar to the policies of the USSR were also introduced.
In 1949, the Soviet Union, in reaction to the Allied-establishment of West Germany, created the communist-controlled German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, in its occupied zone, with East Berlin the capital of the newfound state. The United States declared that the GDR “was without any legal validity” and that they would “continue to give full support to the Government of the German Federal Republic…in its efforts to restore a truly free and democratic Germany” . Walter Ulbricht, the General Secretary of the newly-founded Socialist Unity Party (SED), became the leader of the German communist party. Under Ulbricht’s leadership, East Germany entered into the Warsaw Pact, a co-operation agreement between the Soviet Union and several other prominent eastern European countries. In 1960, following the death of President Wilhelm Pieck, the role of president was abolished, and Ulbricht gained full executive power over East Germany.
Ulbricht quickly set-about transforming East Germany into a dictatorial police state. The Staatsicherheit, or Stasi, were founded in February 1950. Modelled after the Soviet Union’s own secret police, their motto was “Shield and Sword of the Party” . The Stasi monitored citizens from every walk of East German life, from the highest political level to the lowest common level. In order to control the population of East Germany, the Stasi were ever present in all aspects of German life. It is estimated that over six million of East Germany’s sixteen million population was under surveillance by the secret police, and nearly one in seven East Germans were collaborating with the Stasi to some degree. Phone tapping, apartment bugging, and torture methods were all commonplace in keeping constant surveillance over the populous, and their mere presence was almost enough alone to quash any dissidence.
The DDR’s structure closely followed the Soviet model. There was a system of hierarchy similar to that of the USSR, with a Council of Ministers and a Parliament, although in practice the SED essentially had full control. The party itself was very united, with little internal division. Party purges in the 1950s saw that there was little opposition and diversity in the party. This unity led to a degree of political stability in East Germany. Whilst there were other political parties in existence, they rarely stood against the government, and so the SED firmly remained in power.
In 1961, in a drastic step to separate its citizens from the western world, the DDR constructed the Berlin Wall. The Wall consisted of large concrete barriers, barb wire fencing, and watch towers, among other such defences. Officially, it was stated that the Wall was erected in order to protect the population from fascist elements that would serve to prevent “the will of the people” and to destroy the communist way of life. In reality, however, it was there to prevent the mass outflow of emigration from East Berlin into the West. Whilst the West openly condemned the Wall (Mayor Willy Brandt coined the phrase “Wall of Shame”), it came to become a physical embodiment for Winston Churchill’s famous term, the ‘Iron Curtain’; a divide separating the west from the east that would last until German reunification almost thirty years later.
POLAND
Following their liberation from Nazi Germany in 1945, Poland was immediately instilled with a communist government largely backed by the USSR, despite a clear majority of Polish citizens being against the change.
The Allies allowed this Soviet action in Polish affairs as Poland now fell into the accepted Soviet sphere of influence, in which the USSR were allowed use their overwhelming influence over the eastern European countries as they saw fit. This change was implemented effectively largely due to the enormous presence of Soviet troops in Poland who had remained there under orders after liberating the country.
In 1947, democratic elections were held, although it was merely for show as only one small party, by then harassed by the communists into insignificance, ran in opposition of the communists. The communists won 417 of 434 available seats in the election , effectively ending any resistance to communist rule. Within two years, the Polish People’s Republic was established and communism was in full
effect.
With the new regime firmly in place, and after being awarded 100,000 km2 of former-German land from the Allies, Poland immediately began the process of post-war reconstruction. The Soviet economic, political, and social templates now implemented on the Polish people was not as harsh as those implemented on other eastern European countries at the time, meaning Poland could now focus all of their efforts on rebuilding. Gradually, however, the state began to lean more toward totalitarian tendencies. A police state/command economy situation began to emerge, and the Roman Catholic Church was quite publically persecuted. Polish history was gradually rewritten, and censorship on journalists, artists, and writers came into effect.
In March 1953, Josef Stalin died, and the hope existed for the removal of communism from Poland once and for all. However, by June 1956, the restrictions of the totalitarian regime became too much for the Polish people. Mass demonstrations occurred in Poznan in response to the government introducing higher taxes and production quotas on the working population. Workers demanded improved pay and living conditions in order to compensate them for the extra burden being placed on them by the government (The slogan “We Demand Bread” was adopted by the protestors). It was the first public demonstration against the imposed-communist regime since its introduction, and was intended as a peaceful protest. However, the demonstration soon turned violent, as communist headquarters, factories, and the prison were all overrun with the protestors-turned-rioters. The Soviet Army’s reply was immediate, and the riot was quashed in a matter of days. 50-100 people were estimated to have lost their lives in the Poznan Uprising. Though immediate change as a result of the Uprising was slow, it is now seen as one of the first major events which led to the fall of communism in Poland.
