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Theme 4: Nationalities and Satellite States(Communists) - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Territorial loss meant econ. loss: 3) 1/3 of pop., rail track & agriculture production 4) 2/3 of coal mines, half of Iron & steel production & most of oil & textile industry. 5) 6000 million Marks to be paid by Russia as part of follow up treaty in August
        
        BUT, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan all regained by USSR by 1921; most econ. losses short-lived. Ukraine, contain most coal mines & fertile land, Azerbaijan 80% of its oil. Baltics regained in 1940 & become most econ. advanced part of USSR after 1945
  - - - Seen as national humiliation; internal & external dissent meant Bolsheviks start to lose grip on power. Treaty's controversial nature also intensify Civil War, former allies and enemies see Bolsheviks as weak and compromised
        
        Lenin defend Treaty decision, allowed Bolsheviks to focus on domestic issues like giving peasants land & nationalizing industry. Also could concentrate on defeating 'white' army, solidifying Bolshevik rule and setting stage for Soviet Union.
- - - - The Polish-Soviet War (1919-21): :crossed_swords:
        
        Poland vs Soviet Russia in Feb 1919, neither want major conflict, Russia fight Civil War & Poles involved in Western border dispute with Germany.
        
        Polish Chief of State, Jozef Pilsudski; reject offer from Lenin for land in West Ukraine & Belarus. Also reject requests to join 'White' Forces by West allies. Felt 'Reds' would give land in Ukraine & Belarus. Refusal to join whites may have saved Bolsheviks in 1919 when it was in danger.
        
        April 1920- Ukraine independence leader(Symon Petliura); ally with Poles against Lenin; allow Poles to occupy Kiev in May 1920; Russian counter offensive push Poles back to Warsaw; thought invading Poland begin uprising of proleteriat, especially in Germany; but, Poles defend independence & push back
        
        Oct 1920, armistice signed; Treaty of Riga followed in 1921. gave large area of W. Ukraine & Belarus to Poland; left most to Russia(Capitals, Kiev & Minsk); Poles abandon Ukraine' let Lenin defeat them; lost Ukrainian independence, 'Red' Victory in Civil war soon after. Polish independence confirmed & never questioned except during Nazi-Soviet Pact 1939-41
  - - - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk seperate from Russia & Civil war, seem as if can gain independence; leader Petliura defeated by Red army; Treaty of Riga in 1921 gave most of Ukraine to Russia and its West to Poland.
        
        1920's, Soviets follow Policy of 'Nativisation' ; encourage use of Ukrainian language & promote Ukrainians to positions of power in administration. Opposite of Russification; reversed by Stalin.
    - - Following Bolshevik Rev. Caucasus declare independence in 1918, reconquered by red army 1920-1 & forced to join TSFSR in 1922; became part of USSR in 1924.
        
        In 1920's Communists persecuted religion but allow local cultures & econ. to flourish. Health & Ed. improved. Azerbaijan oil ind. expand; during WW2, supply 80% of USSR's oil
        
        Nationalist discontent cont., especially in Georgia; uprising in 1924; brutally suppressed by Stalin(Commissar for Nationalities); Lenin condemned Stalin for his brutality but died soon after.
  - - - 1922-following reconquest of Red army, Ukraine & all Caucasus added to RSFSR
        
        1924-USSR(Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) set up. Communists like to make it look like they weren't like the tsars and allowed self govt. & national flags, but all republics were actually controlled by Sovnarkom(Central Govt.)
  - - - But, Bolshevik persecution of religion inc. Judaism & Lenin gave orders that during Civil War; Jews at frontline of combat, exclude from administrative positions. Estimated 100,000 Jews murdered during Civil War mostly by Whites and Nationalities; sometimes by Reds but result of indiscipline
- - - - Result- led to a Great Famine(Holodomor); 3-7 million Ukrainian peasants died; deliberate mass starvation; no food until unrealistic high quotas met. To suppress resistance to collectivisation & Ukrainian nationalism.
        
        Industrialised; industrial prod. x4 in 1930's; crucial to Russian econ.
        
        Came under Soviet rule; Stalin's invasion of Poland(1939); Nazi's invade in 1941; Ukrainians welcome as 'Liberators'; 180,000 Ukrainians fought on Nazi side in WW2, participate in pogroms(Lvov 1941), work as guards at death camps like Auschwitz- most anti-semitic.
        
