AP HUG Europe and Former Soviet Union

After WWII, Europe find itself…

divided

Western Europe

-became allies with USA

-Marshall Plan
-joined NATO
-work together economically and politically (European Union)
-free and rich

Eastern Europe

-occupied by Soviet Union, Communist Party leadership

-Molotov Plan
-Warsaw Pact: each country has to attack each other if they tried to leave

-poor and not free

Cold War with Soviet Union and USA

-enemies, but didn’t shoot each other

-competing to gain allies and influence around the world

Berlin Wall

-built in the 1960’s by East Germans

-destroyed in Nov. 1989, marking the end of the Cold War

1991

-Soviet Union collapsed due to internal issues and pressure

-split into Russia and 14 other countries that didn’t want to be under Russian rule

Cold War is Over

-Eastern Europe democratized

-joined EU and NATO

Yugoslavia

-genocidal bloodshed b/c different ethnics and religions

2000

-Putin elected to power

-undermines NATO, EU, democracy

-rebuilt Russian Empire and take back territory lost in 1991

The Baltics

-Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia

-Putin leaves them alone, but does mess w them

-joined NATO and EU

Central Asia

-nice to Russia

-authoritarian leaders, similar to Putin

The Caucasus

-invaded Georgia in 2008 when it tried to join NATO

-Armenia and Azerbaijan left alone

Western Frontier

-Moldova hides

-Belarus follows Putin’s orders

Ukraine

-Putin engineered election victory for pro-Russian candidate in 2004, Ukrainians kicked him out and Putin got mad

2013-2014 Ukraine

-Putin made Ukraine’s president back out of deal w EU

-Ukrainians got mad, kicked him out

-Putin took Crimean Peninsula and started a civil war in Eastern Ukraine

2022 Ukraine

-Putin launched invasion in Ukraine, wanted it to be apart of Russia

-NATO and EU support, but didn’t join fight

European unity

-2008 financial crisis

-cultural/economic differences between W. and E. Europe

-demographic trends

-climate problems

-Russians