HUNGARY
Similar to Poland post-war, Hungary was also occupied by Red Army forces following their liberation from Nazi Germany. The USSR gradually attempted to eliminate any political opposition against the Hungarian communists. However, intense propaganda techniques and violent persecution of supposed enemies did little to win support for the Reds. In the 1945 elections, the communists were sunk, only receiving 17% of the vote. This was down to the extreme hatred the Hungarians held toward the Russians, coupled with their intense national pride. This would later lead to harsher treatment and actions on behalf of the USSR in later years, compared to other eastern countries. The Soviets naturally responded with force. The Hungarian secret police, the brutal AVH, were brought in to track down and remove anyone in anyway shape or form opposed to communism.
Stalin’s death in 1953 led to hopes of a course of ‘destalinisation’ taking place in their own country. However, this was not the case. Russia’s rule over Hungary had seen a massive economic decline, introduction of censorship, and a control on Hungarian education. The AVH secret police were also bitterly despised, whilst religion was completely outlawed in a massive Christian country. Absolutely disillusioned with the path their country was going down, and having seen the Polish Uprising in June of 1956, the Hungarians were inspired to initiate change. Having initially been given assurances by the United States that they would support Hungary in any struggle against the USSR, the time seemed right to attempt a coup d’état and win their homeland back from the foreign invaders.
On 23rd October 1956, a 100,000 strong student protest in the capital of Budapest began. They demanded free democratic elections, freedom of speech, and the mass withdrawal of Soviet forces from Hungary’s borders. They saw the gradual progress the people of Poland had attained from their demonstrations and believed they were owed the same rights. Imre Nagy, a liberal former communist, was appointed Prime Minister of Hungary, and announced via radio broadcast that Hungary would withdraw from the Warsaw Pact. This was what drew a violent reaction from the Russians.
On 4th November, with the aid of artillery fire, hundreds of Soviet tanks entered Budapest and quickly set-about putting an end to the revolution. Up until this point, the greatest extent of the fighting had been small exchanges with local police and AVH officers. Approximately 25,000 people were massacred by the Red Army troops in the brutal retaliation, and almost 200,000 fled Hungary as the Soviets advanced. Nagy was tried, executed, and his body thrown into an unmarked grave. The United States, in their reluctance to begin a war with the Soviets, looked on as the revolution was dismantled, despite giving previous encouragement to the Hungarians.
For several years to come, thousands were arrested, tried, and executed by the Soviets for their involvement in the Uprising. Having used Hungary as an example, the brutal reaction of the Soviet Union only solidified the powerful fear amongst other Eastern European towards the USSR. Hungary would not be free of communist rule until 1991, when at last Russian troops left Budapest.
In 1945, post-World War II, Eastern Europe was somewhat divided into two sets of states; Germany and its former allies (including Romania and Hungary), and countries who had fallen victim to the Nazi regime (including Poland and Czechoslovakia). The continent of Europe itself was left in a ravaged and desolate state after the war, leaving its economies in disrepair; most notably in the East. Due to the dire social and economic situations in these eastern countries, there was a growing, yet substantial desire for political change throughout the populous of this region. The location of these states, primarily situated near the border of the communist empire of the Soviet Union, would come to play a critical role in the political and social developments in Eastern Europe for decades to come.
POST-WWII EUROPE
In February 1945, the Yalta Conference was held in the Russian town of Crimea. Despite the fact that Germany had not yet lost the war, the …show more content…
Allied leaders (U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Leader Josef Stalin) discussed Europe and Germany’s post-war future. It was agreed that France should also have a role in the governing of Germany’s future, and that Germany should accept responsibility for war reparations (However, the Allies were careful not to implement as harsh a penalty as the Treaty of Versailles, which, in hindsight, had stunted Germany’s economic recovery and led to the rise of fascism). The Soviet Union also agreed to allow free democratic elections to take place in countries liberated from Nazi Germany, whilst Churchill agreed to allow the existence of a sphere of Soviet influence over Eastern Europe.
That July, after Germany’s capitulation in May, the Allied leaders met again, this time in the German town of Potsdam, to discuss and finalise the post-war borders of European countries; mainly, Germany. It was decided that Germany was to be split into four separate zones of occupancy; each to be controlled by one of the Allies (United States, France, United Kingdom, Soviet Union), with Berlin, the capital and administrative centre, being divided into four further zones of occupancy. All four zones of occupancy were to be fully demilitarised and German arms manufacturing was forbidden. Whilst the West was mainly concerned with the rebuilding of capitalist structures in Western Europe, the Soviet Union turned its attention to the strategic control of Eastern Europe by way of implementing communism into these struggling states.
