History

The communist bloc was part of the Soviet Union east of Germany. The states included what is now Poland, the eastern section of Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania. It actually started primarily in Poland. However, it isn't existent today. That might be because it had a command economy, which couldn't support its large population. Not all of its states wanted tight restrictions and Hungary had a very large revolution against it, not successfully. The communist bloc's leaders were very intent on punishing their side of Germany for the war that Germany brought to Russia in World War.^[1] That may been one of the most important reasons why the Cold War started.The communist government kept extremely tight restrictions on the citizens and even tighter restrictions on the Germans. As result, thousands tried to emigrate to the U.K., or other non-communist countries. As a result, Joseph Stalin set up defenses. Hundreds of armed, Soviet soldiers stood guard and threatened to shoot, or shot anyone who attempted the illegal border-cross in search of a better life. The Yugoslavian president in 1948 broke off from the Soviet Union and formed his own, still communist, government.

Significance

     The communist government and the western Democratic governments built huge nuclear forces and went into a cold war. A cold war is the term used when no actual fighting or warfare happens, just threats.^[2]However, people from democratic countries at the time were extremely afraid that the Soviet Union would use their nuclear weaponry that they had promised to have. They knew that Joseph Stalin was a ruthless leader and had no qualms with killing millions of people. He said, "One death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic."^[3]