Europe+in+Cold+War

EAST EUROPE DURING THE COLD WAR

Countries: East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

__Warsaw__ __Pact__ · **Hungary**: Hungary became a communist state after the end of the Second World War. In late October of 1956, an anti-communist revolution took place in Hungary. The revolution was led by **Imre Nagy**, who went as far as to create his own government. As Nagy created his government, statues and symbols of communism were destroyed and vandalized all over the country. Young people like university students began taking radio stations and broadcasting revolutionary demands from the Soviet influence. Civilians stormed police stations and arms depots to arm themselves. A couple of days after the revolution began, Imre Nagy and his defense minister were both arrested, and Soviet tanks began rolling into Budapest to silence what was left of the armed revolution. Thousands of people were killed in the 1956 last stand in Budapest, and Hungary would remain communist under Janos Kadar (who actually was previously collaborating with Nagy). [|__http://www.hungary1956.com/__] · **East Germany**: After World War II, Germany was divided into capitalist West Germany and communist East Germany. Officially known as the Democratic Republic of Germany, East Germany united from its Western occupation zones in September of 1949. Meanwhile, it was also the site of the Berlin Airlift, a sort of defensive policy of the United States as a statement to the USSR that Berlin would not be subject to Warsaw Pact isolation from the West. Berlin remained a free oasis and means for leaving the country until 1952 when all travels, roads, and telecommunications towards West Germany was cut off. In 1953, civilian uprisings were suppressed over an increase in labour hours in order to try to catch up with West Germany. 1949 East Germany convention: Stalin on the right __Nonaligned__ · **Albania****:** Marxist communist **Enver Hoxha** took hold of the reigns of government a little while after the war was over in Europe. As the Sino-Soviet conflict erupted in 1960, Hoxha cut off relations with the USSR in favour of relations with Maoist China until 1977. The isolation from the Soviets damaged the economy drastically, and Albania remained one of the most economically-challenged and isolated countries in Europe during the Cold War.

__Warsaw__ __Pact__ · **Hungary**: Hungary became a communist state after the end of the Second World War. In late October of 1956, an anti-communist revolution took place in Hungary. The revolution was led by **Imre Nagy**, who went as far as to create his own government. As Nagy created his government, statues and symbols of communism were destroyed and vandalized all over the country. Young people like university students began taking radio stations and broadcasting revolutionary demands from the Soviet influence. Civilians stormed police stations and arms depots to arm themselves. A couple of days after the revolution began, Imre Nagy and his defense minister were both arrested, and Soviet tanks began rolling into Budapest to silence what was left of the armed revolution. Thousands of people were killed in the 1956 last stand in Budapest, and Hungary would remain communist under Janos Kadar (who actually was previously collaborating with Nagy). [|__http://www.hungary1956.com/__]

Imre Nagy’s brave anti-communist rhetoric drew colossal audiences in the streets of Budapest. [|__http://server2001.rev.hu/oha/media/00003157.jpg__]


 * East Germany**: After World War II, Germany was divided into capitalist West Germany and communist East Germany. Officially known as the Democratic Republic of Germany, East Germany united from its Western occupation zones in September of 1949. Meanwhile, it was also the site of the Berlin Airlift, a sort of defensive policy of the United States as a statement to the USSR that Berlin would not be subject to Warsaw Pact isolation from the West. Berlin remained a free oasis and means for leaving the country until 1952 when all travels, roads, and telecommunications towards West Germany was cut off. In 1953, civilian uprisings were suppressed over an increase in labour hours in order to try to catch up with West Germany.

[|__http://www.fahnenversand.de/fotw/images/d/de-ddr.gif__]

· Chinese propaganda poster showing Albanian and Chinese flags behind fellow workers.

· **Yugoslavia****:** After the end of the Second World War, **Josip Broz “Tito”** restored Yugoslavia into a Socialist Federal Republic which harbored a single political party (consisted of communists). In the very first years of post-war Yugoslavia, the government was more oriented towards the Soviet Union and its bloc against the West. But in 1948, ideologies clashed, and Tito’s reluctance to follow Stalin’s demands and protocol drove Yugoslavia further away from a Soviet alliance. Tito and his government, some say in acts of pragmatism, decided not to take an established side in the East vs. West conflict (Cold War). Instead, Yugoslavia along with Egypt and India formed NAM (Non-aligned Movement), which many came to view as a kind of “Third Power Bloc.” Overall, relations with both the West (US, France, West Germany, etc) and Warsaw Pact countries were fostered simultaneously by Yugoslavia, an outlier in East Europe. Travel to and from Yugoslavia was accessible even from the West during the cold War. Seen here is a JAT airliner from Belgrade in New York City in the 1980s. ( [|__http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3646/3336264413_5121510111.jpg__] )