5-15-17 Europe Divided PDF

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Lecture given by Professor John Bushnell...

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Europe Divided

After the Long (1914-1945) War -

31 bad years; everything seemed to converge on to this event; everyone was readying their nuclear arsenal and totalitarian communist regime 4 immediate important political consequences o Ended European political hegemony over colonies; European states didn’t want to bear the economic burden of ruling other people around the world  Also guilt complex o In Europe, the Soviet Union emerged as the dominant military power  Inevitable; once the Soviet Union started industrializing, it could leverage its population and resources  Assisted by the destruction of Germany o Consolidation of much of Europe in opposition to Soviet Union  Reorganization of political relations in Europe and global; Part of Europe becomes Western and Eastern part becomes a satellite to Soviets  Western European countries are no match for Soviet Union; U.S. comes in to balance out this tension  We became part of NATO; saw Soviet as a threat o Similar to threat of German Unification o U.S. becomes European Power

Soviet Goals -

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Not as clear o During WWII, After Soviets got involved in German occupation  Permanent possession of the territory they had received; wanted to keep Latvia, Estonia, parts of Poland etc.  Sought guarantees of security on their Western borders  Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland had all, as part of the Nazi military regime, invaded Soviet Union  Agreement to these demands Soviet goals evolved throughout the course of the War o Towards the end, Soviet Union wanted all Eastern European countries to be completely friendly  U.S. didn’t object to these demands because we couldn’t win WWII without them End of War o Soviet Union forced communist dictatorships: this was unclear No clear plan to establish dictatorship o They had no plans to push on into Western Europe Soviet Plans o Evolved in response to what the U.S., France, and England were doing (and vice versa)

Western Europe -

Dire situation o England  Suffered relatively little damage but food rationing continued to 1954 o Rest of Europe  German had looted the Western European countries  Dutch suffered because all the food from Holland was taken; Germany created a natural experiment of infant malnutrition  Medical scientists followed this cohort  Economic system was in ruins

Americans provided support o When soldiers left to go home, their systems collapsed o Winter of 1946 wiped out supplies and hindered transportation etc. Conditions in Western Europe that should have produced radicalism like after WWI  There were industrial strikes brought on by sheer misery and suffering  Differences on political situations  Radical rightist politics was completely discredited  Conservative parties were discredited but recovered quickly  Free-economic liberal parties had disappeared o Weakened after WWI, politically  Communists on the left, Socialists in the middle, and Christian Democratic parties on the Right  Christian Democratic Parties o Culturally and socially conservative o Committed to welfare economic politics  Quite possible, in this regard, to coalesce with communists and socialists  Almost all countries in Europe adopted Universal Health Care Plan  Agreed that in a n economic catastrophe, there was no alternative except for the government to step in and rebuild  Coal, steel, and railroad industries were nationalized o Sense that too many industrialists had collaborated with Nazi forces  Widespread thought that these businessmen should be punished  Broad political consensus o Universal Health Care adoption o Government role o Workers work for relatively low wages  They should make moderate demands because there was nothing to give them o No on to lead radicalized workers  Left-wing socialists who led the strikes; communists felt compelled to lead worker protests  But they never suggested any socialism of the economy o Reasons for this consensus  People felt the communists had earned a place at the table for their contributions in the war for fighting the fascist regimes  Normalization of universal healthcare and normalization of communist parties is where U.S. parted ways  England didn’t have enough communists to be important  West Germany had a soviet occupied Eastern Germany so they couldn’t reconcile o Stalin told Italian communist parties and French communist parties to not seize power  Told the Greek communist party to not seize power during their civil war  Rapid de-militarization of Soviet Union; only 600,000 men in 1948  Soviets only wanted control over Eastern Europe  No plan to impose a totalitarian apparatus 

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Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe -

Late 1947 and 1948 o We can’t know how the semi-communist regimes would have evolved over the long-term if the Soviet Union hadn’t changed its mind o Soviet Union decided to impose complete control

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Response to Marshall Plan and Truman’s containment plan  Any assistance to country threatened by the Soviet Union  Massive economic development funds made available to Western countries  Truman was wrong about threats to Greece and Turkey American policy to Eastern European countries (Truman Plan)  We wanted all the benefits of liberal democracy  International free trade o Eastern European countries could participate  Protest over gradual tightening of Soviet Hold  No way to assert control unless we showed some aggression to Soviet Union  Wanted to take Eastern Europe back Marshall Plan  Made money available to Western Europe countries who kicked out their communist parties  Offered aid to Eastern countries; o Czech and Polish communist parties needed assistance so they negotiated  Horrified Stalin; accused of being lackeys of American imperialism

Czechoslovakia o Communist participated in an election; when the Czech communist showed a weakness for the American assistance, Soviets ordered communist party to seize control o Stalin thought they were traitors Finland o Had invaded the Soviet Union during the war; pledged to always observe Soviet foreign policy and maintain friendly relations and to never accept American aid  In exchange, they could keep their democratic government o Marshal Plan was very important economically Stalin started a Witch-Hunt, purges to seek out un-loyal communists Yugoslavia o Germans had occupied; communists seized power over Yugoslavia without any assistance; broke off relations with the SU in 1947  This was because they objected to Soviet exploitation

Soviet Isolationism -

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Soviet fear of Western influence; as it became suspicious of American influence in Eastern Europe, it became suspicious of influence within SU itself SU expected a period of relaxation after war o More of a cultural relaxation o Cold War 1947-1948  Adopted political and cultural policies  During the war, soviets never had any contact with Americans; bought their country’s propaganda  Lots of food delivered by Americans to the Soviet populations  Familiar with canned Spam, cars etc. Americans were popular with SU  Stalin wanted to put an end to Pro-Americanism o Punish Jews because the establishment of Israel was a betrayal to loyalty to Stalin Isolate themselves from Western influence o Soviet people were told that Russians had invented everything; Russian scientists, propaganda etc. Theory of relativity was considered hostile to Soviet science o Every Fruit fly in Soviet Union was destroyed because they didn’t want any genetic research o Stalin became suspicious of colleagues  Full-scale purge in 1952-1953  Almost every provincial party leader in Soviet Union was accused of being a spy  Stalin died; if he hadn’t died, there would have likely been a long purge

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Soviet consolidation of Power over Eastern Europe

Western Response -

Founding NATO in 1949 o Included a German military force; context of the Cold War that Germany was rehabilitated o Higher level of cooperation among countries of Western Europe; direct response to Soviet Threat o Also, higher level of cooperation in Eastern European countries  They had never previously gotten along; Stalin imposed political stability

Consequences of the division? -

Completely divided Europe Leadership of the Soviet Union seemed to be unpredictable o Soviets identified America as being potentially threatening Both sides feared the offensive intention of the other...