How the USSR tightened its bloc

G3 Elective History - syllabus K336, 2027

What this lesson teaches

  • I can weigh up how rivalry between the USA and the USSR after 1945 divided Europe and shaped the Cold War.

    Syllabus K336, The Cold War, Learning Outcomes. Assess the impact of rivalry between the USA and USSR in the aftermath of World War II.

Make a guess

In 1947 the USA offered Marshall aid to all of Europe. How do you think the USSR responded?

  1. It refused the aid, made Eastern Europe refuse, and built its own bloc.
  2. It started a rival aid plan of the same size for Western Europe.
  3. It accepted the aid to rebuild its own ruined cities and farms after the war.
Show the answer

It refused the aid, made Eastern Europe refuse, and built its own bloc.

Stalin feared aid would pull countries towards the USA. Cominform, Comecon and later the Warsaw Pact tied the bloc together.

The USSR rejected Marshall aid and built its own political, economic and military links, which made Europe's split last.

Stalin feared Marshall aid would pull countries towards the USA. The USSR refused it and pressed Eastern European governments to refuse too. These countries formed the Soviet bloc, a group of states tied to Soviet power, with Soviet troops helping to keep control. In 1948, communists took over Czechoslovakia. The West saw this as proof that Soviet influence limited countries' choices.

Each Soviet organisation did a different job. Cominform, set up in 1947, made communist parties, including those in France and Italy, follow the Soviet line. Comecon, set up in 1949, linked the economies of the USSR and its partners. It was not a Soviet copy of Marshall aid. In 1955, after West Germany joined NATO, the USSR and its allies formed the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance.

These steps made the USSR feel safer. They also made the West more suspicious.

Cominform, 1947
Kept communist parties following the Soviet line.
Comecon, 1949
Economic links within the Soviet bloc.
Warsaw Pact, 1955
Soviet-led military alliance.

Real examples to use

Molotov walks out, 2 July 1947

The Soviet foreign minister left the Paris talks on Marshall aid, and Stalin told Czechoslovakia's government, which had wanted to attend, to refuse it.

Cominform, September 1947

Nine communist parties, including those of France and Italy, joined a Soviet-led bureau to follow Moscow's line.

Czechoslovakia, February 1948

After twelve non-communist ministers resigned on 21 February, President Benes gave in on 25 February to a communist-led government.

Worked example: Three groups, three jobs

Explain what each organisation did, instead of treating the names as the same.

  1. Cominform: political control over communist parties.
  2. Comecon: economic ties among Soviet bloc states.
  3. Warsaw Pact: military alliance. Together they bound the bloc tightly.

Watch out for this

Cominform, Comecon and the Warsaw Pact were names for one Soviet aid plan.

They were three separate bodies: one political, one economic and one military.

Check your understanding

What was Comecon?

  1. An organisation linking the Soviet bloc's economies.
  2. A military alliance of the USSR and its partners, formed in 1955.
  3. A body that coordinated the policies of European communist parties.
Show the answer

An organisation linking the Soviet bloc's economies.

Yes. It built economic ties within the bloc.

Sources and context

Background reading for this chapter.

  • National Archives: Truman Doctrine

    Paraphrase of President Harry S. Truman's address to Congress, 12 March 1947; US National Archives transcript.

  • George C. Marshall Foundation: Harvard speech

    Paraphrase of Secretary of State George C. Marshall's Harvard speech, 5 June 1947; transcript held by the George C. Marshall Foundation.

  • Novikov telegram, University of Oregon primary-text transcription

    Paraphrase of Nikolai Novikov's telegram from Washington to the Soviet leadership, 27 September 1946, opening sections; English text hosted by the University of Oregon.

  • George C. Marshall Foundation: Harvard speech

    An original cartoon drawn for these notes in the style of a Soviet magazine cartoon of late 1947, after the USSR refused Marshall aid and made its Eastern European allies refuse it too. It is not a copy of a real cartoon.

  • Truman addresses Congress, March 1947

    Extract from President Harry Truman's address to a joint session of Congress, 12 March 1947, asking for aid for Greece and Turkey (the Truman Doctrine). A US government document in the public domain; text from the Avalon Project.

  • the British Foreign Secretary reports Molotov's warning, July 1947

    Extract from British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin's report of the final meeting of the British, French and Soviet foreign ministers in Paris on the Marshall Plan, 2 July 1947, sent to the US Secretary of State through the US Ambassador in London, 3 July 1947. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, volume III, document 180. A US government publication in the public domain.

  • the Cominform declaration, October 1947

    Extract from a telegram from the US Charge d'Affaires in Moscow, Elbridge Durbrow, to the Secretary of State, 6 October 1947, quoting the declaration issued when the Soviet Union and other communist parties set up the Cominform. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, volume IV, document 412. A US government document in the public domain.

  • the North Atlantic Treaty, April 1949

    Extract from Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington on 4 April 1949 by the USA, Canada and ten Western European states, during the Berlin Blockade. Text from the Avalon Project.

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