The creation of the Communist
‘bloc’
• Title: Stalin’s takeover of Eastern Europe
• Answer the following question:
1. What reasons did Stalin have for
expanding Soviet influence into Eastern
Europe?
• The Soviet Union physically
transported and relocated east
European industry to the Soviet
Union
• In eastern European Axis countries,
such as Romania and Hungary, this
policy was considered as
reparations (a principle accepted by
Western powers)
• Other Eastern Bloc states were
required to provide coal, industrial
equipment, technology, and other
resources to reconstruct the Soviet
Union
• The initial problem in countries
occupied by the Red Army in
1944–45 was how to transform
occupation into long-term
control
• Because communists were
small minorities in all countries
but Czechoslovakia, they were
initially instructed to form
coalitions in their respective
countries
• Soviet takeover of control at the outset
generally followed a process:
1. a general coalition of left-wing, antifascist
forces;
2. a reorganized 'coalition' in which the
communists would have the upper hand and
neutralize those in other parties who were not
willing to accept communist supremacy;
3. complete communist domination, frequently
exercised in a new party formed by the fusion of
communist and other leftist groups.
SocialDemocrats
Communists
Communists
Other
Parties
Communists
LiberalSocialists
Coalition of Left-Wing
parties
Re-organized
‘coalition’
Full Communist
takeover
• Answer the following questions:
2. Why did the communist parties of Eastern
Europe take orders from the Kremlin?
3. Construct your own flow diagram to show
how the communist parties took power in
the Eastern European countries.
• Quite a significant proportion
of the 'partisan movement'
that fought to defeat fascist
forces during the war, were
politically communistoriented
• The Soviets, therefore, were
to an extent able to 'ride the
wave' of respect and
admiration these partisans
had earned amongst the
populations of these
countries by the time the
war had ended.
• Answer the following question:
4. Why might the populations of Eastern
European countries have accepted the
takeover of their communist minorities?
• It was only in the Socialist
Republic of Yugoslavia that
former partisans (under Tito)
entered their new government
independently of Soviet
influence
• Tito insisted on specifically
not being a puppet regime
• Led to the Tito-Stalin split and
other moves towards an
"independent socialism" that
quickly made SR Yugoslavia
unique within the context of
overall Eastern Bloc politics.
Explain how the Soviet Union took
control of Eastern Europe stage by stage.
What reasons motivated Stalin to pursue
the USSRs interests at the end of the
Second World War?