East West Conflict
East-West conflict, term for the contrasts that broke out under the victorious powers after the Second World War and led to a global polarization in a western camp under the leadership of the USA and an eastern camp under the leadership of the Soviet Union (» Cold War «)
The highlights were the incorporation of Czechoslovakia into the Soviet system of rule in 1947/48, the Berlin blockade in 1948/49, the Korean War 1950–53, the Berlin crisis 1958–62, the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the Vietnam War 1946–75 and the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet troops in 1979.
Noticeably relaxed through the politics of the Perestroika, the East-West conflict was deprived of its foundation by the upheavals in Eastern Europe in 1989/90 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc, previously a catchphrase used in connection with the East-West conflict in the states of the western world for all European and Asian states that came under Soviet hegemony after the Second World War (members of the Council for Mutual Economic Aid and the Warsaw Pact) v. a. related to Eastern Europe.
According to Sportsqna, the initially monolithic unity of the Eastern Bloc was shaken due to political, economic and ideological conflicts of interest or efforts by individual communist states for more independence (e.g. Yugoslavia since 1948, Romania since the second half of the 1960s) and in the wake of de-Stalinization (» Polish Autumn ”and the popular uprising in Hungary in 1956), the Soviet-Chinese conflict that began in 1958/61 and the policy of détente dissolved. In 1968 the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops ended the attempt at reform socialism in Czechoslovakia (” Prague Spring “); shortly thereafter, to justify the supremacy of the Soviet Union in the Eastern Bloc, the Established Brezhnev Doctrine. In 1968 Albania left the Warsaw Pact.
The reform course initiated by M. Gorbachev in 1985 in the USSR (glasnost and perestroika) ultimately favored indirectly stronger processes of independence and democratization in the Eastern Bloc until the rapid political upheavals in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989-91 led to the collapse of the Eastern Bloc (1991 dissolution of the Council for mutual economic aid and the Warsaw Pact; end of 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union). The necessary economic and political stabilization of the former Eastern Bloc countries, superimposed by the transformation processes in society, was often hindered, particularly in the first few years, by difficult national self-discovery processes. (Europe, history)
Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference, Crimean Conference, Summit Conference in Yalta (February 4–11, 1945), at which J. Stalin, F. D. Roosevelt and W. Churchill discussed the military-political approach in the final phase of the Second World War and preliminary questions of the Founding of the UN (voting mode and right of veto in the Security Council, admission of Ukraine and Belarus as independent members).
A “Declaration on Liberated Europe” was adopted. The formation of a Provisional Polish Government of National Unity through the admission of democratic politicians from the London government-in-exile to the Communist government formed in Lublin and free elections were agreed soon, the Curzon Line was established as the eastern border of Poland and Poland was given compensation through German territory (Oder-Neisse Line) promised; however, the final decision should be left to a peace conference.
The main features of the occupation policy for Germany (disarmament, demilitarization, denazification, division into four occupation zones with a joint control council with the participation of France) were decided, the intention to partition Germany not yet given up; that of Stalin claim levied on German war reparations by deliveries in the amount of $ 20 billion was not accepted, but the proposal Roosevelt made the basis for negotiations for a reparations.
In a secret agreement, the Soviet Union received territorial and political concessions (Kuril Islands, South Sakhalin, occupation rights in Korea, privileges in Manchuria, autonomy) against the obligation to enter the war against Japan two to three months after the German surrender and to enter into an alliance with China Outer Mongolia). The results of the Yalta Conference were of great importance for the later East-West conflict.
First World War
The First World War was a global war in the years of 1914-18 that came from Europe.
It was triggered by the assassination of the Austrian heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The causes were z. Partly in the global competition of the major European powers (German naval policy, through which Great Britain saw its world power position threatened), z. Partly in traditional contrasts (Germany – France), but can also be found in the striving of the smaller peoples of Eastern Central Europe for national independence.
After Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia (July 28, 1914), Russia put all of its armed forces in readiness for war. Germany, which was allied with Austria-Hungary, declared war on Russia on August 1st, 1914 and on France, allied with Russia, on August 3rd, 1914. When German troops occupied neutral Belgium, Great Britain also entered the war.
After initial German successes, the war of movement in the West froze into positional warfare at the end of 1914; In the east, the German troops had limited themselves to defense and, after initial defeats, defeated the Russian troops at Tannenberg (western Masuria, now Poland). In Eastern Europe, German troops came to the aid of the Austro-Hungarian army, which had been hard-pressed by the Russians; Finally, trench warfare broke out in the east as well. At the end of October 1914 Turkey entered the war on the side of the Central Powers (Germany and Austria); Bulgaria followed a year later. On May 23, 1915 the former ally Italy declared war on Austria and on August 28, 1916 Germany.
The Austrian army held its own in the battles on the Slovenian-Italian river Isonzo from 1915 to 1917 and, with German support, pushed the Italians back to the Piave (river in northern Italy) in 1917. The war in the west was characterized by the German attack on Verdun (from February 1916), which, after initial successes, came to a halt, as did the British-French attack on the Somme.
From 1917 the economic situation of the Central Powers became more and more threatening, as the British naval blockade resulted in a considerable shortage of raw materials and food; domestic political difficulties exacerbated the situation. After the Bolshevik October Revolution in 1917, Russia withdrew from the war and concluded a separate peace with the Central Powers on March 3, 1918 in Brest-Litovsk (Belarus).
