Introduction of Communism in Central Europe After 1944: Export of Revolution

This chapter discusses the export of the Soviet revolution to Central European states. It introduces Salmin’s theory of five rings of the Soviet empire and three methods of Sovietisation presented by Wojciech Roszkowski. In the further part the communist takeovers in six countries in Central Europe—Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Romania, and Bulgaria—are briefly described. Arguments why the export of revolution by the USSR to those states should be recognised as a revolution are delivered.