USSR + THE GROWTH OF COMMUNISM
After the defeat of the fascist regimes of Germany and Italy in the war, the far-right suffered heavily. Fascist parties in post-war Europe were now either severely weakened or eliminated outright. Between the two World Wars, many of the eastern European countries had experimented with democracy, with varying degrees of success and failure. Communism, fascism’s polar-opposite, became a much more attractive prospect, especially after the triumph and might of the Soviet Union prevailed against the Nazis in the war. Throughout many of these Eastern European states, communism had been outlawed prior to the war. However, after the fall of fascism in Europe, a gap had opened up in the political spectrum for communism to utilise. Josef Stalin and the Soviet Union saw this opportunity. They realised that now was the ideal chance to begin their plan of spreading communism throughout Europe.
The Soviet Union was keen to implement communist regimes in Eastern European countries that would be ultimately subservient to Moscow. Stalin’s aim was to create a “buffer zone” of friendly nations between the Soviet Union and the West, so that Russia could not be invaded again. This process became known as “sovietisation”. To do this, he aimed to spread communism to the eastern countries, whilst retaining the Soviet Union as the centre of all operations. To this end, Russian troops would aid local, domestic communist parties in the eastern countries in establishing a power base in their respective countries. Eventually, though, the Soviets assumed that European countries would not need their aid in instilling communist regimes, as the working classes would eventually see the benefits of their regime and rise up to take power of their own accord.
In 1946, Churchill famously declared that an ‘Iron Curtain’ had now descended and divided Europe into two halves, and that the expanding Soviet power must be stopped . Stalin took this as a declaration of war, and set-about establishing the Cominform; an alliance of communist countries with the purpose of exchanging information in the fight against their western enemies. Over the coming years, several other international organisations and treaties of mutual assistance were formed and signed between these eastern states. In 1947, the Allies combined their three occupation zones into the German Federal Republic, commonly known as West Germany.
EAST GERMANY
After the partition of Germany, per the Potsdam Conference, Russia sought war reparations from their newly-gained territory in eastern Germany. This included the confiscation of land, labour, and enterprise throughout eastern Germany. Some 25% of companies in the new Soviet zone were taken over. Collectivisation of land and a focus on developing heavy industry similar to the policies of the USSR were also introduced.
In 1949, the Soviet Union, in reaction to the Allied-establishment of West Germany, created the communist-controlled German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, in its occupied zone, with East Berlin the capital of the newfound state. The United States declared that the GDR “was without any legal validity” and that they would “continue to give full support to the Government of the German Federal Republic…in its efforts to restore a truly free and democratic Germany” . Walter Ulbricht, the General Secretary of the newly-founded Socialist Unity Party (SED), became the leader of the German communist party. Under Ulbricht’s leadership, East Germany entered into the Warsaw Pact, a co-operation agreement between the Soviet Union and several other prominent eastern European countries. In 1960, following the death of President Wilhelm Pieck, the role of president was abolished, and Ulbricht gained full executive power over East Germany.
Ulbricht quickly set-about transforming East Germany into a dictatorial police state. The Staatsicherheit, or Stasi, were founded in February 1950. Modelled after the Soviet Union’s own secret police, their motto was “Shield and Sword of the Party” . The Stasi monitored citizens from every walk of East German life, from the highest political level to the lowest common level. In order to control the population of East Germany, the Stasi were ever present in all aspects of German life. It is estimated that over six million of East Germany’s sixteen million population was under surveillance by the secret police, and nearly one in seven East Germans were collaborating with the Stasi to some degree. Phone tapping, apartment bugging, and torture methods were all commonplace in keeping constant surveillance over the populous, and their mere presence was almost enough alone to quash any dissidence.
The DDR’s structure closely followed the Soviet model. There was a system of hierarchy similar to that of the USSR, with a Council of Ministers and a Parliament, although in practice the SED essentially had full control. The party itself was very united, with little internal division. Party purges in the 1950s saw that there was little opposition and diversity in the party. This unity led to a degree of political stability in East Germany. Whilst there were other political parties in existence, they rarely stood against the government, and so the SED firmly remained in power.
In 1961, in a drastic step to separate its citizens from the western world, the DDR constructed the Berlin Wall. The Wall consisted of large concrete barriers, barb wire fencing, and watch towers, among other such defences. Officially, it was stated that the Wall was erected in order to protect the population from fascist elements that would serve to prevent “the will of the people” and to destroy the communist way of life. In reality, however, it was there to prevent the mass outflow of emigration from East Berlin into the West. Whilst the West openly condemned the Wall (Mayor Willy Brandt coined the phrase “Wall of Shame”), it came to become a physical embodiment for Winston Churchill’s famous term, the ‘Iron Curtain’; a divide separating the west from the east that would last until German reunification almost thirty years later.
POLAND
Following their liberation from Nazi Germany in 1945, Poland was immediately instilled with a communist government largely backed by the USSR, despite a clear majority of Polish citizens being against the change.
