How did the USSR
control the
Eastern European
States
Poland
Stalin set up provisional
government in June
45 with the
Government in exile
in London
Could not allow free
elections as Communists
would lose.
Boycotted by Mikolajczyjk
in hope that it would
force USA and Britain to
intervene
Why did the
USA and Britain
do nothing?
Policy of containment did
not include Poland as it was
considered in USSR sphere
of influence.
Suggestion that officials from
USA and Britain should monitor
elections in Jan 1947 = declined
Tactics of terror and false
electoral results = Communist
Peasants’ Party in power
Leader, Gomulka, believed Poland
should not be completely follow
Soviet example, but forced to do
so and Stalin removed him a year
later
Romania
Romania’s King Michael
called on Britain and
USA not to recognise
new government
imposed by USSR
Stalin called on Petru
Goza (Prime Minister)
to appoint 2 x non
Communists to
government...in reality
made little difference
1946 Groza
strengthens position
by combining parties
= Communist
Domination
Nov 1946: went to the Polls
Could have won
elections without
these tactics?
(80%)
Feb 1947 ACC
dissolved,
Marshall Aid
refused,
joined the
Cominform
Dec 1947 King
Michael
forced to
abdicate
April 1948
Communist
people’s
republic
declared
Bulgaria
Stalin wanted to avoid friction if possible
Dec 1945 forced the
Communists to include
two members of the
opposition, but when
these demanded change
advised them to be
‘smothered’
Still anxious to mask
the party’s dictatorship:
Sept 1946 urged a
‘Labour Party’ to be set
up for a ‘broader base
and a better mask’
October 1946 elections:
opposition win over 1/3
of result
BUT: Truman doctrine
US involvement in
Greece = Bulgaria front
line in defence of
Communism
Result is that
opposition is
got rid of.
Bulgarian Communist
Party took creation
of Cominform to
radicalise:
nationalised industry,
collectivisation of
agriculture, 1 party
state
Yugoslavia
Unique: won power
independently of Soviet
forces (90% of vote in Nov
1945)
Tito ambitious: assisted
Greek Communists
attempting to seize power in
Greece, claimed border
territories from Italy e.g.
Trieste
USSR sympathised
with Tito but not
ready to risk
confrontation
Paris Peace
Negotiation 1947:
Trieste divided into
two separate parts:
one under
Anglo-American
control, one Yugoslav
Czeckoslovakia
Had undergone post-war
revolution = withdrawal
of Soviet troops Dec 1945
Communists won 38%
of the vote without
any violence or
efforts of the part in
May 1946
Could have been a
bridge but
Marshall Plan and
creation of
Cominform =
impossible
Paris Conference, Masaryk: ‘I
went to Moscow as the foreign
minister of an independent
sovereign state, I returned as a
lackey of the Soviet
government’
Feb 1948:
Communist
Party took
power
France
Initially attempted to balance
West – USSR…until 1947
Behind the scenes, Socialist Party
attempted to draw closer to the
USA?
March 1946: French
Socialist leader
accepted international
free trade arguments
by USA
Moscow Conference Mar 1947
turning point: France aligned itself
with British and Americans
Communists expelled Autumn
Stalin called for violent protests
against the Marshall Plan =
Socialists distanced themselves
from USSR and accept pro-US policy
Hungary
Nov 1945 elections
free with no
Communist
influence
Two years later: press still
free and businesses in
private hands and borders
to West still open
Influence of
Communist
Party still
apparent in
ACC
Spring 1947: opposition shattered
when arrested by Soviets for
conspiring against the occupation =
increasingly in Soviet sphere
8 Dec 1947: friendship
and co-operation with
Yugoslavia and mutual
aid treaty
March 1948: Communist and socialist
parties merged: Hungarian People’s
Independent Front
May 1949
elections: only
Independent
Front allowed to
stand
Italy
Initial attempts to balance power:
Communists joined coalition
government
Stalin conceded Italy had
little choice but to support
West as it had been
liberated and occupied by
them
Dec 1945 new coalition under
de Gasperi won US support
for economic policies
May 1947:
Communists
dismissed =
cleared the way
for the Marshall
Plan