Made sure the communist
party in each state had
leaders that would only obey
Moscow
Created an atmosphere of fear and
mistrust so that it was difficult for
people who wanted to oppose soviet
rule to trust eachother enough to
work together
Ruthlessly using the police and
army in these states to stamp out
any kind of opposition
Arranged economies in
these countries so that
they were dependent
on the USSR through
'rationalising' industries
to stop the satellites
being self-sufficient
Cominform: The communist information bureau 1947
Established to extend
Stalins control
An international organisation that
represented communist parties
across Europe and brought them
under the direction of the USSR
The first Cominform conference rejected the Marshal plan
consequently Eastern European government refused
to accept Marshal Aid and communist parties in
western Europe were encouraged to organise strikes
and demonstartions against the American plan
Used to ensure the loyalty of eastern
European governments through
investigating government ministers and
employees and removing those who
were not loyal to stalin
process often violent-5%
of the population of
Hungary in prison by 1952
Through its violent actions
Cominform consolidated the
power of the USSR through
Eastern Europe by stamping out
the opposition and ensuring the
loyalty of Eastern Europe
goverments
Comecon
The council for mutual
economic assistance
1949
Stalins answer to the Marshall plan
Stalin aware that the Marshall
plan was very attractive to some
Eastern European governments
Having ordered his satellite states to boycott Marshall
aid Stalin needed to set up a communist alternative
The Berlin airlift
Build up
January 1947-USA and GB merged their
zones to create Bizonia (Stalin very worried)
France soon joined merged zones to create Trizonia
June 1947-Marshall aid
June 1947-The Deutchmark, didn't
consult USSR about change-used in
West Berlin (inside soviet sector)
West Berlin=window into the West
11 months-supplies flown into Berlin
using British,French and US planes
At peak a plane landed
every three minutes
24/7-70 large cargo planes with between
600/700 tonnes worth of supplies
275,000 flights
carried 1 and a half
million tonnes of
supplies
The importance of berlin
Capital of Germany
Both USA and USSR
wanted influence in
Berlin- power and prestige
Centre of Europe-military bases
Symbolic capital
of nazism
Had been a race for
Berlin at the end of the
war- USA and USSR
The arms race
1945-55
continuing comitment
to maintaining a large
army,navy,airforce and
the development of even
more deadly nuclear
weapons
1945-USA first
country to develop
nuclear bomb,
Hiroshima Japan
1949 USSR caught up-developed
and tested own nuclear bomb
Prompted Americans to develop hydrogen bombs
USA's warheads still more
powerful than those developed
by the soviet union
1955 USSR tested a bomb known as 'Sakharovs
third idea'- new bomb more powerful than
Americas hydrogen bombs
By 1955 America had
developed the B52
stratofortress
aeroplane with the
long range flight
capacity to bomb the
soviet union
At the same time the soviet union was developing a
similar aircraft know as the TU20bear