What’s the ‘Declaration of the Liberated Europe’? How was it significant to the development of the Cold War rival alignments? It was an agreement of Yalta Conference that stated the previously German-controlled nations’ rights to determine their own future. Stalin demanded a communist Poland in spite of the agreement reasoning that Poland had been used as a route of the German invasions of Russia (so a Soviet-friendly Poland would be a buffer against German aggression). 3.
Yalta was the first event in the time period, and was where ‘the big thee’, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt met and discussed the reorganization of Germany and Eastern Europe after WWII. Divisions over Europe became apparent as there were disputes over the Polish border, and Germany was to be divided into four zones. This ended reasonably, though shortly after, Roosevelt died and Truman acceded to the presidency. This came as a shock to the system and was where relations began to deteriorate. The allies met at Potsdam in July 1945, where the German division was agreed, though there were still disagreements over Poland.
Eastern Europe and the Cold War 1948 – 1989 Chapter 14 How did Stalin control Eastern Europe? After the Second World War, the Communists quickly gained control of Eastern Europe. The chaotic situation in many of the countries helped them. * After the war, there was a political vacuum in many countries in Eastern Europe. Stalin helped Communist parties in them to win power, he made sure that these eastern European countries followed the same policies as the Soviet Union by becoming one-party states.
By encouraging reform early on, it effectively divided, and ultimately split itself apart. By examining the conditions in each country before the respective elections, we can see how they effected how each state manage to remove Soviet rule. To compare and contrast the major developments happening in 1989 in Poland and Hungary, we first have to briefly examine the period that led up to the roundtable discussions, which led to both states leaving Soviet rule. A brief history shows the discontent that had been brewing in each country for quite some time, and from it we can distinguish the variables that led to the differences in the developments that came from the respective exits from Soviet rule. Soviet rule came to Hungary and Poland post second world war, from ‘above and abroad’, as it did with all of Eastern Europe (except perhaps Yugoslavia and Albania).
The Blockade was an attempt to prevent the Allies unifying the western parts of Germany. In addition Russia also wanted to rid West Berlin of the democratic viewed Allies. When the Soviet Union announced the Berlin Blockade on June 24 1948, the West was forced to make a decision about how to deal with it. Giving in to Russian demands was rejected as an option, and some consideration was given to an invasion. America eventually decided that the Berlin Airlift was the best option.
Lenin then ensured their victory in the Civil War with his establishment of War Communism and the use of terror. In 1921 he progressed to ban factories and promoted Party Unity following the Konstradt Mutiny and replaced War Communism with the NEP (as it was no longer needed due to their victory of the Civil War). All of these events and actions of
Containment was not new in 1964 and 1965. It originates in the year following World War II. George Kenna’s famous 8,000-world telegram form Moscow to the U.S in February 1946 laid the foundation and had profound implications of U.S strategic thinking. The telegram was extremely well received in Washington because it offered an explanation and rationale for the uncooperative behavior of the Soviet Union (a world war II ally) in Europe. It also provided the guiding principles that United States leaders south as guidance for their actions toward the soviet containment.
It outlined a policy that would evolve to become known as the Brezhnev Doctrine. This doctrine was announced to retroactively justify the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 that ended the Prague Spring, along with earlier Soviet military interventions, such as the invasion of Hungary in 1956. These interventions were meant to put an end to democratic liberalization efforts and uprisings that had the potential to compromise Soviet hegemony inside the Eastern bloc, which was considered by the Soviets to be an essential defensive and strategic buffer in case hostilities with NATO were to break out. The Invasion and Doctrine was “therefore of great significance for strengthening the socialist community”. In practice the policy meant that partial independence of communist parties was allowed.
The Germans and the Poles argued because each country wanted to take control of this region and they were fighting for it. The League divided Upper Silesia into two regions between industrial and rural areas, building many saveguards to prevent future disputes, which linked the two countries providing them water and power supply. The League also sent troops and made a votation. To the rules imposed by the League, both countries accepted the decision and prevented future disputes However, in Vilna, 1920. The Polish army took over Vilna, Lithuania´s capital, because the population was largely Polish.
Gorbachev, who was the new General Secretary in 1985, was to a large extent contributed to the break-up of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact. Unlike Stalin and his processors, Andropov and Chernenko , he tried to reform Soviet Union by highly promoting democracy among the Soviet satellites through the democratic programs. Among the two democratic programs which he had carried out, Glasnost was the program which led to the break-up of the USSR while the consideration of economic reform led to the break-up of the Warsaw Pact. Glasnost, which means openness, granted the people more freedom. Such as freedom of speech, voting rights, cutting off the power of the communist party, as well as releasing dissidents like Sakharov.