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Summary History IGCSE Cambridge Core Content B Modern World History Topic 6: How Secure was USSR’s control over Eastern Europe
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1Topic 6: How Secure was USSR’s control over Eastern Europe
1948-1989
6.1 Opposition to USSR control in Hungary in 1956 and how did USSR
react?
6.1.1 Background
● after WW2 the Communist quickly gained control of Eastern Europe
● the chaotic situation in many of the countries helped them
● Stalin used a “carrot and stick” approach to control eastern Europe
● after the war there was a political vacuum in many countries in Eastern Europe
○ Stalin helped Communist parties in each country to win power
○ through Cominform he made sure that these eastern European countries
followed the same policies as the USSR
○ they became 1 party states
○ Communist party was the only legal party
○ secret police arrested communists’ opponents
● there was also a need to restore law and order
○ provided a good excuse to station USSR troops in each countries
● COMINFORM was used by Stalin to gain control over states in Eastern Europe:
○ stands for Communist Information Bureau
○ Stalin set up Cominform in 1947 as an organisation to co-ordinate the various
Communist governments in Eastern Europe
○ Cominform ran meetings and sent out instructions to Communist governments
about was the USSR wanted
● the economies of eastern Europe were shattered:
○ to rebuild them the governments followed the economic policies of USSR
■ USSR took over all industry
■ workers and farmers were told what to produce
■ through COMECON Stalin made sure that the countries of Eastern Europe
traded with USSR
■ Stalin promised aid to countries that cooperated with USSR
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● COMECON January 1949= was set up with the objective of coordinating the national
economies of the countries behind the Iron Curtain (proved more favourable to USSR than
to other members) set up a bank for communist countries. They wanted communist
countries to trade with communist countries instead of West
● Stalin’s public reason for wanting to control Eastern Europe was to defend USSR from
invasion from west
● however his subsequent policies showed that he also wanted to benefit from the wealth
and resources of Eastern Europe
● some were happy about USSR takeover of Eastern Europe since:
○ USSR had experienced industrial growth before WW2 and by following Soviet
methods they could do the same
○ USSR style Communism also offered them stable government and security
because they were backed by one of the world’s superpowers
● faced by shortages and poverty after the war, many people hoped for great things from
Communism
● but USSR control was very different:
○ right to democratic government lost
○ free speech lost (Hungary, Czech)
○ newspapers censored (Prague spring)
○ government critics put jail
○ travel to countries in the west was prohibited
○ factories in satellite countries produced goods demanded by USSR rather than those
that ordinary people wanted
○ shortage of basics such as coal milk meat (Poland Solidarity)
○ clothing was very expensive and consumer goods such as electric kettles and radios
were unavailable
○ wages were even less than those in USSR
○ Stalin forbade countries of Eastern Europe from applying for Marshall aid
● when Stalin died in 1953 was replaced by Khrushchev:
○ ended USSR’s long feuds with China and Yugoslavia
○ talked about peaceful co-existence with West
○ made plans to reduce expenditure on arms
○ attended the first post- war summit between USSR, USA, France and Britain in July
1955
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