        Nazi Brutality; turn against; 7 million fight in Red Army. Stalin didn't trust them; after WW2; 500,000 to Siberia; Ukraine absorbed into USSR & Russified. e.g. Uniate Church in West Ukraine heavily persecuted for relations with Pope & West. Ukraine become more econ. vital to USSR; attracting 20% of all investment in first 5YP after WW2
  - - - Hitler defeats France, Russia decide to annex all Baltics to protect West Flank. Soviet occupation was brutal; Nazi's conquer in 1941; seen as 'Liberators'.
        
        Red army reconquer in 1944-5; met with partisan resistance(Forest Brother, Lithuania) until 1956; brutal suppress; 100,000's to siberia. Forced Soviet Republics within USSR, collectivisation of agriculture & Russification, by 1964 40% of pop. were Russian in Estonia & Latvia. Latvia econ important, most econ & tech advanced of USSR.
  - - - Aug 1939, Hitler offered to make deal with Stalin. Stalin engaged in secret talks with Germany, culminating in the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 23, 1939.
        
        "The Nazi-Soviet Pact marked a return to the old Tsarist policy of allying with the Germans to keep the Poles in subjection."
        
        Sep 17, 1939, USSR invaded Poland from the east, use protecting Ukrainians and Belorussians from Nazi occupation as excuse. Defeat of Poland led to its partitions.
        
        Stalin further demanded control over Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in exchange for a portion of central Poland.
    - - Following the Tsarist tradition, Stalin collaborated with Nazis to repress Poles, deport landowners and intellectuals to Siberia and massacring 22,000, aim to eliminate Poland's leadership and prevent its independence.
        
        The Shifting Alliances of WW2 🤝
        
        June 1941, Hitler surprised Stalin by invading the USSR(Barbarossa). This event theoretically made the Polish government in exile in London an ally of Stalin against Germany.
        
        Alliance was strained in 1943. Germans discovered mass graves of Polish officers shot at Katyn Forest in Belarus in 1940.
    - - 1944, the Red Army drove the Germans out of the USSR and invaded Poland.
        
        Stalin would retain the eastern Polish territory taken in 1939 and est. the National Liberation Committee (NLC) in Lublin, recognizing it as the legitimate govt. of Poland instead of Polish govt. in exile in London.
      - The Warsaw Uprising and Soviet Deception 🔥
        
        Red Army reach outskirts of Warsaw in Aug 1944, Stalin encourage Polish Army to rise against the Nazis. However, he provided no assistance, allowed Nazis to crush the uprising and destroy Warsaw.
        
        He even refused to allow British and US air forces to refuel in Soviet territory, preventing them from airlifting aid to the Poles.
        
        Yalta and Potsdam Conferences: Redrawing Borders 🗺️
        
        Yalta Conference, Feb 1945, Stalin insist keeping Polish land seized in 1939 & demand recognition of the NLC as the future Polish govt.
        
        Churchill and Roosevelt, no choice; agree as Red Army controlled Poland. Stalin proposed compensating Poland with German land in the west.
        
        Deal had 3 advantages:
        
        1) It appeared fair, compensating Poland for its losses and justifying the seizure of Polish land.
        
        2) It would weaken Germany, preventing it from threatening Russia again.
        
        3) It would anger the Germans, making the Poles dependent on Soviet support.
        
        Potsdam Conference, July 1945, Yalta agreements confirmed, & Oder-Neisse Line est. as Poland's new western frontier.
        
        Germany lost 25% of its pre-war territory, & millions of Poles were forcibly relocated from their lost eastern provinces to their new western ones.
  - - - Relations between Finland and the USSR were strained due to Finnish border to Leningrad. Finland rejected Stalin’s demands to hand over territory to secure Leningrad, the USSR invaded in November 1939, starting the Winter War.
        
        Finns inflict significantly more casualties on Russians but eventually were overwhelmed and ceded territory
        
        Finland During and After WW2: 🛡️
        
        Finland join Nazi invasion of USSR in 1941 & helped besiege Leningrad. After German defeat in 1945, the borders of 1941 were restored. An agreement reached confirms Finland’s independence in exchange for remaining neutral and not joining NATO.
- - - - When Bierut died in Moscow, Wladyslaw Gomulka, ousted by Bierut in 1948, was released from prison to take over. Gomulka, more independent and nationalist than Bierut, sought "a Polish way to socialism," allowing private farms and religious education in schools.
        
