History – collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe – Flashcards

- In June Rákosi was opposed by a group within the Hungarian Communist Party - Rákosi appealed to Mocow for help. This was refused and he was 'retired' - Gero replaced him and following a huge demonstration on 23 October he was replaced by Nagy - The Soviet tanks began to withdraw but Nagy announced that Hungary was to leave the Warsaw Pact and that there would be free democratic elections - The troops and tanks returned but the Hungarians fought back - In two weeks of fighting, 3,000 Hungarians were killed - Hard-line Soviet control was re-established under Kádár and Nagy was captured and hanged

- It was a military alliance of the Eastern European countries set up in 1955 - dominated by the Soviet Union. - They agreed to defend each other if attacked - It included all Communist Countries except Yugoslavia - counter-point to NATO

- The Soviet Union reaction was brutal. After Nagy had announced that Hungary would leave the Warsaw Pact, Khrushchev sent 1000 tanks and troops into the capital Budapest and fired on protesters. The protesters did not give in and there was fighting for 2 weeks. - 3000 Hungarian protesters and 7000 Russian soldiers were killed. Nagy was imprisoned and executed. - The Hungarians were crushed and Soviet leader Khrushchev appointed a new leader KADAR. 35,000 anti-Communists were arrested and 300 executed. Western powers protested but did nothing. The Warsaw Pact had been set up in 1955. It was a military alliance of the Eastern European countries controlled by the Soviet Union. They agreed to defend each other if attacked. Khrushchev also reacted so harshly because he felt that the actions of the Hungarians in standing up to Soviet control would be copied in other Eastern European countries.

-It was a period of reform introduced by Dubcek - He wanted to provide 'socialism with a human face' - He allowed public meetings and relaxed censorship - Trade unions were given greater freedom and control of industry relaxed - Foreign travel was allowed

- Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring), allowed market forces to be introduced into the Soviet Union, for the first time in 60 years it was no longer illegal to buy ; sell for profit. Called for an open debate on government policy and honesty in facing up to problems - Communism should make life better - noticed they were behind the west, with worse quality goods - he wanted to reform but not dismantle communism, in order to change people's views on communism

- The city had been split at the end of the war and those in the East could see the much better living standards of those in West Berlin where shops were full of goods, there was greater freedom and the people enjoyed a higher standard of living - Many skilled people defected from East Germany to the West. This loss of high-quality people was something the Soviet Union could not afford and it undermined communism - In 1961 the USA had a new, young President, the young and inexperienced Kennedy. Khrushchev thought he could bully Kennedy and decided to pick a fight over Berlin. Khrushchev insisted that Kennedy withdraw US troops from the city. He was certain Kennedy would back down. Kennedy refused. All eyes were on Berlin. What would happen next? The response came at 2am Sunday 13 August 1961

- One of the most important countries in the warsaw pact; centrally places with the strongest industry - However Dubceck was introducing the idea of 'socialism with a human face' and relaxing censorship, allowing foreign travel, and criticism of the government, aswell as relaxing industry and giving trade unions more freedom - although he reassured Brezhnev that czechoslovakia he was worried that might change, especially when there was talk of allowing a rival social democrat party to be set up - worried ideas of reform might spread to other countries - Brezhnev came under pressure from East German leader Walter Ulbricht and Polish leader, Gomulka, to restrain reform in Czechoslovakia, as they were worried the ideas might spread to their own countries - Brezhnev was the new Soviet leader and he was just as determined as previous leaders to maintain Soviet control of eastern Europe and he felt this control was being threatened by the reforms known as the 'Prague Spring'. Brezhnev knew that if control was lessened in one country others would follow

YES - more violence 7,000-8,000 russians killed - fought back - greater aims, such as leaving the Warsaw pact - well-respected leader Imre Nagy - thousands of local councils were set up in place of soviet power - attempted to introduce genuine democracy - hungarian soldiers defected from the army to the rebel cause, taking their weapons with them NO - less organised, Dubceks government had a proper socialist action plan: 'socialism with a human face' - shorter (only 5 days compared to 4 months in Prague) - less actual freedom, more just plans - Czechoslovakian uprising was during the Vietnam war so stakes were higher, and it was a time of international caution, posing a much higher threat, whereas the hungarian uprising was just after the introduction of the warsaw pact (1955)

