Soviet Communist Control Over Eastern Europe
Control over Poland was Stalin's first priority. In June 1945, some London Poles were included in the Polish government, however it still remained largely dominated by the Communist Lublin Group. On July 5th, 1945, the Western Allies realized their defeat over Poland because the Polish government was largely communist. By admitting defeat, this meant that Britain and the U.S.A. accepted that the communists were in charge of Warsaw, the Polish capitol. Communist power in Poland was strengthened in January 1947 when 'rigged' elections were held allowing the communist party to win. The leader of the London Poles, Mikolaczyk, believed that his life was in danger, and so fled Poland.
After the conquest of Poland, Romania and Bulgaria were Stalin's second priority. When the Red Armt swept through Romania, coalition governments dominated by Communists were set up in late 1944. In February 1945, the Yalta Agreement was signed. A couple days after the signing, a top soviet politician, Andrei Vyshinsky, ordered the Kind of Romania to appoint a new prime minister that had been chosen by Stalin. When the king argued that this was not part of the Yalta Agreement, Vyshinsky yelled at him until in the end Stalin had his way. By the middle of 1945, the communists were in form control of Romania and in 1947, monarchy in Romania was abolished.
Elections were help in Bulgaria in 1945. Like those in Romania, they were rigged. This allowed the Communist Fatherland Front won. Also like in Romania, monarchy in Bulgaria was abolished by the communist government in September 1946.
Inlike with Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, Stalin didn't know what he wanted from Hungary or Czechoslovakia. In November 1945, free elections took place and the non-communist Smallholders' Party was the most successful and won the majority of the votes. Elections were held again in August 1947, however this time they were rigged, allowing the communist party to win. In November, all non-communist parties are banned.
The Soviet first seized power in Czechoslovakia in 1948. Before that, Czechoslovakia was ruled by a coalition government of communist and non-communist parties. It was the one Eastern European country with a strong local communist party. Fair elections were held in 1946 and the communist party managed to win 38% of the votes. The Czechoslovakian President, Benes, was a non-communist as was the Foreign minister, Masaryk. The Prime Minister, Gottwalk, was a communist. By mid-1947, there was an economic crisis in Czechoslovakia and elections were die in May 1948. The communist party was afraid that they would do badly, so they used armed force to seize power. Many non-communists were arrested and the Foreign Minister Masaryk was murdered. Elections were held shortly afterwards, but they were rigged so the communist party won by a huge majority. Finally the Soviet take over was complete.