The Soviet Union 1945-48

What did the Percentages Agreement and the Yalta Agreement confirm to Stalin?

Eastern Europe and the states that USSR had liberated from Nazi occupation would fall within a Soviet sphere of influence

What did Stalin focus on rather than ideological expansion?

Influence

What was Stalin’s actions motivated by?

Determination to safeguard Soviet international interests and territory

What was Stalin’s initial intent?

To establish a defence zone/ buffer zone to the west of the USSR based on satellite states

When was the buffer zones completed by?

1948

Examples of pro-Soviet communist regimes

Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania and Czechoslovakia

What would the buffer zones reinforce?

The defensive capability of the USSR against possible West threats

What was it common for communists to do?

Form alliances with other left-wing parties and then take control of them

How did communists take control of other parties?

Intimidate opposite candidates and manipulate election results

When did communists figure predominantly?

Anti-fascist wartime resistance

Where was there a compliance towards communism?

Eastern Europe

What happened to the communist party in Czechoslovakia May 1946?

Emerged as the largest single party and won 38% of the relatively free elections

What had war left Eastern European states with?

Mass unemployment and economic chaos

What did communism offer them which was better than capitalists?

Better prospects, employment and social mobility

What were communists perceived as?

Freedom fighters due to struggle against Nazism

What did rural peasants look to pro-agrarian parties for?

To deliver land redistributions

What did Stalin believe about the communist ideology?

It could only be fulfilled if both the USSR was powerful and the leader was all-powerful

What was Stalin committed to over ideology?

Power

What could the communist regimes established not be?

Independent of Soviet influence

What did leaders of Eastern European states have to function as?

Stalinist puppets