How did the former soviet union take over all the countries it comprised?

Question

How did the former soviet union take over all the countries it comprised? The USSR contained Poland, east germany, yugoslavia, and a lot of other countries. How did they get control of these countries without starting a world war like Hitler did when he tried?

Answer 1

The U.S.S.R. did not "contain" Poland, East Germany, Yugoslavia, or any of the other communist countries during the Iron Curtain era. That's like saying the U.S.A. contains Canada and Mexico.

The U.S.S.R. managed have all these countries fall under its sphere of influence because it fought Nazi Germany from the east and managed to invade these countries as it advanced toward Germany (the exception to this was Yugoslavia, which had its own communist government under Tito). By the time the war was over, communist client states were a fait accompli in these countries. The Allies, coming from the west, could only stand by and watch.

Answer 2

Your history is very wrong. While Poland, East Germany, and what was known as Eastern Europe were, for all intents and purposes, orbit or even slave states to the Soviets, they were NOT part of the USSR. As for Yugoslavia, it was communist but OUTSIDE the Soviet sphere - Tito had his own thing going with China and was highly independent.

Regarding the rest of the actual Soviet states, the European ones - Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia - were annexed after WWII, but the Asian ones - Kazahkstan, Uzbekistan, etc. - were part of old Imperial Russia, predating the USSR.

Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe was able to proceed without further war because the USSR was part of the anti-Hitler alliance, and these were the spoils of the war just ended. The end of WWII marked a clear transition to a bi-state world, and there was no stomach on either side for a showdown.

Answer 3

Most of the countries that were part of the former Soviet Union were actually conquered by the Czars in previous centuries. Lithuania, Latvia, & Estonia were conquered as part of the Berlin-Rome Non-Aggression Pact of 1939, ad the Soviets gained control of Central Europe by conquering the Third Reich. And contrary to what you've read, Tito was actually a puppet of Stalin until 1948. He even helped Stalin with aiding the reds in the Greek "Civil War" of the late-1940's.

Answer 4

You need to read history. The USSR never contained the countries you list even though to some extent it did control, ideologically, their policies and politics. Yugoslavia was an exception and was never subject to such control, despite the fact that it was a communist state.To understand how this came about read an account of World War 2 which focuses as much on the politics of the powers involved, not just the military campaigns. Plenty of books on this should be available at your local library

Answer 5

They overran all those countries at the end of WWII. Nobody wanted to try and fight them at that time.

FYI Yugoslavia wasn't part of the Soviet Block, they had their own little communist thing going under Marshall Tito, who was strong enough to resist the Soviets.