The Allies allowed this Soviet action in Polish affairs as Poland now fell into the accepted Soviet sphere of influence, in which the USSR were allowed use their overwhelming influence over the eastern European countries as they saw fit. This change was implemented effectively largely due to the enormous presence of Soviet troops in Poland who had remained there under orders after liberating the country.
In 1947, democratic elections were held, although it was merely for show as only one small party, by then harassed by the communists into insignificance, ran in opposition of the communists. The communists won 417 of 434 available seats in the election , effectively ending any resistance to communist rule. Within two years, the Polish People’s Republic was established and communism was in full
effect.
With the new regime firmly in place, and after being awarded 100,000 km2 of former-German land from the Allies, Poland immediately began the process of post-war reconstruction. The Soviet economic, political, and social templates now implemented on the Polish people was not as harsh as those implemented on other eastern European countries at the time, meaning Poland could now focus all of their efforts on rebuilding. Gradually, however, the state began to lean more toward totalitarian tendencies. A police state/command economy situation began to emerge, and the Roman Catholic Church was quite publically persecuted. Polish history was gradually rewritten, and censorship on journalists, artists, and writers came into effect.
In March 1953, Josef Stalin died, and the hope existed for the removal of communism from Poland once and for all. However, by June 1956, the restrictions of the totalitarian regime became too much for the Polish people. Mass demonstrations occurred in Poznan in response to the government introducing higher taxes and production quotas on the working population. Workers demanded improved pay and living conditions in order to compensate them for the extra burden being placed on them by the government (The slogan “We Demand Bread” was adopted by the protestors). It was the first public demonstration against the imposed-communist regime since its introduction, and was intended as a peaceful protest. However, the demonstration soon turned violent, as communist headquarters, factories, and the prison were all overrun with the protestors-turned-rioters. The Soviet Army’s reply was immediate, and the riot was quashed in a matter of days. 50-100 people were estimated to have lost their lives in the Poznan Uprising. Though immediate change as a result of the Uprising was slow, it is now seen as one of the first major events which led to the fall of communism in Poland.
HUNGARY
Similar to Poland post-war, Hungary was also occupied by Red Army forces following their liberation from Nazi Germany. The USSR gradually attempted to eliminate any political opposition against the Hungarian communists. However, intense propaganda techniques and violent persecution of supposed enemies did little to win support for the Reds. In the 1945 elections, the communists were sunk, only receiving 17% of the vote. This was down to the extreme hatred the Hungarians held toward the Russians, coupled with their intense national pride. This would later lead to harsher treatment and actions on behalf of the USSR in later years, compared to other eastern countries. The Soviets naturally responded with force. The Hungarian secret police, the brutal AVH, were brought in to track down and remove anyone in anyway shape or form opposed to communism.
Stalin’s death in 1953 led to hopes of a course of ‘destalinisation’ taking place in their own country. However, this was not the case. Russia’s rule over Hungary had seen a massive economic decline, introduction of censorship, and a control on Hungarian education. The AVH secret police were also bitterly despised, whilst religion was completely outlawed in a massive Christian country. Absolutely disillusioned with the path their country was going down, and having seen the Polish Uprising in June of 1956, the Hungarians were inspired to initiate change. Having initially been given assurances by the United States that they would support Hungary in any struggle against the USSR, the time seemed right to attempt a coup d’état and win their homeland back from the foreign invaders.
On 23rd October 1956, a 100,000 strong student protest in the capital of Budapest began. They demanded free democratic elections, freedom of speech, and the mass withdrawal of Soviet forces from Hungary’s borders. They saw the gradual progress the people of Poland had attained from their demonstrations and believed they were owed the same rights. Imre Nagy, a liberal former communist, was appointed Prime Minister of Hungary, and announced via radio broadcast that Hungary would withdraw from the Warsaw Pact. This was what drew a violent reaction from the Russians.
On 4th November, with the aid of artillery fire, hundreds of Soviet tanks entered Budapest and quickly set-about putting an end to the revolution. Up until this point, the greatest extent of the fighting had been small exchanges with local police and AVH officers. Approximately 25,000 people were massacred by the Red Army troops in the brutal retaliation, and almost 200,000 fled Hungary as the Soviets advanced. Nagy was tried, executed, and his body thrown into an unmarked grave. The United States, in their reluctance to begin a war with the Soviets, looked on as the revolution was dismantled, despite giving previous encouragement to the Hungarians.
For several years to come, thousands were arrested, tried, and executed by the Soviets for their involvement in the Uprising. Having used Hungary as an example, the brutal reaction of the Soviet Union only solidified the powerful fear amongst other Eastern European towards the USSR. Hungary would not be free of communist rule until 1991, when at last Russian troops left Budapest.