The ending of World War II's conflicts in Europe posed a rather interesting situation. How would the reorganization of Europe be defined? For his part, Stalin believed that he wanted to create a configuration that would prevent, once and for all, another Western threat to Russia. In preventing this, Stalin created a block of nations that had featured governments that were puppets of his Soviet government. Up and down this eastern corridor of nations, Stalin's "pupils" and tactics had helped to define governments that were extensions of his own Soviet government, complete with their own purges such as in Hungary and Bulgaria. At the same time, this helped to foster another one of his goals, that being of Soviet Supremacy. As Stalin was able to control these nations in Eastern Europe, he also ensured a consolidation of his own power in these nations, helping to establish him as a dominant world leader until his death in 1953.
The main purpose of Stalin's actions in East Europe at the end of the Second World War was simply a continuation of Russian policies since the 16th century, to expand as much as possible in all directions. Russia had gained and then lost control of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, and of course had regained them during the war. Russia had invaded and seized parts of Poland more than once, invaded Germany in 1914, and invaded Poland and the Balkan states (intending to invade Germany again) during the 1918-1919 period, just after the Revolution. British and French troops helped the Poles and Balkans drive them out.
Stalin did not seek a buffer between the USSR and the West, he wished to dominate the Eastern European countries. What he set up were simply puppet governments, which had no more autonomy than those countries had enjoyed under the Nazis. In some cases, such as Romania, less. His goal for Eastern Europe was to set up Communist governments which would be controlled by the Soviet state, with Soviet generals controlling their militaries and Soviet "political advisers" controlling their governments. He had the provisional government in Poland in 1945 arrested and executed, replacing them with puppets, etc. To him, control of Eastern Europe meant control of their resources, industries and populations as a means of continuing to expand the control of the USSR and the "world revolution."
After World War II, the Soviet Union had occupied much of Eastern Europe, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and East Germany. Stalin had two main goals in doing this:
1) Establish a "buffer zone" between the Soviet Union and Germany. Russia had been invaded by Germany twice in the last 30 years, and Stalin wanted some protection between him and Germany for the future, and for Germany to remain divided.
2) He wanted to spread communism to new governments. He established communist strangleholds on government on each of the Eastern European states he took over, and they stayed that way for nearly 50 years.
What were Stalin's goals in Eastern Europe?
I would say that one of Stalin's primary goals was to create a...
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buffer of nations to prevent any hope of attack from the West. Since the turn of the century, Russian history had been filled with examples of dealing with challenges from Europe. From fighting in World War I which descended from fighting in Western and Eastern Europe the challenges of World War II when Hitler invaded Poland and set sights on Russia after unifying all of Europe, Stalin sought to put an end to this by taking over a chunk of nations in Eastern Europe and ensuring that Russia would be insulated. Stalin either installed Soviet- friendly governments or outwardly overtook the nations in order to maintain his own buffer of nations that could prevent a takeover or advance from the West.
What were Stalin's goals in Eastern Europe?
In my opinion, Stalin's main goal in Eastern Europe was to create a buffer zone that would protect the Soviet Union from the West.
I suppose some people would say that Stalin wanted most to spread communism, since that is what communists are supposed to do. But I think that Stalin was really more interested in creating space between the enemies in the west and Russia.
Russia had been endangered by invasions from the west in 1812 and in 1941. Both times, the size of Russia saved them. Stalin wanted to have even more space so that it would be that much harder for enemies to invade from the west.