HIS FAULT - The reforms that Gorbachev introduced destabilised the Soviet Union - The policy of GLASNOST allowed for greater openness and transparency in government. The media was liberalised and were able to report embarrassing truths about the Communist government in the past - like Stalin ordering the execution of 26,000 Polish soldiers in Russian prison camps in 1940. - He also introduced PERESTROIKA which allowed private business to exist. Gorbachev meant well with these reforms but they caused chaos. His ideas caused widespread demand for change and freedom in the Empire. Interest in capitalist methods increased as did trade with the West. This also increased Soviet awareness of better standards of living in the West - In foreign policy Gorbachev made other changes as he knew the Soviet Union could not afford the Arms Race, and so he signed an agreement with America in 1987 called the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which ended the cost of the Arms Race and meant the Cold War was virtually over. - In 1988 Gorbachev also ended the Brezhnev Doctrine which meant that he would not use force against uprisings in Eastern European countries. Knowing that Gorbachev would not use force to suppress them encouraged people to demonstrate against Communist governments throughout Eastern Europe. - Many wanted to see the collapse of Communism as Gorbachev's reforms were not working as food shortages remained and prices were high - Over the next few months the Communists were removed from power in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and East Germany. This would result in the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 which was a hugely symbolic event preceding the reunification of Germany in 1990. NOT HIS FAULT -Solidarity had forced a strong, Soviet union backed, Communist government, to give way through the action of industrial workers backed by popular opinion and the use of nonviolent methods - Although the USSR still wanted a one-party Communist government in Poland they did not use force to ensure this unlike in Hungary and Czechoslovakia - The government in Poland had lost the confidence of the people and Solidarity showed that a Communist government could not solve Poland's economic problems - Communism was seen by many as corrupt and Soviet industry and agriculture inefficient. This was not helped by the spending of large sums of money on defence and in Afghanistan

- Solidarity had forced a strong Soviet union backed Communist government, to give way through the action of industrial workers backed by popular opinion and the use of non-violent methods, this encouraged reform elsewhere - The government in Poland had lost the confidence of the people and Solidarity showed that a Communist government could not solve Poland's economic problems, and this idea spread - Gorbachev's reforms including the freedom of speech allowed discontent to grow. Many wanted to see the collapse of Communism as Gorbachev's reforms were not working as food shortages remained and prices were high. - Communism was seen by many as corrupt and Soviet industry and agriculture inefficient - The reforms that Gorbachev introduced destabilised the Soviet Union - The policy of GLASNOST allowed for greater openness and transparency in government. The media was liberalised and were able to report embarrassing truths about the Communist government in the past - like Stalin ordering the execution of 26,000 Polish soldiers in Russian prison camps in 1940. - He also introduced PERESTROIKA which allowed private business to exist. Gorbachev meant well with these reforms but they caused chaos. His ideas caused widespread demand for change and freedom in the Empire. Interest in capitalist methods increased as did trade with the West. This also increased Soviet awareness of better standards of living in the West - In foreign policy Gorbachev made other changes as he knew the Soviet Union could not afford the Arms Race, and so he signed an agreement with America in 1987 called the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which ended the cost of the Arms Race and meant the Cold War was virtually over. - In 1988 Gorbachev also ended the Brezhnev Doctrine which meant that he would not use force against uprisings in Eastern European countries. Knowing that Gorbachev would not use force to suppress them encouraged people to demonstrate against Communist governments throughout Eastern Europe.

- Six years before Gorbachev came to power, in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up the Communist government there. The Communist government was being attacked by Muslim fighters. This war angered the Muslim world as over 1 million Afghan civilians died during the Soviet Union's 10 year occupation of Afghanistan. This was a problem for the Soviet Union as there were large Muslim populations living within its borders. The negative effect of this war might have been even worse if Gorbachev had not withdrawn troops from Afghanistan in 1989. - Another reason for the collapse of Soviet control was that the Soviet Union could not afford the arms race. In 1980 Reagan became President of the USA. He was a strong anti-Communist and massively increased spending on arms. The Soviet economy could not compete with this. Its economy was backward and out of date and decrepit industry caused environmental problems like the Chernobyl nuclear explosion of 1986. - Another factor was that the majority of people in Eastern Europe were much poorer than those in the West. In addition to the unrest over food shortages, crime, alcoholism and drugs were out of control in Soviet towns. SOLIDARITY - Solidarity highlighted the failure of Communism to provide good living standards and this undermined Communism's claim to be a system which benefited ordinary people - As conditions worsened over 10 million workers joined Solidarity. In August 1980 Solidarity led a series of huge strikes over much of Poland. Solidarity was so powerful that the Polish government gave into its demands: more pay, the right to strike and the right to join a union. This is another key reason that Solidarity was so important because it demonstrated that Communist governments could be threatened by 'people power'. GORBACHEV'S REFORMS - The policy of GLASNOST allowed for greater openness and transparency in government. The media was liberalised and were able to report embarrassing truths about the Communist government in the past - like Stalin ordering the execution of 26,000 Polish soldiers in Russian prison camps in 1940. - He also introduced PERESTROIKA which allowed private business to exist. Gorbachev meant well with these reforms but they caused chaos. His ideas caused widespread demand for change and freedom in the Empire. Interest in capitalist methods increased as did trade with the West. This also increased Soviet awareness of better standards of living in the West

- A key reason that Solidarity was important was because it highlighted the failure of Communism to provide good living standards and this undermined Communism's claim to be a system which benefited ordinary people. - As conditions worsened over 10 million workers joined Solidarity. Solidarity was so powerful that the Polish government gave into its demands: more pay, the right to strike and the right to join a union. It demonstrated that Communist governments could be threatened by 'people power'. (The Polish Government gave into Solidarity's demands because the union was strongest in the industries that were most important to the government - shipbuilding and heavy industry. A strike in these industries would have devastated Poland's economy. - gained the support of the West in a way that neither the Hungarian nor Czech rising had. The scale of the movement meant that the Soviet Union treated the Polish crisis with caution and gave into Solidarity. - Solidarity had great importance in Poland. In the short term Solidarity did not have a significant impact: In 1981 General Jaruzelski became leader. He made Solidarity illegal and reduced peoples' civil liberties. Walesa and 10,000 Solidarity leaders were imprisoned and martial law was introduced. However, in the long term the efforts of Solidarity was rewarded when in 1986 the new Soviet leader GORBACHEV declared that he would not interfere in the domestic affairs of other eastern European countries. This meant that Jaruzelski was forced to compromise and after 1989 Solidarity became a legitimate political party. It won 99 out of 100 freely contested Senate seats and a Solidarity led coalition government was formed.

- The reforms that Gorbachev introduced destabilised the Soviet Union - The policy of GLASNOST allowed for greater openness and transparency in government. The media was liberalised and were able to report embarrassing truths about the Communist government in the past - like Stalin ordering the execution of 26,000 Polish soldiers in Russian prison camps in 1940. - He also introduced PERESTROIKA which allowed private business to exist. Gorbachev meant well with these reforms but they caused chaos. His ideas caused widespread demand for change and freedom in the Empire. Interest in capitalist methods increased as did trade with the West. This also increased Soviet awareness of better standards of living in the West (In foreign policy Gorbachev made other changes as he knew the Soviet Union could not afford the Arms Race, and so he signed an agreement with America in 1987 called the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which ended the cost of the Arms Race and meant the Cold War was virtually over. ) - In 1988 Gorbachev also ended the Brezhnev Doctrine which meant that he would not use force against uprisings in Eastern European countries. Knowing that Gorbachev would not use force to suppress them encouraged people to demonstrate against Communist governments throughout Eastern Europe. - Many wanted to see the collapse of Communism as Gorbachev's reforms were not working as food shortages remained and prices were high

- The new Soviet leader Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinisation unintentionally caused problems in Hungary. In 1956 Khrushchev attacked Stalin's policies - the way that he got rid of all opponents and put them in prisons and kept all power in his hands. He called Stalin an 'enemy of the people'. Khrushchev even began to let political prisoners go free. This gave Hungarians, who hated the way that their leader RAKOSI ruled, hope. Rakosi was a hard-line Communist (strict like Stalin). It caused the Hungarian Uprising because the people of Hungary were encouraged to free themselves of Rakosi's rule and protest. - hated Russia' excessive control. They especially disliked the secret police (AVH), Russian control of the economy and the lack of basic freedoms like freedom of the press. - They hated the fact that they had thousands of soviet troops in their country and they had to pay for this. They also felt robbed of their cultural identity by the fact that they had Russian street signs, shops and schools in parts of Hungary. - Hungarians were strict Catholics and the Communist Party had virtually banned religion. (New leader NAGY removed state control of the mass media and this removal of censorship meant the people found out about the protests and began to join the opposition.)

- Soviet Union exerted excessive control over them. The people were especially unhappy with the bad state of their economy and the large amounts of censorship and the lack of other freedoms. They had hoped that Soviet control would result in industrial growth and an end to poverty and shortages. After all, the Soviet Union had achieved amazing economic growth before the war and they hoped that they would benefit from the Soviet Union's expertise. They had been controlled by the Soviet Union since 1948 and 20 years later in 1968 they were disappointed. - new leader called DUBCEK. He promised to give the people of Czechoslovakia more freedoms: more freedom of speech, less censorship and more tolerance towards non Communist political and social organisations. But Dubcek always announced how committed he was to Communism and said that his country would stay in the Warsaw Pact. The problems emerged when censorship was relaxed and opposition groups publically attacked the leaders of Czechoslovakia who were openly criticised on TV and were called corrupt and useless. This led to opposition growing even bigger. This period was called the PRAGUE SPRING because of all the new ideas that were appearing everywhere and the Czechoslovakian government gave its people more political rights.

