How did the Soviet Union control eastern Europe?

• At the end of ww2 the USSR controlled a lot of Eastern Europe

• This was because the USSR has defeated Nazi forces in these countries on their way to Berlin.

• Stalin wanted Eastern Europe to be a soviet sphere of influence. This meant eastern Europe would be dominated by the USSR (politically and economically). This Eastern block provided a buffer between the USSR and Germany (if they ever attacked again) and also provided much needed resources.

• Each country has their own communist government but Stalin kept a tight control on them through the Cominform.

Cominform:

• stands for Communist Information Bureau.
• Stalin set this up in 1947 as an organisation to co-ordinate the various communist governments in eastern Europe
• Cominform ran meetings and sent out instructions to Communist governments about what the Soviet Union wanted them to do.

Comecon:

• stands for Council of Mutual Economic Assistance.
• Set up 1949 to coordinate industries and trade of ee countries.
• Idea was that members of Comecon traded mostly with each other and not the West, but it favoured the USSR much more.