How had the USSR gained control of Eastern Europe by 1948?

• Why Stalin Wanted Control of Eastern Europe

  • 1943-1945: Soviet Red Army liberated many countries in Eastern Europe from Nazi control 
  • After 1945, Stalin wanted to keep control of these countries 
  • wanted them to act as a buffer zone between East+West
  • countries were called satellite states
  • They had to stay in orbit of USSR, meaning:
  • They relied on USSR
  • USSR influenced the countries’ actions+politics
  • As each Eastern European country fell to communism, it:
  • Confirmed Truman’s concern about communism spread
  • Heightened US anti-communist attitudes
  • Encouraged Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speech
• what’s red army 


  the army of the Soviet Union
• Poland+Warsaw Uprising, 1944-5

  • 1944: Poland attempt to overthrow their Nazi German occupiers-Warsaw Uprising
  • Germany defeated Warsaw Uprising 
  • Red Army stay in Poland post Warsaw Uprising
  • Yalta Conference: Grand Alliance agreed to free elections in Poland
  • Stalin didn’t want Poland to have a non-communist govt
  • June 1945: Poland had a coalition govt (group of political parties working together to win an election)
  • During 1947 elections, USSR led a campaign of violence+intimidation
  • communists gained 80% of vote
  • election was either rigged or people voted for communists out of fear
• The ‘Baltic States’, 1940

  • The Soviet Union took over the ‘Baltic States’ (north-eastern region of Europe, eg Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) during the WW2
  • The Soviet Union saw them as legitimate Soviet states
  • The Baltic States wanted independence
  • They stated that the USSR’s actions were illegal
• Romania, Bulgaria and East Germany, 1944-45

  • At the Yalta Conference, the Grand Alliance agreed thatEast Germany would fall under the USSR’s influence
  • Romania and Bulgaria both lost their monarchies, which were replaced by Communist governments
• Hungary 1945-49

  • Non-Communists won the 1945 election in Hungary
  • A Communist politician called Rakosi took control of the secret police
  • He imprisoned political opponents
  • This pressure forced the resignation of the Hungarian Prime Minister
  • The Communists won the 1947 election
  • All other political parties were banned in 1949
• Czechoslovakia, 1948

  • Czechoslovakia was a democracy from 1919 to 1938 
  • Nazi Germany occupied the Sudetenland and then the whole of Czechoslovakia in 1938
  • After 1945, a non-Communist called Edward Benes led a coalition government
  • Stalin saw this as a threat to his buffer zone and wanted a Communist government in power
  • In 1948, pro-communist Klement Gottwald led a coup 
  • He took over the government with support from the USSR
• Communism in Yugoslavia and Albania

  • The Soviet Union viewed Yugoslavia and Albania as satellite states
  • They were never occupied by the Soviet Red Army
  • They had established their own Communist governments
  • They were given more independence than countries neighbouring the USSR
• The USA’s Reaction to the Satellite States

  • In 1945, Roosevelt and Churchill had accepted that the USSR would influence Eastern Europe
  • They still saw the importance of allowing free elections
  • Truman saw the creation of satellite states as a deliberate attempt to spread Communism
  • Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speech in 1946 worsened relations between East and West
  • The satellite states challenged Truman’s policy of containment
  • This prompted Truman to establish the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan
• What is Containment 


  policy of the USA and other countries to prevent an increase in Soviet influence post WW2