Revision Diary

Salami tactics and the Fulton speech

       

Soviet expansion into Central and Eastern Europe;

Iron Curtain;

 

 

Make sure that you know about how Stalin took control of eastern Europe, and the results of Soviet expansion in eastern Europe.

Know about the Fulton speech, particularly its effects.

    

  

  

Salami Tactics

Overview

Stalin wanted a 'buffer' to protect Russia, so - when he conquered eastern Europe in 1945 - he kept the red Army there to make sure pro-Stalin governments took control.    

The Communists in those countries took power 'like slicing salami' - taking over little-by-little, using tactics like getting control of the radio and the army, arresting or killing their opponents, or setting up a secret police.

By 1948, East Germany was the Russian 'zone' of Germany, and the following countries of Europe were Communist: (BYPARCH) - Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Poland, Albania, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

 

Facts

1.   The Communist leader who took over Hungary was Rakosi.   He set up the brutal secret police in Hungary called the AVO. 

2.   The Communists took power in Czechoslovakia in 1948 when the leading anti-Communist Jan Masaryk 'threw himself' out of his bathroom window.

3.•   Stalin helped the Communists take power in Poland in 1945 by inviting 16 non-Communist leaders to Moscow and imprisoning them.

    

  

Results of Soviet expansion

  1. In the 1960s, historians blamed Soviet expansion for causing the Cold War.

  2. The peoples of eastern Europe fell under the control of hard-line Stalinist government = lack of freedom.

  3. Soviet expansion led to the Fulton speech and the Truman Doctrine.

  

   

  

   

Fulton Speech

Overview

Churchill was very anti-Communist, and was unhappy about the power Yalta and Potsdam have given to Russia.    Truman was very anti-Communist, and FURIOUS about Potsdam.

Truman invited Churchill to give a speech in Fulton, USA.   In the speech, Churchill said that an 'iron curtain' had split Europe, and behind it the Communists had set up 'totalitarian control [and] police governments'.

Stalin was furious.

  

Facts

1.   After Yalta, Churchill had written to Roosevelt that ‘The Soviet Union has become a danger to the free world.’

2.   In 1946, George Kennan (the US Ambassador in Moscow) sent Truman a 'Long Telegram', saying that Russia was growing and must be stopped.

3.   The exact date of the Fulton speech was 5 Mar 1946,

  

     

Results of Fulton

  1. Fulton speech let people know that Churchill and Truman were alarmed at Soviet power in eastern Europe.

  2. Fulton got people ready to expect and support the Truman Doctrine.

  3. Stalin said that Churchill had 'declared war' on the USSR.  

  4. 5 Mar 1946 can be said to be the date on which the Cold War broke out.

   

  

 

 

Revision Focus

This is a Paper 1 topic, so concentrate on learning:

1.   WHAT happened

2.   EFFECTS/ Importance

  

Links

Mini book on Salami tactics, and on the Fulton speech

 

  

Online revision sheet  

  

Spidergram:

•    Salami Tactics