The Soviet Expansionism of the 1940s and 1950s
The Soviet expansionism of the 1940s and 1950sIt is important to understand, that Soviet Expansion was not Stalin’s spontaneous decision, as questions between Soviet Russia and the USA regarding the spheres of influence in Europe had been discussed during World War II. By 1943 the U.S. authorities were in agreement with USSR as to the postwar plans, where Soviet interests were to be protected, namely national security, restoration of the borders as they were in 1941 and establishment of friendly governments of bordering states (Davis, L. E., 2015). After the war, the geopolitical situation offered Stalin two ways of the expansion of communism, which were through Poland to Germany and northern Europe, and Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary to Austria. Therefore Stalin’s expansion was to protect and secure country’s power and influence through establishing new governments of the abovementioned states (Zubok, V. M., 2009).
After the war, while countries of Eastern Europe were still occupied by the Russian troops, with the help of the USSR, by 1948, seven of the countries from this region had either communist or pro-communist governments (Zickel, 2015). The Soviet Union not only expanded its influence on the Eastern region of Europe but also received new “bread bucket” countries to renew its resources. Therefore Stalin viewed the Expansion policy and establishment of a buffer zone also as a way to benefit economically from the region and export supplies to the mainland – Russia while importing back soviet goods (Kramer, n.d.).
Having been planned beforehand, the Soviet expansion succeeded and the buffer zone between the USSR and East Europe was established. Nonetheless, there were also other factors for the expansion, such as the need for new territories with valued resources to rebuild the sheer country after the war. But despite the Soviet foreign policy being strong, the domestic policy was rather weak as it had many issues, including those caused by isolation policy.
References
Davis, L. E. (2015). The Cold War Begins: Soviet-American Conflict Over East Europe. Princeton University Press.
Kramer, M. STALIN, SOVIET POLICY, AND THE CONSOLIDATION OF A COMMUNIST BLOC IN EASTERN EUROPE, 1944-1953. stanford.edu. Retrieved 14 October 2015, from http://iis-db.stanford.edu/evnts/6186/Stalin_and_Eastern_Europe.pdf
Zickel, R. (2015). Soviet Union 1945-1985. Shsu.edu. Retrieved 14 October 2015, from http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Soviet2.html
Zubok, V. M. (2009). A failed empire: the Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev. Univ of North Carolina …
