Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union

Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union

​Revolts Against Communism

• Soviet Union exploited Eastern Europe & made living conditions unbearable

• 1950's-1960's (after Stalin's death) Soviet Union tried to stop Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia from becoming independent

Revolts Against Communism

• 1956 Poland passed reforms & elected Wladyslaw Gomulka as 1st secretary

• Even though Gomulka declared that Poland had the right to follow it's own path, he compromised and remained loyal to the Warsaw Pact (collective defense policy between Soviet Union & 7 other socialist republics)

​Revolts Against Communism

• 1956 unrest in Hungary along with $ issues led to threat of revolt

• Imre Nagy (Hungarian leader) promised free elections and said Hungary was a free nation

• 3 days later, Soviet Army attacked Budapest, seized Nagy and reestablished control (Nagy executed 2 years later)

​Revolt Against Communism

1953 - Antonin Novotny (Little Stalin) placed in control of Czechoslovakia

What political, economic, and social shifts occurred in the Soviet Union during the Cold War?

​Postwar Soviet Union

• Soviet Union was destroyed by WWII

• Joseph Stalin used a method from the 1930's

  • workers made goods for export with almost nothing left over for themselves

  • The $ earned was used to buy machinery & Western technology

​Postwar Soviet Union

• By 1950 Russian production surpassed prewar levels by 40%

• Infrastructure was built (power plants, canals, factories)

• Building for the military increased

• 1953 - 1st hydrogen bomb produced

• 1957 - Sputnik (1st space satellite) produced

​Postwar Soviet Union

• The production of consumer goods was limited

• Housing was in short supply

"Every room is both a living room by day and a bedroom by night"

The Rule of Joseph Stalin

The Rule of Stalin

• Joseph Stalin ruled over the Soviet Union

• He was paranoid & had no respect for other Communist Party leaders

• 1946 - All literary & scientific work had to conform (follow) to the state's political needs

• March 5, 1953 - Joseph Stalin died, alone, locked behind his bedroom door

The Khrushchev Era

​The Khrushchev Era

• Nikita Khrushchev, general secretary of the Communist Party, succeeded Stalin as chief policy maker

• 1956 - Khrushchev condemned Stalin for his ruthless policies

• De-Stalinization - the process of eliminating the terroristic policies of Stalin

​The Khrushchev Era

• Government controls on art were loosened

  • 1962 - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - a novel about life in a Siberian labor camp was published (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

  • Many saw it as an example of the suffering under Stalin

​The Khrushchev Era

• Khrushchev tried to increase farming output by growing corn & using lands east of the Ural Mountains -his efforts didn't work

• Increased military spending - another mistake

• Growth rate went from 13% in 1953 to 7.5% in 1964

​The End of the Khrushchev Era

• Foreign policy mistakes were also damaging to Khrushchev

• Many saw his plan to place missiles in Cuba as the final straw

• 1964 - Khrushchev was voted out of office while on vacation

​The Brezhnev Era

• Leonid Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev in the 1970's

• Brezhnev wanted to keep Eastern Europe Communist

• Brezhnev Doctrine - Soviet Union's right to step in if communism was threatened in another Communist state

​The Brezhnev Era

• 1970's - SALT I & SALT II (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties) & Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) were treaties used to limit nuclear arms

• U.S. & Soviet Union entered into a period of detente (relaxion of tensions & improved relations between the two countries)

The Brezhnev Era

• Authoritarian rule relaxed & access to western culture increased

• dissidents - those who spoke out against regime still arrested

• Andrei Sakharov (father of Soviet Hydrogen bomb) punished for defending human rights

​The Brezhnev Era

• Problems weakened Soviet economy

• Government's heavy hand led to a complicated structure that discouraged efficiency & led to indifference & corruption

• Collective farmers had no incentive to work hard & would rather work for themselves than the government

​The Brezhnev Era

• 1970's - corruption is everywhere

• Government officials & KGB were living large

• Brezhnev worried about conflict so he did nothing

​The Brezhnev Era

• 1979 - Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan

• The goal = pro-Soviet government

• U.S. saw this as a sign of expansion

• President Carter cancelled U.S. participation in Moscow Olympic Games

• Embargo placed on shipments of grain to the Soviets

​The Brezhnev Era

• Relations became more tense when Ronald Reagan became president of the U.S.

• Reagan called Soviets an "evil empire" and begin building up the military & gave aid to Afghan rebels to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan

Open Ended

How were U.S.-Soviet relations different during the Khrushchev and Brezhnev regimes?

How was Eastern Europe affected by communism after World War II?

Open Ended

Why was Yugoslavia different from other Eastern European countries during the Cold War?

​Eastern Europe

• After WWII, Soviet forces occupied all of Eastern Europe & the Balkans (except for Greece, Albania, and Yugoslavia)

​Communist Patterns of Control

• 1945-1947 - Soviet controlled governments present in East Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, and Hungary

• 1948 - all political parties in Czechoslovakia were dissolved except for the Communist Party

• Albania and Yugoslavia already had local Communist political parties

​Communist Patterns of Control

• Yugoslavia - Josip Broz (Tito) leader of the independent Communist state

• Stalin wanted control but Tito refused

• Tito ruled until his death in 1980

• Yugoslavia was not a Soviet satellite state as they had their own Communist government

​Revolts Against Communism

• 1950s & 1960s the Soviet Union prevented Poland, Hungary, & Czechoslovakia from changing their status as satellite states

• 1956 after protests in Poland, the polish leaders elected a secretary who pledged that Poland had a right to follow their own path

• Poland compromised though & remained loyal to Warsaw Pact

​Revolts Against Communism

• After protests in Poland, Hungarian Communists seek change

• This, along with economic trouble, led to revolts

• November 1, 1956 - Imre Nagy (Hungarian leader) declared Hungary a free nation

• Nagy also promised free elections

​Revolts Against Communism

• 3 days after the announcement, the Soviet Army attacked Budapest, arrested Nagy and executed him 2 years later

• Czechoslovakia 1950's - Stalin installs Antonin Novotny (Little Stalin) in power

• Novotny irritated members of his own party and was forced to resign in 1968

​Revolts Against Communism

• January 1968 - Alexander Dubcek elected first secretary of Communist Party in Czechoslovakia

• He promised democratization of Czechoslovakian political system

• "Socialism with a face" which led to the "Prague Spring"

• August 1968 - Soviet Army invades Czechoslovakia and replaced Dubcek with Gustav Husak

• The old order is reestablished

• January 1968 - Alexander Dubcek elected first secretary of Communist Party in Czechoslovakia

• He promised democratization of Czechoslovakian political system

• "Socialism with a face" which led to the "Prague Spring"

• August 1968 - Soviet Army invades Czechoslovakia and repla