The Military Clauses of the Paris Peace Treaties with Rumania, Bulgaria and Hungary (original) (raw)

Poland, Rumania or Bulgaria. Indeed, the control of these territories gave the Soviet Union access to the heart of Germany and the Mediterranean. Elections were held in the Autumn of 1946 or the Spring of 1947, but the struggle in these countries was decided in advance by election fraud and police interference, by the ousting of opposition parties from political life, by exploiting the Soviet military presence, and (in the case of Rumania) by means of reparations. The British-and later the Americans-put up with the existence of security zones that differed from their 1943 ideas, but they did not accept the principle of exclusive Soviet influence. In their interpretation, influence might be wielded by the West in Eastern Europe and by the Soviets in Westem Europe. With regards to the main strategic lines, however, the Soviets interpreted influence in accordance with the precedent established in 1943 by the Westem Allies in Italy. In the Autunm of 1945 and the Spring of 1946, three countries-of minor strategic importance to the Soviet Union-Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia were able to hold free elections; the communist parties of the first two countries did very badly. Until the end of 1946 and early 1947, Stalin did not consider communist dominance to be important, rather he wanted the governing parties in those countries to pursue friendship towards the Soviet Union. At that time, the presence of Soviet troops was not crucial. They withdrew from Czechoslovakia in December 1945 and from Bulgaria towards the end of 1947. Moreover, troop withdrawals from Austria and Hungary were also under consideration during preparations for an Austrian Peace Treaty in early 1947. Soviet foreign policy between 1943 and 1947 relied on the allied Slav states; Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Poland. It centred around a possible future German threat. The Moscow agreement of December 1943 between Stalin and Benes served as a model for pacts of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance. Accession to this alliance was made possible for the defeated states (Bulgaria, Rumania and Hungary) by bilateral agreements with Moscow and with one another in 1948. The territorial status of the Soviet Union's prospective allies, the limitation of their military and economic sovereignty were regulated, in addition to bilateral arrangements, by the peace treaties agreed to by the British and American governments. Defeated Rumania lost Bessarabia, Northem Bukovina and the Southern Dobrogea, but was allowed to regain Northem Transylvania; the frontiers drawn up at Trianon in 1920 remained valid for Hungary-with the loss of an additional three villages on the right bank of the Danube which formed a Czechoslovak bridgehead at Pozsony (Bratislava-Pressburg). On the other hand, Bulgaria-which had been a Nazi satellite-increased her territory after the war. Through the recognition of the continued validity of the Rumanian-Bulgarian agreement of Craiova (7th of September 1940), it could retain Southem Dobrogea. But no fairer treatment was extended to the countries allied to the Soviet Union. Poland received German temtory in compensation for the parts ceded to the Soviet Union, but Czechoslovakia-another victor-was compelled in June 1945 to yield the Carpathian Ukraine to the Soviet Union. Thus a Soviet-Hungarian frontier came into existence. The strength of the armed forces of the defeated countries was limited; Soviet * Foreign Relations o f the United States Diplomatic Papers.