- After World War 2, the Soviet Union exerted control over Eastern Europe by installing communist governments in neighboring countries. - The Soviets took over countries like Albania, East Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia from 1944-1948. In each country, communist parties drove out opposition and established totalitarian rule aligned with the Soviet Union. - Stalin used both coercion and promises of aid to bring Eastern European countries under Soviet control. By 1948, the region was firmly within the Soviet sphere of influence, alarming Western powers like the United States and United Kingdom.

1. SOVIET CONTROL
EASTERN EUROPE
OCCUPATION OF
EASTERN EUROPE

2. Cambridge Bibliography
• Allan Todd. The European Dictatorships. Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini (2002).
• Allsopp John. Challenge and Response (1980).
• Anne Applebaum. The crushing of Eastern Europe (2013).
• Andrew Heywood. Politics (1997).
• BBC Bitesize. GCSE-CCEA (2023).
• Ben Walsh. Modern World History (2001).
• Colin Pearce. Representations of 20th Century History (1995).
• John Martell. The Twentieth-Century World (1980).
• Philip Ingram. Russia and the USSR, 1905-1991 (1997).
• Ralph Levering. Debating the Origins of the Cold War. American and Russian Perspectives
(2001).
• Robert Gellately. Lenin, Stalin and Hitler (2008).
• Tony McAleavy. Twentieth Century History. International Relations Since 1919 (2002).
• Steve Phillips. Lenin and the Russian Revolution (2000).

4. Soviet Takeover of Albania
• In December 1944, the National Liberation
Movement drove the Germans out of Tirana. The
movement was dominated by the Albanian
Communist Party, led by Enver Hoxha.
• The communists killed all potential opposition and
isolated the country from the non-Communist world.
They took control of the police, the court system and
the economy, and eliminated hundreds of political
opponents.
• In December 1945, elections for the Albanian
People's Assembly were held. Voters had the choice
of approving or rejecting a single list from the
Democratic Front. In 1946, Albania was declared the
People's Republic of Albania and broke relations with
the United States.
Enver Hoxha

5. Knee to Knee with the People by Zef Shoshi, 1983

6. Soviet Takeover of East Germany
• East Germany was part of the Soviet zone of
occupation as agreed at the Yalta Conference
and in 1945 the Soviets set up a communist
regime.
• It was a socialist "workers' and peasants'
state".
• Its territory was administered and occupied by
Soviet forces, bounded on the east by the
Oder–Neisse line.
• East Germany was ruled by the Socialist Unity
Party of Germany and operated with a
command economy for 41 years until 3
October 1990 when East and West Germany
were unified.
• The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9,
1989, marked the end of the Cold War and

8. Soviet Takeover of Romania
• After Soviet invasions following two years of
Romania fighting with the Axis, at Yalta and
Potsdam Conferences, the western allies agreed
to the Soviet absorption of Romania.
• In the 1945 elections, a communist-led coalition
government was elected.
• The Communists gradually removed their
coalition partners and abolished the Romanian
monarchy (Regele Mihai – King Michael).
• Political persecution of local leaders and strict
radio and press control were designed to
prepare for an eventual unlimited Communist
totalitarianism, including the liquidation of
opposition.

11. Soviet Takeover of Bulgaria
• In 1944, with the Red Army into Romania, the
Kingdom of Bulgaria renounced the Axis and
declared neutrality.
• Soviet Union declared war on the kingdom and
the Red Army entered north-eastern Bulgaria,
prompting the government to declare support.
• On 9 September 1946, communist partisans
launched a coup d'état which ended the rule of
the Bulgarian monarchy, after which a new
government assumed power (Bulgarian
Communist Party).
• The government gradually eradicated its
opponents.
• Bulgaria was closely allied with the Soviet Union
during the Cold War, being part of Comecon as
Georgi
Dimitrov,
leader of the
Bulgarian
Communist
Party from
1946 to 1949.

12. 1946 - Bulgarian coup d'état Soviet Army in Sofia

14. Soviet Takeover of Poland
• Fearing that a non-communist government would
be elected in 1947, Stalin invited 16 non-
communist politicians to Moscow, where they
were arrested. With their political opponents
removed, the Polish communists won the election.
• The victorious communists completed their
monopoly of power in 1948 by absorbing the
increasingly dependent PPS to become the Polish
United Workers’ Party (PUWP).
• The Sovietization of Poland, accompanied by
terror, included the nationalization of industry
and the expropriation of privately owned land
parcels larger than 50 hectares.
Bolesław Bierut,
was a Polish
communist activist
and politician,
leader of the
Polish People's
Republic from
1947 until 1956.