- In August 1968, 500,000 troops from Warsaw Pact countries (Poland, East Germany and the Soviet Union) invaded Czechoslovakia. They seized control of Prague and arrested Dubcek who was demoted and sent to Turkey as an ambassador. - The people did not resist and even stood in front of the tanks throwing flowers on them. - A new leader who was pro Soviet and opposed Dubcek's reforms was put in place. - The Soviet Union reacted the way they did because Czechoslovakia was one of the most important countries in the Warsaw Pact. - It was centrally placed and had the strongest industries. The Warsaw Pact would not have a buffer with the west and would lose a Czechoslovakia's wealth and resources. - Another reason the Soviet Union reacted the way it did was because they were worried that the new ideas in Czechoslovakia would spread to other eastern European countries. - Soviet leader Brezhnev came under pressure from the East German leader (Ulbricht) and the Polish leader (Gomulka) to stop reforms taking place in Czechoslovakia. They feared that their own people would demand the same freedom that Dubcek had allowed in Czechoslovakia and that they would lose control and power.

- brought hope - stable government and security - expecttion of the end of shortages and poverty - happy to experiment with the idea of equality - 1945-55 economies did recover - lost the right to criticise the government - newspapers censored - lost freedom of speech - wages fell - forbidden to travel to countries in western europe - forbidden to apply for marshall aid from the US which would've aided recovery - 1945-55 factories didn't produce what people wanted

after the war there was a political vacuum in many Eastern European countries through cominform (aimed to co-ordinate the various comunist governments) he mades sure these countries followed the same policies as the USSR, becoming one party states with only the communists, and the secret police arrested opponents

- Council for mutual economic assistance set up in 1949 - aimed to co-ordinate countries and trade of the eastern european countries so they would mostly trade with eachother - set up a bank for socialist countries in 1964

- comunist information bureau set up in 1947 - to co-ordinate communist governments in eastern europe - ran meetings and set out instructions about what the Soviet Union wanted the countries to do

Similarities: - There was hostility to Russian control over too many aspects of life and anger at their countries poor economic performance - There was a shared hope that the United Nations or USA would help them once resistance started up - Both events started when the Soviet Union refused to support the existing government. Rakosi of Hungary wanted Soviet help to make 400 arrests of leading opponents to Communism and Czech leader Novotny (in power before Dubcek) wanted assistance in dealing with student protests - Both Rakosi and Navotny were unpopular leaders at the time of the event in their own countries, but both stayed loyal to the Soviet Union - Both Nagy and Dubcek were Communists yet they believed in a more liberal version of Communism. -The replacements for Nagy and Dubcek, Kadar and Husak respectively were both sympathetic to the Soviet regime - In both Hungary and Czechoslovakia, there were brief periods when the new government introduced reforms such as the extension of free speech - The Soviet Union was alarmed when Hungary announced plans in 1956 to leave the Warsaw Pact, and in 1968 alarms began to ring when Tito, whose country, Yugoslavia, was not part of the Warsaw Pact, visited Czechoslovakia - The actual strength of the Soviet invasion force was overwhelming in both cases - The West failed to help neither Nagy or Dubcek once the Soviet Union had invaded Differences: - The 1956 uprising started with riots in Hungary, but this was not the case in Czechoslovakia - Nagy announced that he was going to take Hungary out of the Warsaw Pact whereas Dubcek stressed that Czechoslovakia would stay in it - The uprising was better planned in Czechoslovakia than in Hungary, since Dubcek's government had a proper socialist Action Plan (reforms called 'socialism with a human face' - The Hungarians attempted to introduce genuine democracy, while Dubcek stressed that he wanted Communism (albeit 'democratic communism') - The period of time when there was a breakaway from Soviet rule was longer in Czechoslovakia. There were 4 months of freedom in Czechoslovakia, as opposed to just 5 days of freedom in Hungary - When the Soviet troops invaded, the Hungarians fought back whereas the Czechoslovaks put up only passive resistance - The punishment from the Soviet Union was also different. Some 3,000 to 4,000 Hungarians were executed, whereas only 47 Czechoslovaks were arrested - This is also true of the leaders, as Dubcek was arrested and briefly detained whereas Nagy was executed in 1958

the essentials of communism, defined as: a one party system, a member of the warsaw pact

- Solidarity was a trade union set up by Lech Walesa in Poland in 1980 - It fought to improve the conditions of Polish workers that the Polish Government could not solve. - Highlighted the failure of communism to provide good living standards and so undermined communism's claim to be a system that benefited ordinary people