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Unit 6 How secure was the USSR's Control over Eastern Europe (Poland…
Unit 6 How secure was the USSR's Control over Eastern Europe
Hungarian Uprising
Why did Hungarians hate communism?
They had no freedom of speech, the Catholic church was banned, feared the secret police, They disliked the Soviets living in their country, had to pay for the Soviets to stay there.
What did Hungarians do?
Students pulled down the statue of Stalin, Hungarians demanded the Soviet army to withdraw "Red Army". demanded to withdraw from Warsaw Pact
How did Khrushchev respond
Khrushchev was going to allow reforms and allow a popular Imre Nagy but he could not allow withdraw from Warsaw Pact.so instead he sent 1000 soviet troops into the capital Budapest. Two weeks of fighting led to 3,000 people being killed and only 2%of the population left.
Prague spring
Why was there opposition in Czech
Dubcek wanted "socialism with a human face" Czechs wanted less censorship,more freedom,and a reduction in activities of secret police. There was only one political party in Czech.
How did the USSR respond?
The USSR argued with Dubcek to slow him down. Troops performed exercises on the Czech border. USSR thought about imposing economic sanctions. Finally, Soviet tanks moved into Czech
Outcome
There was little violent resistance. Dubcek was removed from power even though Dubcek demonstrated loyalty to the Warsaw Pact. Brezhnev was worried that the new ideas would spread out of Czech. Eastern Europe leaders feared that their own people would demand the same freedom
Poland Solidarity
Problems in Poland
Poland's economy was in bad shape. Their food was going up. Wages were not rising along with the price of goods. The economy was shrinking and Poland's foreign debt was rising.
Solutions
Workers began to set up trade unions, which would organize strikes in order to make changes . The communist government cracked down on these union strikes. Solidarity movement issued their 21 demands
Importance of Solidarity
this solidarity is important because it showed how by learning from someone's mistakes Poland made a difference. This was an organized movement, not a street protest. Lech Walesa gave interviews and was seen as a true leader.
USSR Response
The USSR placed tanks and troops on the border with Poland. The USSR encouraged General Jaruzelski to declare martial law. 150000 members of the solidarity were arrested. The USSR made the Solidarity illegal.
In the end thank to having an organized solidarity Lech Walesa became the leader of Poland in free elections.
Berlin Wall 1961
Why did Germans want to Leave?
The Hungarians uprising showed it was impossible to fight communists. Some left because of political reasons,some left for economic reasons. Eastern Europe fell further behind those of the west germany had great everything due to massive investment by the West Powers
Why was it a Problem?
Those who were defecting were highly skilled workers or well qualified managers. Thousands of leaving communism meant undermining communism generally.
Khrushchev's Solution
Khrushchev insisted that Kennedy withdraw US troops from the city. On August 13,1961 erected a barbed wire barrier along the entire frontier between East and West. All crossing points from EAst and West Berlin were sealed except for one Checkpoint Charlie
The West's Reaction
US diplomats and troops crossed regularly. 27 of October soviet tanks pulled up to Checkpoint Charlie and refused to allow any access to the East. The US and the USSR faced each other in a tense stand-off after 18 hours they pulled back
USSR Collapse
Causes of Gorbachev Reform
The economy was weak because of overspending on nukes and wars. The quality of life was low in ways such as people not trusting the government, the life expectancy was decreasing and corruption was really bad, communist members were receiving things that no citizen could get.
Gorbachev's Reforms
Glasnost : The media was less restricted and could now report news honestly.
Perestroika: This introduced some elements of capitalism to the USSR, in order to fix the economy.
Decrease Defense Spending:Gorbachev cut the number of soldiers he was paying.He withdrew troops form Afghanistan. He cut spendings on Arms Race
Effects of the Reforms on Eastern Europe
In 1985 Gorbachev informs the Warsaw Pact nations that they are free to do as they please in their countries. In 1988 Gorbachev announced he was withdrawing troops from Eastern Europe, the message was, “the Red Army will not support your communist Government any longer.” The 15 republics in the USSR also began to declare their independence as well.Communists tried to overthrow Yeltsin but they were unsuccessful, on Dec. 25th Gorbachev announced the end of the USSR.