East Central Europe 1960 CE

What is happening in East Central Europe in 1960CE

As one of the defeated powers of World War 1, the Austro-Hungarian empire was broken up and divided amongst several countries: Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and parts of Romania and Yugoslavia. Austria became a republic, whilst Hungary, which lost over half its territories, became a constitutional monarchy. Czechoslovakia was created by the merger of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia; it became a republic. To the north, Poland was re-established as an independent state. The new republic faced severe problems, which led to the setting up of a right-wing dictatorship in 1926.

The whole region was left in ruins by World War 2. It was “liberated” from Nazi occupation by the Soviet army, which effectively became itself an occupying army. Communist Parties answering to Moscow took full control of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. This situation was formalized in the setting up of the Warsaw Pact in 1955, which tied these countries to the Soviet Union. Austria narrowly missed the same fate, but her government successfully steered her away from communism towards democracy and into the western camp.

There is considerable opposition to the Communist regime amongst the peoples of Central Europe. In Hungary, this boiled over into outright revolt in 1956, which was crushed by a Soviet invasion.

Next map, Central Europe in 2005