        Khrushchev, initially wary, was persuaded to allow Gomulka's takeover because of his popularity and assurances that the Communist Party's leading role and Poland's Warsaw Pact alliance with the USSR would remain intact. Gomulka's policies eased tension, and he stayed in power until 1970.
  - - - Khrushchev disapproved, June 1956, shortly after Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin, Rakosi was forced out of power, exiled to the USSR, replaced by Erno Gero, who had previously been Rakosi’s No. 2. Didn't satisfy the Hungarian people, resented the loss of their national independence, the persecution of religion, and low living standards caused by reparations and Stalinist economic policies.
        
        Hungarian Uprising of 1956: :crossed_swords:
        
        Began with student protests on October 23, during which a student was killed by the secret police (ADH). The next day, Soviet troops were sent to Budapest to suppress the unrest but failed, leading to Gero's resignation. Nagy became Prime Minister and announced the disbanding of the ADH, free elections, and Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. A ceasefire was agreed on October 28.
        
        Khrushchev initially decided to cooperate with the new government but changed his mind on October 31 due to:
        
        1) An attack on the Communist Party HQ and secret police showed that the authority of the Communist Party was at stake.
        
        2) Nagy's intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact threatened Soviet military security.
        
        3) Nagy's reforms went further than Gomulka's in Poland.
        
        4) Fears that unrest was spreading after events in E Germany and Poland.
        
        6) A split between the USA, GB, and France during the Suez Crisis made a united western response unlikely.
        
        On Nov 4, 1956, the Red Army invaded Hungary, crushed the Uprising, and arrested the Nagy government. Nagy was executed, and Janos Kadar, who had secretly defected to the Soviet side, replaced him as Prime Minister. The USSR justified the invasion by claiming Kadar had requested their intervention.
        
        Kadar initially presided over a reign of terror but later allowed increasing political and economic freedom while retaining Communist Party control and Warsaw Pact membership. He ruled Hungary from 1956 until his retirement in 1988.
  - - - Relations between USSR and Yugoslavia improved. Khrushchev visited Yugoslavia in 1955 & abolished Cominform in 1956. He apologized to Tito and renewed Soviet economic aid, but Tito continued his policy of independence.
    - - Loyal to the USSR under Stalin, but relations became hostile when Khrushchev condemned Stalin in 1956. At the Moscow Conference of Communist Parties in 1960, Khrushchev condemned Albania and China.
        
        Hoxha stressed his support for China and condemned Khrushchev’s "revisionism." In 1961, the USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Albania, which Hoxha considered an expulsion from the Warsaw Pact, though Albania did not officially leave until 1968.
  - - - Ulbricht asked Khrushchev for permission to restrict travel between East and West Berlin, but Khrushchev resisted, realizing that building a wall would be an admission of Communist failure.
        
        Khrushchev tried unsuccessfully to bully the West into withdrawing its forces from West Berlin(hand over rights in Berlin to GDR, US knew he bluffing). Ulbricht escalated the tension(Hint at restrictions of W & E), leading to increased emigration.
        
        Khrushchev gave in to this pressure and authorized the building of the Wall on a Sunday in mid-August 1961. The New York Times described the Wall as "a dramatic confession of Communist failure."
- - - - 1) Suppression of Opposition: Opposition parties were suppressed or forced to cooperate with the Communists.
      - 2) Communist Party Dominance: Everyone had to acknowledge the “leading role” of the Communist Party.
      - 3) Economic Policies: Economic policies were modeled on Stalin’s USSR, including 5-year plans, collectivization of agriculture, and emphasis on heavy industry.
      - 4) Cominform and Comecon: Stalin set up Cominform to ensure the satellite states followed Soviet ideology and Comecon to integrate their economies.
      - 5) Military Integration: Satellite states were forbidden to join any military alliance other than the Warsaw Pact, and their armed forces were integrated with those of the USSR.
      - 6) Cult of Personality: The ruling Communist Party in each satellite country idolized Stalin and created a similar cult around their own leader.
  - - - Tito's Yugoslavia: Communism with a Twist 🔄
        
        Tito then established a political and economic system that was Communist but significantly different from the USSR:
        
        1) Workers' Councils: Industry was controlled by workers’ councils rather than the state.
        
