HTY 214: Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Session #13 (Tues., Oct 14, 2014)

Session 13: Communist Takeovers

I. As a result of the Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939 and then Soviet annexations after WW2,
Soviet frontiers shifted to the west by about 200 miles (321 kilometers).
A. Poland was shifted westward. New borders: Oder-Neisse Line and Curzon Line.
Economically, it was a good trade. Poland received German industrial belt (coal and iron
deposits). Poles have always been fearful Germany might reclaim the lost lands. Grateful
for presence of Soviet troops in Poland to protect the new status quo.
B. With Joseph Stalins acquisition of Ruthenia (Subcarpathian Rus, or Transcarpathia)
from Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union acquired common borders with Czechoslovakia and
Hungary, in addition to Poland and Romania. That made it easier to invade militarily.
C. Stalin insisted on having Eastern Europe as a secure buffer zone. He wanted protection
from invasions from the West (Napoleon of France in 1812, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany in
WW1, Adolf Hitler in WW2).
1) To a certain extent, US President Franklin Roosevelt and British prime minister
Winston Churchill understood this. USSR lost 20 million in WW2. More convenient to let
the Soviet Red Army liberate Eastern Europe.
2) Misunderstanding between Stalin and Western allies over what free democratic
elections means?
II. In each of the EE countries, a command economy was installed, with detailed Five Year
Plans. There were specific production goals for every sector of the economy.
A. If one enterprise fell behind in its production goals, all the others usually did, too.
B. Command economies bred corruption.
III. There were three main patterns of communist takeovers in 1945-1948.
A (1). Win the war against the fascists and take over (Yugoslavia and Albania)
B (2). Implement salami tactics. Control Interior Ministry. Soviet Red army has our
backs (Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia).

1) Salami tactics = The practice of gradually spreading communism, asserting dictatorial

control by the communist party, but in stages, to prevent widespread revolt. Phrase coined
by Hungarian Muscovite communist Mtys Rkosi.
2) Two kinds of communists throughout Eastern Europe: home communists and
Muscovite communists. The home communists were those who had stayed in their
country during the war and fought against the fascists in the underground. Example: Tito
and Hoxha. The Muscovite communists were a group of elite communists who had spent
the war in exile in Moscow and spoke Russian. Stalin trusted Muscovite communists more
than home communists.
C (3) Impose communism from above brutally and immediately, with rigged elections
from the outset (Romania, Bulgaria).