How the Soviets maintained their control of Eastern Europe
The major events during their domination of Eastern Europe
Key
Other communist nations Neutral nations
Warsaw Pact NATO
IRELAND Dublin
ATLANTIC OCEAN
GREAT BRITAIN
London
North Sea
NETH. LUX.
Brussels Paris
FRANCE
NORWAY Oslo
Stockholm SWEDEN Copenhagen DENMARK BELG.
Amsterdam Bonn
Bern SWITZ.
PORTUGAL Lisbon
Berlin
GERMAN DEM. REP.
FED. REP. GERMANY
Prague
CZECHOSLOVAKIA Vienna AUSTRIA
SPAIN Madrid ANDORRA MONACO ITALY Rome Belgrade Tirana HUNGARY Budapest ROMANIA
YUGOSLAVIA BULGARIA ALBANIA
GREECE Political allegiance in Europe at the beginning of the 1950s Controlling Eastern Europe
In the years immediately after World War II, the Soviets ensured that communist governments were set up in the countries of Eastern Europe. These countries and the Soviet Union were together known as the Eastern Bloc. In the following decades, the USSR had to retain its control over these countries. It did this through various means:
• Economic: In response to the Marshall Plan, the Soviet Union launched Comecon in 1949. It claimed this was to give economic aid to other communist countries, but in reality, it allowed Moscow to exert control over their economies.
• Military: The Warsaw Pact was established in 1955 as a military alliance, like NATO. This brought the armies of the satellite states under direct Soviet control.
• Political: The Soviets used an organisation called Cominform to coordinate the activities of local communist parties. This ensured that local communist leaders were loyal to Moscow and did as they were told.
Soviet control in action
For the most part, the Soviets allowed the satellite states to run their own affairs, as long as they did not endanger communist rule. A number of times they intervened directly into the satellite states to ensure continued Soviet control:
