Europe after World war II

• The defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 gave Stalin an opportunity to spread communism across Eastern Europe. With the Red Army occupying Poland, Hungary, parts of Germany and many other countries the Soviet Union was able to promote, or enforce Soviet policy, imposing or supporting the establishment of communist governments.
• As such by 1947 it was clear that the alliance of the ‘Big Three’ was over. Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speech had clearly highlighted the divide between East & West, and the frontiers of the Cold War were quickly being established.
• President Truman had decided to take an ‘Iron Fist’ approach with the Soviet Union and developed the ‘Truman Doctrine’ & the ‘Marshall Plan’. Both of these were created in response to the situation in Greece but were applied throughout post-war Europe.
• In theory the ‘Marshall Plan’ was put in place to offer aid to all European countries, however in reality it was only given to those whose ideology aligned with that of the US. The USSR’s response was to effectively declare war on the these new US policies and create their own.
• After the second world war Germany was divided into East and West Germany
Sovietization and Cominform

• In response to the ‘Marshall Plan’ & ‘Truman Doctrine’ the USSR established Cominform, an organisation designed to coordinate communist parties and groups throughout Europe.
• Its counter to the financial aid offered by the ‘Marshall Plan’ was Comecon, established in 1949. This body was tasked with providing economic assistance to Eastern European countries.
• USSR was in the position to establish a sphere of influence across Eastern Europe after WWII. With sixty Red Army divisions scattered across Europe in a ‘policing role’ the Soviet Union was able to apply pressure and establish pro-communist governments in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria & Albania.
• By the end of 1947 the only non-communist country left in Eastern Europe was Czechoslovakia. The processes and actions that the Soviet Union undertook to secure their control over these countries has since been termed ‘Sovietization’.

• Actions included:
• Rigged Elections
• Enforcing communist rule through the Red Army
• Merging Socialist groups and subjugating them under communist led leaders
• Inciting uprisings & popular movements

Actions
• Sovietisation was achieved through some / all of the following:
• rigged Elections
• Propaganda – western democracies painted as ‘fascist’ movements – a threat to the people
• persuasion / enforcement of communist rule through presence of the Red Army
• merging Socialist groups and subjugating them under communist led leaders
• ‘removal’ of popular non-communist leaders
• inciting uprisings & popular movements

The Czechoslovakian crisis
• May 1948 - Elections due Czechoslovakia and importantly the communist party was expected to fare poorly in them. Soviet influence had forced the Czechoslovakian government to turn down ‘Marshal aid’ from the USA and as a result the communists were blamed by many for the economic problems of the country
• February 1948 – communist party, with Soviet backing and exploiting presence of the Red Army seized control:
 of the police force and quickly purged it of non-communist personnel.
 non-communist parties were quickly repressed with their representatives and leaders forcefully removed from government & imprisoned.
 President Benes was forced to resign and by the beginning of March the only non-communist in government was Jan Masaryk. In a few short weeks he suffered defenestration and died from his injuries.
• With comparatively little bloodshed, Czechoslovakia had been forced to turn communist.
• The role of the Soviet Union and the pressure Stalin had placed on the country was implicit. To the West this was further evidence of the violent and aggressive expansion of the Soviet Union .

Poland
• Location – shared borders with Germany and USSR
• Issue – traditional invasion route West to East
• Situation 1945 – liberated by Soviet Army, centre for Soviet operations in Germany
• Stalin’s solution – pro-Soviet government
• Problem – Polish Government in exile in London + pro-Soviet Polish government in Lublin
• Solution – Yalta – Free elections
• Result - Stalin deployed a range of approaches that undermined non-communist parties
• 1947 – rigged elections – communists supreme

Hungary
• Location –central European state
• Issue – ally of Nazi Germany
• Situation 1945 – liberated by Soviet Army, remained until 1991
• Stalin’s solution – pro-Soviet government
• Tactics – similar to Poland and other Eastern European states
• Hungary sought links with Yugoslavia ~ non-alligned
• By 1949 opposition of communist government was crushed

Yugoslavia
• Location –central European state
• Issue – ally of Nazi Germany
• Situation 1945 –
o liberated by partisans led by Josip Broz Tito
o Communism firmly established
o Country pro-soviet in outlook
• BUT:
o Soviet influence weakened ~ result of conflict between Tito and Stalin
o Yugoslavia expelled from Cominform ~ accepted Marshall Aid!!

Warsaw Pact
• Created – 1955
• Reason – reaction to NATO allowing West Germany (FDR/FGR) to join
• Reason – counter to NATO
• Purpose to protect Eastern Europe from the threat of invasion from Western Europe
• Structure – unified military command, Soviet troops based in satellite states ~ paid for by the satellite state
• Challenges to the organisation came in 1956 – esp. Hungary

Reasons for the conflict
Why do wars still trouble the world?
• Power struggle, East v West
• Ideological struggle , Democracy v Communism
• Territorial disputes
• Terror / counter-Terror
• Religious conflict
• Resources
• End of Imperial authority
• Civil War

personalities
 How responsible were the individuals for the outbreak of the Cold War?
 What did the following think of each other?
• Stalin, considering Roosevelt and Churchill
• Roosevelt, considering Stalin and Churchill
• Churchill, considering Roosevelt and Stalin
 Review ~ could these three work together to produce a new world order?