Motivations & Consequences of the USSR’s Control of Eastern Europe (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE History)

The USSR experienced a significant amount of damage due to the Second World War. The country experienced around 27,000,000 civilian and military casualties, 60 times more than the USA. Operation Barbarossa also destroyed 3,000 Soviet towns and cities. The leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, was motivated to rebuild and expand the country. 

The defeat of Nazi Germany had left a power vacuum in Eastern Europe. Hitler’s concept of Lebensraum meant that he had expanded Germany eastwards. By 1941, Germany occupied much of Eastern Europe. The Russian Empire of the 19th and early 20th centuries included many of these countries. Stalin believed that this was the ideal opportunity to claim them back for himself. The Soviet Army pushed back the Germans in 1943, liberating Eastern Europe as they went. Stalin used this excuse to continue stationing the Red Army in Eastern Europe after 1945. When challenged on this at the Yalta Conference, Stalin assured the Allies that he would allow free elections in these countries. Stalin used intimidation and propaganda to establish satellite states of the USSR.

Stalin believed that the Eastern Bloc was essential for the USSR’s safety. Truman’s secrecy around the atomic bomb made Stalin distrust the West. The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid attempted to ‘contain’ communism. As a result, Stalin viewed Eastern Europe as a ‘buffer zone’. If the West intended to fight communism in the USSR, they would have to defeat the satellite states.

This section of the course examines how secure the USSR’s control over Eastern Europe was. Life in the Eastern Bloc was challenging. The communist economy set Five Year Plans for each satellite state of the USSR. Each satellite state provided the USSR with a valuable product. Five Year targets were often unattainable. The local communist governments still expected workers to strive to meet the planned economic output. The USSR treated and paid their workers poorly, resulting in discontentment and poor health. Eastern Europeans had no human rights to protest or to vote.

Hungary, East Berlin, Czechoslovakia and Poland all attempted to protest or reform their countries. The USSR met all four with violence and repression. These methods were only effective in the short term. Pressure outside of and within the USSR meant that the USSR’s control could not last forever. The end of control in Eastern Europe also led to the end of the USSR.