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Unit 6: How secure was the USSR's control over Eastern Europe (Prague…
Unit 6: How secure was the USSR's control over Eastern Europe
Hungarian Uprising
Hungarians hated communism because they had to pay for soviet forces in Hungary, they had no FOS, catholic church was banned, the USSR controlled their economy as much as education and they feared secret police.
The Hungarians demanded the USSR army to leave, students protested, they demanded withdraw from the Warsaw pact and a new leader.
Although the USSR responded :
They didn't accept the withdraw of the Hungarians from the Warsaw Pact.
1,000's of Soviet troops and tanks rolled into the capital Budapest
two weeks of fighting killed 3,000 Hungarians
200,000 Hungarians fled to Austria to escape the violence
Imre Nagy and other leaders were imprisoned and executed.
Prague spring
Czechoslovakians wanted less censorship, more freedom of speech, reduction of activities in the secret police and Dubcek wanted more socialism spread
The USSR argued argued with Dubcek to try to slow him down, and finally they moved their tanks into Czechoslovakia.
Czechoslovakians opposed to the Soviet Union
As an outcome there was little violent resistance, Dubcek was removed from power, E.E leaders feared that their people would demand the same freedom Dubcek allowed in czechoslovakia.
Poland Solidarity
There was many problems in Poland such as their economy, prices in food and their foreign debt was rising.
THerefore, workers set up trade unions for strikes, they set up 21 demands to the gov, they wanted free speech, equal benefits provided to workers as the communist party had, broadcasting of catholic church, and election of factory managers
Solidarity union formed by the leader Lech Walesa was established by Jaruzelski as ilegal and 150,000 solidarity members were arrested
Throughout this Solidarity continued strikes against the govt and Lech Walesa became the actual leader of Poland.
Berlin Wall
Germans wanted to leave Eastern Europe because it was impossible to fight communism, they hated the politics established and standards of living in West europe were much better in economy, goods and wealth.
Germans living was a problem for the USSR because they were skilled workers and thousands leaving meant that they left for a better life under capitalism.
Therefore, NIkita Khrushchev demanded kennedy to withdraw US troops from Berlin and they set up a border
The west reacted trying to cross but soviet tanks refused any further access to the East, the US and the USSR faced each other and pulled back their tanks, Kennedy said a wall was better than a war and even though communists saw it as a way of protection, capitalists saw it as a prison
Ussr Collapse
Gorbachev wanted to reform the USSR because their economy was very poor and their quality of life was quite low
In other hand, Gorbachev didn't want to end communism only improve it
Gorbachev created the following reforms:
glasnost: the media could now report honestly
Perestroika: it included some capitalism to fix their economy
Decrease Defense Spending: he stopped spending money in soldiers, arms race, nuclear missiles and troops/
As a result they were freed of the Warsaw pact, they withdrew their troops from E.E, all 15 republics in the USSR declared independence and after elections on Yeltsin, Gorbachev announced the end of the USSR.