The growth of Soviet power was directly related to their
being one of the victorious nations of World War II. This put them in direct physical
control of Eastern Europe for the postwar years. They installed friendly communist
governments that were loyal to the Soviet Empire. The "iron curtain" descended on
Europe and for the next half century, east Europe remained
communist.
As the 1980's came to a close, Soviet economic
and military power was already on the wane, and popular pressure grew for reforms. The
iron curtain border opened in Hungary first, and within six months, there were popular
revolutions across Eastern Europe. There was pressure on Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev to crackdown on the rebellions, but he refused, essentially letting those
countries leave the Soviet sphere.
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