2. Yugoslavia
• Consists of six republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia,
Montenegro, and Macedonia
• People in Tito’s Yugoslavia were very nationalistic
o Yugoslavia started to build up their own independent version of
Communism
o Tito tried to form a midway between Western democracy and eastern
communism which also lead to strained relationship with both the East
and the West
• Separated from Moscow
o Wanted to liberate themselves from the foreign occupiers
4. Josip Tito
• Considered to be one of the most successful
guerrilla leaders of all time
o drove Nazis out of Yugoslavia during World War II
• After war joined and became leader of the
Yugoslavia Communists
• Ethnic tensions were suppressed during his
rule
6. Nikita Khrushchev
• communist leader who had helped defend
Ukraine from Nazis
• took position of first secretary months after
Stalin's death, making him most powerful
man in Moscow
• attacked Stalin for "intolerance, brutality,
abuse of power" and began more liberal
reforms
o made it acceptable to publicly question Stalin
o within the year Poland and Hungary were revolting
7. Imre Nagy
• prime minister of Hungary July 1953-March
1955
• replaced in Soviet crackdown by radical
Stalinist Matyas Rakosi, 1955
o tensions increased under his reign; Rakosi called
“Stalin’s best disciple”: zealous in anti-Yugoslavia
campaign
8. Hungarian Revolution
• first major anti-socialist uprising and first
shooting war between socialist states
• Revolt by moderate Communists and anti-
Communists against Soviets
• Hungarian leader Imre Nagy did not try to
call Soviets to stop revolution; he
encouraged them and tried to break from
Warsaw Pact (treaty network designed to
unify East Europe against West)
9. Hungarian Revolution-
Causes
• feb. 1956: Khrushchev exposed Stalin’s
crimes, promised new direction for USSR
• hardcore Stalinists not exactly happy: non-
Stalinists gained popularity, Nagy among
them
o disposed by radical Stalinist Matyas Rakosi, 1955
tensions increased under his reign; Raksi called
“Stalin’s best disciple”: zealous in anti-Yugoslavia
campaign
by Oct. 1956, gov. had lost control of situation
10. Hungarian Rev.- Reasons
• Hungarians did not like the collective farms--used by Soviets
to extract more wealth
• 1956 height of power struggle; Stalin had died 1953, new
leaders denounced his policies, emboldening revolutionary
leaders
• became Stalinists vs. everyone else
• Stalinists had power after seizing it from liberal, anti-
collective farms gov.
• encouraged by Yugoslavia's refusal to follow Stalinism and
mass strikes in Poland
11. Hungarian Rev.- Key events
• Oct. 23, 1956: demonstration in Budapest to show
solidarity in Poland, who had mass strikes in June
o demanded Nagy take over gov. again
o fighting in Budapest, other cities; continued
throughout night
o Nagy declared prime minister the next morning
12. Hungarian Rev- Effects
• anti communists gathered strength; Nagy
took full power, brought back multiparty
system
• thousands of political prisoners released
13. Hungarian Rev- Aftermath
• Nov. 1: Khrushchev ordered Soviets to retake Hungary when
gov. planned to leave Warsaw Pact
o Hungarians not prepared at all
• Nov. 4: Soviets took Budapest, revolution collapsed
o West unable to do much; busy with Suez Canal crisis,
Soviet action too swift
o Nagy and revolution leadership deported; Nagy executed
in 1958
• high point of Soviets blocking self-determination
• discouraged more revolutions for over a decade
• Mass exodus, arrests and deportations cut out large part of
Hungarian populations
o 200,000 refugees fled Hungary
14. Prague Spring-Causes
• Brief period of liberalism in Czechoslovakia
• stopped by USSR Warsaw Pact invasion
15. Prague Spring- Key Events
• 5 January 1968: Communist leaders ousted Stalinist First
Secretary Antonin Novotny
• political economic and nationalist tensions
• no reforms; repressed workers, intellectuals and students
who questioned the system
• replaced by Alexander Dubcek, leader of Slovak Communists
• “Socialism with a human face”--reforms to integrate
democracy, individual rights while keeping relations with
Moscow
• Period known as Prague Spring
• really got started 9 April 1968: Czech Communists
announced creation of Action Program
16. Prague Spring- Reforms
• what Action Program promised:
o more freedom for in industry, agriculture
o economic equality between Czechs, USSR
o protection of civil liberties
o independence for Slovakia
o party would stay in power, but more responsive to people
• what did happen:
o abolition of censorship, creation of workers’ councils on
factories,increased trade w/ West, writing of new
constitution to make democratic regime
o Rehabilitation Act passed: retrials for people convicted of
political crimes against communists
17. Prague Spring- People's
Reaction
• Czech population thrilled; hadn't had level of
freedom since Feb. 1948
o mass media raised about political purges,
show trials, concentration camps
o by summer public wanted independent
political parties, purer democracy, more
radical economic reforms
18. Prague Spring- Aftermath
• Moscow reaction
o saw reforms as rejection of USSR policies, worried
Czechs might withdraw from Warsaw Treaty
Organization (WTO)
alliance system in East Europe to counter NATO
(North Atlantic Treaty Organization; group of
Western countries allied against USSR)
o similar fears in East Germany, Polish conservative
communists who feared Czech reforms would
destabilize their countries
19. Prague Spring- Aftermath
• 16 July: letter from USSR, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria
asking for reforms to stop
o blamed recent events on reactionaries still upset by imperialism
o claimed Czechs were breaking away from socialism, reforms
threatened entire socialist system
o Dubcek (Czech Leader) said reforms should not be seen as anti-
Soviet, they weren’t going to leave WTO
o annoyed USSR; military intervention
20-21 August 1968: 500,000 WTO troops invade, met little
resistance
Dubcek brought to Moscow 21 August 1968, gave into USSR
demands
27 August: told Czechs reforms were over
restored old system, annulled most radical reforms
20. Prague Spring- Aftermath
• Dubcek removed from office April 1969;
successor supported by Russian Red Army,
led one of most repressive regimes in East
Europe
• Moscow justification: the Brezhnev Doctrine
(No individual Communist party could make
decisions that threatened socialism as a
whole. If they did other socialist countries
were duty-bound to intervene militarily and
suppress the deviation.)
21. Soviet Opinion
"The Soviet Government expresses confidence
that the peoples of the socialist countries will
not permit foreign and internal reactionary
forces to undermine the basis of the people's
democratic regimes, won and consolidated by
the heroic struggle and toil of the workers,
peasants, and intelligentsia of each country."
- Friendship and Co-operation Between the Soviet Union
and Other Socialist States, October 30, 1956
22. Works Cited
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“Events: Hungarian Revolution of 1956.” World History: The Modern Era. ABC-Clio, 2012. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.
Fredriksten, John C. “Individuals: Josip Broz Tito.” World History: The Modern Era. ABC-Clio, 2012. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.
<http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/316051?terms=yugoslavia>.
Granville, Johanna. “Hungarian Revolution.” Encycopedia of Russian History. Gale: World History In Context, 2004. Web. 4 Apr.
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