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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
PRAGUE SPRING
Why was there opposition on Czech?
Dubcek wanted ' socialism with a human hand'
Czechs wanted less censorship, more freedom of speech, and a reduction in activities of the secret police
There was only one social party in Czechoslovakia
How did the Soviet Union respond
The USSR tried various methods with Dubcek to slow him down
Troops performed very public training exercises on the Czech border
USSR thought about imposing economic sanctions
Finally, soviet tanks moved into Czechoslovakia
Outcome
There was a little violent resistent
Dubcek was removed from power
Even though Dubcek expressed loyalty to communism and the Warsaw pact
Eastern European leaders feared that their own people would demand the same freedom that Dubcek had allowed in Czech
POLAND SOLID
Problems in Poland
Poland's foreign debt was rising too
Wages were not rising along with the price of goods
The polish economy was in bad shape
Price of food was going way up
Overall economy was shrinking
Solution
Workers began to set up trade unions which would organize strikes in order to make changes
The communist Gov't cracked down on these union strikes (arrests,loss of jobs)
Solidarity (union) issued its 21 demands to the government, all were met
More pay
End of censorship/ free of speech
Worker benefit equal to communist party members
Broadcasting of Catholic Church services
Election of factory managers
Solidarity's memebership grew quickly
Sept 1980- 3.5 million people
Oct 1980- 7 million people
Jan 1981- 9.4 million people
Importance of Solidarity
This was organized movement, not street protests or riots
The leader of Solidarity, Lech Walesa, gave interviews and was seen as a true leader
The rest of the world paid attention to the situation in Poland
USSR Respond
USSR placed tanks and troops on the border with Poland
Brezhnev (USSR) encouraged General Jaruzelski (Poland) to declare martial law
150000 solidarity members were arrested
Solidarity was declared illegal
Aftermath
Solidarity continued call for strikes/ boycotts against the government
Solidarity continued to broadcast its radio program
Lech Walesa met with leaders of foreign countries and in 1990 became actual leader of Poland
BERLIN WALL
Why did Germans want to leave
The Hungarian Uprising showed it was impossible to fight the communist
Some left because of political reasons, some left for economic reasons
Eastern Europe fell further behind those of the west
West Germany had shops had shops full of goods due to massive investments by the western powers
Why was leaving a problem for the USSR
Those who were defecting were often highly skilled workers or well-qualified managers
1000's leaving communism meant capitalism undermined communism
Krushchev's Solution
Krushchev insisted kennedy withdraw US troops from the city
On August 13.1961, East Germany soldiers erected a barbed wire along the frontier ending all free movement from East to West
All crossing points from East to West except for checkpoint Charlie
The West Reaction
US diplomats and troops croosed regularly into East Berlin
Soviet tanks pulled up to checkpoint Charlie and refused to allow any further access to the East
The US and USSR faced each other in a tense stand-off after 18 hours the tanks pulled back
Krushchev ordered Ulbricht to avoid any actions that would increase tense
Kennedy said 'it's not a very nice solution, but a wall is a hell of a lot better than war."
The communist said the wall was a protective shell around East Berlin
The Capatilist said the wall was a prison
USSR COLLAPSE