Eastern Bloc

Examples of Eastern Bloc in the following topics:

• The Soviet Socialist Republics

  • Throughout the Eastern Bloc, both in the Soviet Socialist Republic and the rest of the Bloc, Russia was given prominence, and referred to as the naibolee vydajuščajasja nacija (the most prominent nation) and the rukovodjaščij narod (the leading people).
  • While over 15 million Eastern Bloc residents migrated westward from 1945 to 1949, emigration was effectively halted in the early 1950s, with the Soviet approach to controlling national movement emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc.
  • Stalinist regimes in the Eastern Bloc saw even marginal groups of opposition intellectuals as a potential threat because of the bases underlying Stalinist power therein.
  • The suppression of dissent and opposition was a central prerequisite for the security of Stalinist power within the Eastern Bloc, though the degree of opposition and dissident suppression varied by country and time throughout the Eastern Bloc.
  • In addition, media in the Eastern Bloc served as an organ of the state, completely reliant on and subservient to the communist party.

• The Cold War Begins

  • The Cold War began with the formation of the Eastern Bloc, as well as the implementation of the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Blockade.
  • These included eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, part of eastern Finland, and eastern Romania.
  • The Eastern European territories liberated from the Nazis and occupied by the Soviet armed forces were added to the Eastern Bloc by converting them into satellite states.
  • Fearing American political, cultural and economic penetration, Stalin eventually forbade Soviet Eastern bloc countries from accepting Marshall Plan aid.
  • Stalin believed that economic integration with the West would allow Eastern Bloc countries to escape Soviet control, and that the US was trying to buy a pro-US re-alignment of Europe.

• Conclusion: Truman and the Beginning of the Cold War

  • The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states).
  • A series of events during and after World War II exacerbated tensions, including the Soviet-German pact during the first two years of the war leading to subsequent invasions, the perceived delay of an amphibious invasion of German-occupied Europe, the western allies' support of the Atlantic Charter, disagreement in wartime conferences over the fate of Eastern Europe, the Soviets' creation of an Eastern Bloc of Soviet satellite states, western allies scrapping the Morgenthau Plan to support the rebuilding of German industry, and the Marshall Plan.
  • The USSR consolidated its control over the states of the Eastern Bloc, while the United States began a strategy of global containment to challenge Soviet power, extending military and financial aid to the countries of Western Europe (for example, supporting the anti-communist side in the Greek Civil War) and creating the NATO alliance.
  • It was distinguished from rollback by implicitly tolerating the previous Soviet takeovers in Eastern Europe.
  • Europe became split between the Soviet "Eastern Bloc" and the "Western Bloc."

• Origins of the Cold War

  • Serious differences emerged over the future development of Germany and Eastern Europe.
  • After the war, Stalin sought to secure the Soviet Union's western border by installing communist-dominated regimes under Soviet influence in bordering countries, called the Eastern Bloc.
  • These later annexed territories include Eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, part of eastern Finland and northern Romania.
  • In response to perceived western aggression, in September 1947, the Soviets created Cominform to enforce orthodoxy within the international communist movement and tighten political control over Soviet satellites through coordination of communist parties in the Eastern Bloc.
  • The borders of Eastern bloc's members other than the USSR, Poland and Yugoslavia are shown in their post-war status.

• The Iron Curtain

  • A series of events during and after World War II exacerbated tensions, including the Soviet-German pact during the first two years of the war leading to subsequent invasions, the perceived delay of an amphibious invasion of German-occupied Europe, the western allies' support of the Atlantic Charter, disagreement in wartime conferences over the fate of Eastern Europe, the Soviets' creation of an Eastern Bloc of Soviet satellite states, western allies scrapping the Morgenthau Plan to support the rebuilding of German industry, and the Marshall Plan.
  • In the course of World War II, Stalin determined to acquire a buffer area against Germany, with pro-Soviet states on its border in an Eastern bloc.
  • Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe.
  • He accused Churchill of warmongering, and defended Soviet "friendship" with eastern European states as a necessary safeguard against another invasion.
  • Yugoslavia, although communist-ruled, remained largely independent of the two major blocs and is shaded green.

• Consumer marketing models

  • By way of example, compare the automobile industry in developed countries to the automobile industry in the Soviet Bloc countries prior to 1989.
  • Customers had a wide variety of automobile models to choose from while citizens in the Eastern Bloc had few.

• Crisis in Berlin

  • After the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, many of those living in the newly acquired areas of the Eastern Bloc aspired to independence and wanted the Soviets to leave.
  • Between 1945 and 1950, over 15 million people emigrated from Soviet-occupied Eastern European countries to the West.
  • Taking advantage of this route, the number of Eastern Europeans applying for political asylum in West Germany was 197,000 in 1950, 165,000 in 1951, 182,000 in 1952, and 331,000 in 1953.
  • The Berlin sector border was essentially a "loophole" through which East Bloc citizens could still escape.

• Europe After World War II

  • Western Europe and Japan were rebuilt through the American Marshall Plan whereas Eastern Europe fell in the Soviet sphere of influence and rejected the plan.
  • Europe was divided into a US-led Western Bloc and a Soviet-led Eastern Bloc.
  • The former became a neutral state, non-aligned with any political bloc.
  • The latter was divided into western and eastern occupation zones controlled by the Western Allies and the USSR, accordingly.
  • The Soviet Union also took over the Polish provinces east of the Curzon line, from which 2 million Poles were expelled; north-east Romania, parts of eastern Finland, and the three Baltic states were also incorporated into the USSR.

• Operation Barbarossa

  • Most importantly, the operation opened up the Eastern Front, to which more forces were committed than in any other theater of war in world history.
  • It captured the bridge over the Moscow-Volga Canal as well as the railway station, which marked the farthest eastern advance of German forces.
  • More people died fighting on the Eastern Front than in all other fighting across the globe during World War II.
  • More than just ushering-in untold death and devastation, Operation Barbarossa and the subsequent German failure to achieve their objectives changed the political landscape of Europe dividing it into eastern and western blocs.
  • The gaping political vacuum left in the eastern half of the continent was filled by the USSR when Stalin secured his territorial prizes of 1939–40 and firmly placed his Red Army in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the eastern half of Germany.

• Trade Blocs and Common Markets

  • A trade bloc is an agreement where regional barriers to trade are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.
  • The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an example of a formal trade bloc.
  • However, entering a trade bloc also strengthens ties between member parties.
  • For better or for worse, trade blocs are prevalent.
  • Since 1997, more than 50% of all world commerce was conducted under the auspices of regional trade blocs, such as NAFTA.