15. Bolesław Bierut inspecting members of the
Union of Polish Youth, 1946
Bierut decorating the most productive workers on
the rebuilt Poniatowski Bridge in Warsaw, 1946.
Bierut was often
photographed
with children,
which was meant
to contribute to
his cult of
personality.

17. Soviet Takeover of Hungary
• Hungary was invaded by the Russians, and in
1945 the Allies agreed that Russian troops
should stay there.
• Stalin allowed elections, in which the non-
communists won a big majority.
• The communist politician Rakosi hinted that
the Russians would take over if need be.
• Then he got control of the police and started to
arrest his opponents.
• He set up a brutal secret police unit, the AVO.
• By 1947, Rakosi had complete control.
• The takeover by the communists was
completed on 18 August 1949, when Hungary
became the People's Republic of Hungary.
Mátyás
Rákosi was a
Hungarian
communist
politician
who was the
de facto
leader of
Hungary
from 1947
to 1956.

18. Rákosi during the 2nd World Festival of Youth and Students.
Rákosi
addresses an
election rally
in Budapest,
1954.
Rakosi in a
propaganda
poster, 1949.

19. Soviet Takeover of Czechoslovakia
• Czechoslovakia was the last country in Eastern
Europe to fully fall to communism in 1948.
• At elections that year, only communists were
allowed to stand, and a communist government
was elected.
• Following the coup d'état of February 1948, when
the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSC)
seized power with the support of the Soviet Union,
the country was declared a socialist republic when
the 9th of May Constitution became effective. The
mass media in Czechoslovakia was controlled by
the KSČ.
• Private ownership of any publication or agency of
the mass media was generally forbidden, although
churches and other organizations published small
Antonín Josef
Novotný was First
Secretary of the
Communist Party
of Czechoslovakia
from 1953 to
1968, and also
held the post of
president of
Czechoslovakia
from 1957 to
1968.

20. Pro-Communist demonstrations before the coup d'état in 1948.
Antonín
Josef
Novotný
was a
communist
hardliner.

21. Different sources and individual study guidance
WHO’S NEXT TO BE LIBERATED FROM FREEDOM, COMRADE?
Stalin used a
“carrot and
stick” approach
to control
Eastern Europe.
Explain what
this means and
refer to the
information of
the cartoon in
your answer.
David Low
comments on
Stalin’s control
of Eastern
Europe,
2 March 1948.

22. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING
1. List the main objects or people you see in the cartoon.
2. Which do you think are symbols? What do these symbols mean?
3. What words are used in the cartoon? Is there a caption?
4. Describe the action that takes place in the cartoon.
5. Using your observations, explain what you think the cartoonist‘s message is.
Different sources and individual study guidance
WHO’S NEXT TO BE LIBERATED FROM FREEDOM, COMRADE?
TASK

23. This cartoon was the work of David Low in the London Evening Standard.
In March 1948, the British cartoonist illustrates the Communist threat facing the whole of
Europe and deplores Moscow’s stranglehold on some countries, such as Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Albania, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, etc.
From left to right we can see the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his Foreign Minister
Vyacheslav Molotov.
The cartoon depicts Stalin sitting on a chair with a desk in front, his hands looking to press
one of many buttons that have the names of different countries.
The caption reads “Who's next to be liberated from freedom, comrade?”
Low seems to be mocking Stalin's beliefs in thinking that the spread of communism will
bring freedom to other countries.
It clearly defines the perspective of the US and Great Britain towards Russia and their
ideas, mocking them and disagreeing with them.
Different sources and individual study guidance
WHO’S NEXT TO BE LIBERATED FROM FREEDOM, COMRADE?
ANSWER

24. Different sources and individual study guidance
EXCERPT FROM US PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN’S ADDRESS
BEFORE A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS (1947)
READ AND DISCUSS
The peoples of a number of countries of the world have recently had totalitarian regimes forced upon them against their
will. At the present moment, in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice
is too often not a free one. One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions,
representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom
from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority.
It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal
freedoms. I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own
destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential
to economic stability and orderly political processes. The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want.
They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a
better life has died. We must keep that hope alive. The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their
freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world. And we shall surely endanger the
welfare of this nation. Great responsibilities have been placed upon us by the swift movement of events. I am confident
that the Congress will face these responsibilities squarely.

25. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING
1. What is President Truman asking for in his speech?
2. What are the first and second “ways of life” that President Truman refers to?
What countries is President Truman referring to when he talks about the two
ways of life?
3. According to President Truman, how should the U.S. help free peoples?
Different sources and individual study guidance
WHO’S NEXT TO BE LIBERATED FROM FREEDOM, COMRADE?
TASK

26. Readings attached to the lesson.