Chapter 34, Sections 2,3 (pt.1)

Russia’s Foreign Policy And Revolution in Eastern Europe

When the Bolsheviks came to power they set up the Communist International (Comintern) to foment communist revolution everywhere.

When the war was over, the Soviet Union created a buffer zone in Eastern Europe by controlling countries there. By 1948 all Eastern European

nations had Communist governments. They took orders from Stalin.

The allies disagreed about Germany’s future. Russia wanted it to pay heavy reparations and keep it weak. The West wanted to rebuild it and

let it become a part of a strong, prosperous Europe.

Stalin launched a blockade of Berlin to prevent East and West Germany’s unification.

The resources of Eastern Europe helped rebuild the Soviet Union. In East Germany, machinery

was seized and sent to Russia. Natural resources were sold to the Soviet Union on favorable terms.

In 1955, Russia created the Warsaw Pact (including the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe) to counter NATO.

The Cold War: The Soviet Union and the US tried to outdo each other in science, tech, education,

athletics and the military.

Both sides invested heavily in weapons of mass destruction. They supplied arms to rival groups in

domestic conflicts in other nations. The world almost came to nuclear war over the Cuban

Missile Crisis.

In the 70s and 80s the powers had arms talks, but still spent much on nukes. The Soviet Union strained under the cost. This contributed to its

collapse.

Some of the former Soviet Union’s nukes are in independent republics. The US has helped Russia keep them out of the hands of terrorists.

After WWII the Soviet Union set up one-party communist governments in all of the Eastern

Europe nations. They kept power through repression of rights and secret police.

These nations mirrored the Soviet Union in setting up 5-year plans, collective farming, and nationalizing industry. They ended ties to the west and traded with the USSR on its terms.

Marshall Tito had led Yugoslavia’s resistance to Germany during WWII, and he now ruled

Yugoslavia without the influence of Russia.

• He refused to join the Warsaw Pact.

The Soviet Union crushed uprisings in Czechoslovakia (1953), Poland, and Hungary

(1956).