        2) Self-Governing Communes: Yugoslavia was a federation of self-governing communes rather than a centralized state.
        
        "we study and take as an example the Soviet system, but develop it in a different form".
    - - In 1948, Tito boycotted a Cominform meeting, leading Stalin to expel him. Stalin took the matter personally and arranged several assassination attempts on Tito.
        
        Stalin cut off all Soviet economic aid to Yugoslavia, but Tito strengthened ties with the West.
  - - - Hoxha regarded Tito as an enemy due to his “revisionist” policies and the territorial dispute over Kosov
  - - - The hardline Stalinist Boleslaw Bierut took control from Gomulka(imprisoned) and turned Poland into a mini replica of Stalin’s USSR.(Collectivization of Agriculture & persecution of religion)
        
        30,000 workers went on strike in 1950, put in labour camps. 1952, Poland given new constitution modelled on Stalin's USSR.
  - - - The Communists were popular and gained a 1/3 of the vote in the 1946 election, with their leader, Klement Gottwald, becoming Prime Minister.
        
        Communist Coup 💥
        
        Share power with democrats Benes & Masaryk(Foreign Minister) keen for Marshall Plan. In 1948, the Communists seized power by military force and rigged the election, destroying Czech democracy. Masaryk was murdered, and Gottwald replaced Benes as President.
        
        They did this because:
        
        They were under orders from Stalin to prevent Czech seeking aid from the Marshall Plan.
        
        They knew they would lose in a free election.
        
        They were concerned about growing resistance from other parties.
        
        The control they already had over the police, army, & trade unions made a forcible takeover easy.
        
        The suddenness and brutality of the Communist takeover shocked the West and prompted the formation of the Brussels Pact, which became NATO in 1949.
        
        Gottwald ruled until death in 1953, replace by equally hardline Novotny until he ousted in 1968, still follow Stalinis policies even after his death, hardline party leadership.
  - - - From Democracy to Stalinism 🔄
        
        In the first election after WW2, the Communists gained less than 20% of the vote, forcing them to share power with other parties. Matyas Rakosi became General Secretary of Party(Stalinist) .
        
        By 1947, the pretence of democracy was abandoned, and in 1948, the Social Democrats were forced to merge with the Communists(Hungarian Working People's Party,1948)
  - - - Socialist Unity Party (SED):
        In 1946, the Socialist Unity Party (SED) was formed in East Germany, becoming the ruling party under the imposition of Communist economic policies, including nationalizing industry and collectivizing agriculture.
        
        Blockade of Berlin: 1948-49, Stalin's attempt to blockade Berlin failed. 1949, the western powers merged zones to form West Germany. Stalin retaliated, transformed Soviet zone into East Germany (German Democratic Republic - GDR), led by Walter Ulbricht, a hardline Communist loyal to Stalin.
        
        Unrest in East Germany: June 1953, unrest initiated by construction workers in East Berlin spread across East Germany. Protests against increased production quotas without pay escalated into demands for democracy and the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Ulbricht, overwhelmed by the working-class opposition, required Soviet tanks to regain control.
        
        The Soviet leadership considered removing Ulbricht but decided against it, fearing it would appear as a surrender to the protestors.
  - - - Romania participated in the Nazi invasion of the USSR but was occupied by the Red Army in 1944-45. Communists rigged the election in 1946 and seized power.
        
        By 1947, the King was forced to abdicate, and by 1948, Stalinist economic policies were implemented. Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, a Stalinist, remained in power even after Stalin's death.
    - - Bulgaria, traditionally pro-Russian, was occupied by the Red Army in 1944. Communism faced less opposition there. The monarchy was abolished in 1944.
        
        In 1946, after sharing power with other parties, the Communists won a referendum, establishing a one-party state. Georgi Dimitrov, a hardline Stalinist, ruled from 1946-49.
        
        The 1950s saw a relaxation of rigid state planning, allowing for market forces, which led to economic growth in the traditionally poor country. These trends continued under Zhivkov, who ruled from 1954-89.