Eastern and Western Europe During the Cold War

What were some effects of the European Recovery Program or Marshall Plan?

• most recovery money was given to the Allies & former fascist countries (Italy, West Germany)

• Soviet Union saw it as creating a bunch of states loyal to the US, willing to give up their economic then political freedom for US money

• pushed Stalin to get even greater control over Eastern Europe to safeguard his interests

• helped stabilize postwar Italian economy

West Germany's Economic Miracle

• new currency + low taxes + no control over economy + US financial aid = rapidly growing economy
• real wages doubled
• unemployment was 0.4% so had to invite guest workers from other nations (EEC)
• work hours cut by 20%

Why did European countries post-WWII seek to create a more peaceful, integrated & unified region?

They were broke and ruined from the wars and wanted to get strong together.

What does the ECSC stand for?

European Coal and Steel Community

What does the EEC stand for?

European Economic Community or "Common Market"

How did post WWII trends lend towards achieving a more peaceful, integrated and unified region?

• ECSC (France, Netherlands, Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg and Italy) created a common market for coal and steel by eliminating tariffs & other trade barriers
• EEC (France, Netherlands, Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg and Italy) created a common market for goods and labor without barriers (ability to move goods and labor without barriers), created by Schuman, cooperation (like West Germany & France) would avoid war & create prosperity
• 1990s: created a common currency (Euro) EXCEPT Great Britain who thought the pound was worth more
• united through NATO, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan (against communism & for economic recovery)

Life in Western Europe during the Cold War

• democratic republics
• social security & medicine (NHS in UK)
• freedom of religion
• increase in moderate political parties
• increase in fear of nuclear weapons
• common currency (Euro) created in 1990s
• freedom to travel abroad
• non-Communist social welfare systems
• UK Labour Party: championed workers' rights, social welfare, and public ownership, cementing the modern welfare state (including the NHS) after 1945
• Christian Democratic Parties: emphasized democracy & Christian values, ANTI-COMMUNIST
• Marshall Plan financial aid, Truman Doctrine military & financial aid, NATO alliance stability
• control over sexual freedom with birth control pills
• chocolates & consumer goods abundance
• ECSC → EEC → EU
• losing colonies: France loses Vietnam & Algeria (leading to French army demanding De Gaulle to lead new national government)
• empires falling: Great Britain retreating from India due to financial repercussions of wars

Great Britain's Welfare State

• National Health Service Act: socialized medicine by requiring doctors & dentists to work with state hospitals, costly byt in a few years 90% of doctors involved
• National Insurance Act: nationalized medicine insurance & social security program
• had to stop expenses abroad: disband empire, reduce aid to Turkey & Greece
• conservatives expanded social welfare by creating more housing
• unwilling to invest in modern industry/new methods
• lost much of prewar money + had debt = no longer world power

De Gaulle's France

• revised constitution to give president power to select prime minister, dissolve Parliament, supervise defense & foreign policy
• wanted to make France a world power so needed to joining Cold War → left NATO, gave Algerians independence, invested in nuclear arms
• made France a major producer and exporter of automobiles & arms
• Problems: high deficits, high cost of living & consumer goods → strikes & protest led to De Gaulle's resignation

Life in Eastern Europe during the Cold War

• Communist
• Soviet oppression: Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia Prague in 1968
• no free elections (political freedom)
• limited free speech and press
• Stalinization: bring what Stalin did in Russia to Eastern Europe (Five-Year Plans, collectivization)
• five-year plans: emphasis on heavy industry (seizing factories), little worker pay, NO consumer goods
• Warsaw Pact: communist (Soviet) defensive alliance, BUT when countries wanted to leave they were forcibly put down (Hungary, Czechoslovakia)
• cramped little housing
• many Soviet Satellite states (Poland, Bulgaria, Albania, Yugoslavia) started out as Stalinist THEN switched to moderate socialism
• focus on heavy industry & NOT consumer goods
• bread lines
• collectivized agriculture
• NO non-communist parties
• had tools of repression: secret police & military

Khrushchev's "Secret Police" (On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, 20th Congress, February 1956)

• a speech Khrushchev gave at closed section of the Communist Party conference
• shocked Soviet people by denouncing Stalin and his abusive policies
• Khrushchev pledged a "de-Stalinization" era in which he allowed greater freedoms (in theory) and a shift away from the "Cult of Personality" Stalin developed
• this relaxation of control & censorship is sometimes referred to as "the Thaw"

Revolt in Eastern Europe: Poland, 1956

• Polish government under Gomulka wanted reforms and the ability for Poles to worship in the Roman Catholic Church
• did NOT want out of the Warsaw Pact
• by pledging to remain in the Warsaw Pact, Poland was allowed to reform
• BUT Soviets forbade Poles from allowing the Pope to visit

Revolt in Eastern Europe: Hungary, 1956

• Hungarians didn't like communism, secret police or economic difficulties
• Nagy declared Hungary a free nation with free elections → Red Army invades Budapest & puts Kádár in charge (but he kept Nagy's economic reforms)
• US claims its too far away to do anything
• Hungary kept in Warsaw Pact (wanted to be out of it)

Sputnik, 1957

• world's first space satellite
• created by RUSSIA, first time they were the 'top dog,' Khrushchev very happy
• could interrupt radio
• US freaked out & works hard to send their own spaceship
• leads to more powerful technology, man on the moon
• START of the space race
• elevated Soviet Union reputation as a world power

The GDR (East Germany) builds the Berlin Wall, August 1961

• Khrushchev & Ulbricht's plan to cut off flow of refugees to the West
• East German workers build wall under military supervision
• mines & automatic machine guns guard subway stations
• built completely in East Germany
• US accepted its existence because access to West Berlin from West Germany was still allowed
• more than 100 miles of wall topped by watch towers surrounded West Berlin
• symbol of divided Europe

Bay of Pigs, 1961

• Soviet Union supports Castro's totalitarian regime
• Soviet Union tried to give Castro nukes
• US attempts to invade Cuba through Bay of Pigs & overthrow Castro
• invasion fails

Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

• Soviet Union decides to station missiles in Cuba
• Soviet fleet carrying missiles makes its way to Cuba
• US already had missiles in Turkey, so Soviet Union justified doing it himself
• US puts a blockade around Cuba as Soviet fleet advances
• Khrushchev agrees to turn back fleet if Kennedy promises not to invade Cuba BUT not known to the public, US removes their missiles from Turkey
• 1963: hot-line communication system created between Moscow & Washington DC
• US and Soviet Union agree to ban nuclear tests in atmosphere

Revolt in Eastern Europe: "Prague Spring" Czechoslovakia, 1968

• Dubcek elected & brought reforms (freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom to travel abroad, relax secret police) → people wanted to leave the Soviet Bloc (Warsaw Pact) → August 1968: Red Army invades, crushes reform movement & puts Husák in power (abolishes reforms & brings back old order)