Study this question carefully. How successfully did the Soviet Union maintain control over Eastern Europe between 1948 and 1968? Explain your answer. [40]

This question asks you to evaluate how successfully the Soviet Union maintained control over Eastern Europe between 1948 and 1968. A strong answer must consider both the effectiveness of Soviet methods and the challenges they faced.

Evidence that the Soviet Union was largely successful:

• After establishing communist governments across Eastern Europe by 1948, no satellite state permanently broke away during this period. Communist governments remained in power throughout.
• The Warsaw Pact (1955) provided a military framework that kept Eastern European armies under Soviet command and justified Soviet troop deployments across the region.
• Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, 1949) tied Eastern European economies to the Soviet model, creating economic dependency and limiting trade with the West.
• When Hungary attempted to leave the Warsaw Pact in October-November 1956, the Soviet Union invaded with approximately 200,000 troops and 4,000 tanks, crushing the uprising and installing Janos Kadar as a compliant leader. Approximately 2,500 Hungarians were killed and 200,000 fled as refugees.
• The Prague Spring of 1968 in Czechoslovakia, where Alexander Dubcek introduced reforms including press freedom and political liberalisation ('socialism with a human face'), was suppressed by a Warsaw Pact invasion in August 1968. The Brezhnev Doctrine was proclaimed, asserting the Soviet right to intervene in any socialist state that deviated from the approved path.
• Secret police forces in each country (e.g. the Stasi in East Germany, the AVO/AVH in Hungary) suppressed internal dissent through surveillance, intimidation, and imprisonment.

Evidence that Soviet control was challenged and imperfect:

• Yugoslavia under Tito had broken with Moscow in 1948 and pursued an independent communist path, demonstrating that Soviet control could be resisted by a state with sufficient geographical and political independence.
• The Hungarian Uprising of 1956 revealed deep popular resentment of Soviet domination. The fact that it required a massive military intervention to suppress showed that control rested on force, not consent.
• In Poland in 1956, Wladyslaw Gomulka came to power promising a 'Polish road to socialism,' and the Soviet Union reluctantly accepted limited reforms rather than risk another armed confrontation.
• The Prague Spring showed that even within the Communist Party itself, there was pressure for reform and liberalisation. The Brezhnev Doctrine was an admission that voluntary loyalty could not be relied upon.
• Throughout the period, many Eastern Europeans attempted to flee to the West. The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 was itself an acknowledgement that East Germans were leaving in large numbers (approximately 3.5 million had fled since 1945).

Reaching a judgement: The Soviet Union was successful in the narrow sense that no satellite state permanently escaped its control during this period. However, this control required repeated military interventions, was maintained through coercion rather than genuine popular support, and faced continuous challenges. The need for the Brezhnev Doctrine revealed that Soviet control was sustainable only through the threat and use of force, a fundamental weakness that would eventually contribute to the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989.

Mark scheme guidance:

• Level 5 (33-40): Balanced analysis evaluating both the effectiveness of Soviet methods and the challenges they faced, with specific evidence from multiple countries, reaching a sustained judgement about the nature and limits of Soviet success.
• Level 4 (25-32): Good analysis of both Soviet control and challenges with relevant evidence, but the judgement may lack full nuance.
• Level 3 (17-24): Some explanation with evidence, but may focus too heavily on either Soviet success or challenges, or cover only one or two countries.
• Level 2 (9-16): Descriptive narrative of events in Eastern Europe without sustained evaluation of how successful Soviet control was.
• Level 1 (1-8): General statements with little specific evidence.

Exam tip: The word 'successfully' invites you to define what success means in this context. A sophisticated answer might distinguish between political control (which was maintained) and genuine support or stability (which was not achieved).