History OCR ~ Stalin's takeover of eastern Europe

The Baltic States

• At the end of the war, the Soviet Union extended by annexing Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
• The Soviet Union had occupied these countries during the war with Finland and kept them
• It also kept the eastern half of Poland it had occupied as part of the Nazi-Soviet agreement

Poland

• After the war, the Communists joined a coalition government.
• At the request of Britain and the USA at the end of June 1945, Stalin included a few London Poles in the new Polish government.
• In 1947, they forced the non-Communist leader into exile and rigged elections.
• This saw the return of the Communist government
  

Romania

• After the expulsion of the Nazis, a coalition government dominated by communists was set up.
• In February 1945, the Soviet Union forced the King of Romania to appoint a communist prime minister.
  
• By the middle of the year, communists were in control
  
• In 1947, the monarchy was abolished
  

Greece

• Here the communists were not succesful
• They fought a civil war against royalists supported by Britain and the USA
• Stalin stuck by his promise to the wester allies, not to provide support for the Greek Communists who were finally defeated in 1949
  

Bulgaria

• In late 1944 a communist-dominated coalition government was set up
• In November 1945 the communists won rigged elections
• In 1946 they abolished the monarchy
  

Czechoslovakia

• A left-wing coalition won elections in 1945
• In 1946, Communists became the largest single party but still in a coalition
• In 1948, when their position was threatened, they banned other parties and made the country a Communist one party state
  

East Germany

• The Soviet Union controlled the eastern section of Germany after the war
• In 1949 it became a separate communist state; the Germany Democratic Republic
  

Hungary

• In November 1945, free elections were held and the non-communist Smallholders' Party won the most seats
• In August 1947, rigged elections were held and the Communists won total control
• All other political parties were then banned