Communism and the

Balkan Peninsula

AC History Bee/Bowl Club

9/29/22
Note that Moldova and Slovenia’s status as balkan countries is debated,
and we are not including Greece because it was not communist
SR Romania
WWII and Communism

● Carol II of Romania is forced to abdicate. 19 year old Michael I becomes king.

● November 23, 1940: Romania enters Axis powers.
● Aug 23, 1944: dictator Marshal Antonescu deposed by Michael I, Romania
switches sides.
● 30 December 1947: Michael I abdicates, Romania proclaimed a People’s
Republic.
● 1948: Establishment of Communist regime, Romanian Workers Party
(communists). Purges and nationalization soon followed.
● 1947-1965: Romania led by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (Stalinist), opposed
Soviet hegemony in Eastern bloc, joined Warsaw pact in 1955.
● 1956: Hungarian Revolution, protests across Romania, Gheorghiu-Dej orders
crackdowns. Under Gheorghiu-Dej, forced labor camps were built and some
prisoners were tortured to “reeducate” supposed enemies of the people.
Nicolae Ceausescu

● 1965: Gheorghiu-Dej dies, power is taken over by Nicolae Ceausescu after a period of infighting.
● Ceausescu was at first popular, speaking out against 1968 Czechoslovakia invasion. Consumer
goods reappear, cultural thaw.
● Ceausescu enjoyed good relations with capitalist entities abroad, though his reputation in
Romania deteriorated.
● Due to Ceausescu’s aggressive policies, Romanian experienced a baby boom in the 1960’s.
● Securitate - secret police, responsible for surveillance and repression.
● Industrialization: construction of Bucharest subway, tractor and automotive industries founded.
● March 4 1977: earthquake hits Balkan peninsula, Ceausescu decides to rebuild a new rather than
reconstruct damaged buildings, destroying many important monuments.
● 1981: signs of discontent with the regime, in an effort to repay Western loans Ceausescu
introduces rationing. Despite Romanian oil production potential, buses were forced to use
methane propulsion and in an effort to reduce electricity usage only 1 in 5 streetlights was turned
on.
Christmas Revolution

● March 1989: communist party member protest against Ceausescu’s policies.

● December 16: protests erupt after government attempts to seize dissident pastor
Laszlo Tokes.
● Due to Romania’s political system, a pro-reform party was unable to develop
leading to chaos.
● December 17: Protests break out in Timisoara, Ceausescu reacts by ordering
troops to shoot rioters, killing about 100 people.
● December 21, 1989: Ceausescu gives speech at the Central Committee building
but is booed by his own “supporters”. Riots followed leading to over 1,100 deaths.
● December 22: general Vasile Milea is found dead. Thinking he was murdered,
soldiers defect to the rebellion. Ceausescu flees to Targoviste where he is
apprehended, tried, and shot with his wife Elena on December 25.
PR Bulgaria
WWII and Communism

● March 5, 1941: Kingdom of Bulgaria signs the Tripartite pact becoming an Axis power.
● 1944: Following Red Army entry into Romania, Bulgaria declares neutrality.
● September 9, 1944: after Red Army entry into Bulgaria, communist coup.
● 1946: monarchy officially dissolved.
● 27 December, 1948: Georgi Dimitrov becomes general secretary but dies the following year.
● 1949-1954: Bulgaria first led by collective leadership and then by Valko Chervenkov who is
deposed after Stalin’s death, succeeded by Todor Zhivkov who technically remained leader until
1988.
● 1971: plans for operation Cross to worsen ties between Greece and Turkey and weaken NATO.
● 1975: Bulgaria signs Helsinki Accords on human rights but proceedes to mistreat Turks.
● 1978: dissident Georgi Markov is stabbed with umbrella with poisoned pellet in London.
Assassination orchestrated by Bulgarian CSS and Soviet KGB.
Decline and Collapse

● 1970’s-1980’s: Turks prevented from speaking their language and forced

them to assimilate.
● 1989: expulsion of Turks from Bulgaria causes drop in agricultural
production further weakening the economy.
● November 10, 1989: Zhivkov is removed from power as a result of
demands for liberalization.
● Petar Mladenov, the new leader, supported multi-party elections and
liberal ideas.
● November 15, 1990: the Communist Party’s leading role is abolished and
first multi-party elections in over 50 years are held. The communist
emblem is removed from the flag and the country becomes the Republic
of Bulgaria.
● The communist regime left a significant mark in Bulgarian history,
having killed between 50,000 and 100,000 people while it was in power.
SFR YUGOSLAVIA
Republics
SR Slovenia

SR Croatia

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina

SR Serbia (governing over

SAP Vojvodina and SAP
Kosovo)

SR Montenegro

SR Macedonia
Introduction

● 1360’s: Ottoman Empire takes Adrianople, beginning of Ottoman conquest

of Balkan peninsula.
● 1804-1835: Serbian Revolution, Serbia asserts independence.
● 1867: Turkish troops leave garrison in Belgrade.
● 1914: assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian nationalist
Gavrilo Princip, beginning of WW1.
● 1918: WW1 ends, borders of Europe redrawn, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and
Slovenes is created on December 1. First monarch: Peter 1 of Serbia.
● 1929: the country is renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia on October 31.
WWII and Communism

● April 6, 1941: Axis powers invade Yugoslavia.

● April 10, 1941: Independent State of Croatia founded, German puppet state,
participated in ethnic cleansing and genocide through the war.
● Two main parties of resistance: Chetniks, led by Draza Mihajlovic, who
collaborated with the Nazis, and the pro-communist Partisans, lead by Josip
Broz Tito.
● 1944: the Partisans drive the Axis out of Yugoslavia, Red Army provides
some support, Tito left in charge.
● November 11, 1945: elections held, the People’s Front (communists) is the
only party on the ballot.
● November 29, 1945: the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia is founded.
1948 Yugoslavia-Soviet Split

● Tito wanted to assert dominance over the Balkan peninsula.

● 1946: Yugoslavia and Albania sign treaty of mutual assistance and custom agreements.
● 1947: Bulgaria and Yugoslavia sign friendship and mutual assistance treaty without asking
Stalin.
● Stalin had proposed a union between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria where the two countries
would become republics of one state, while Tito wanted the proposed Union to be an
expanded Yugoslavia.
● 1948: Stalin summons Tito to Moscow, who refuses, sending Deputy Prime Minister Edvard
Kardelj instead.
● After failing to send delegated to Cominform, the KPJ was denounced for ideological errors
and anti-Soviet thinking.
● Yugoslavia takes up “Non Aligned” position in the Cold War struggle
Yugoslavia in the 60’s and 70’s
● Joseph Broz Tito made president for life in 1963
● Economic development was very high from the 50’s to the late 70’s and 80’s
● 1968: The first cracks in Yugoslavia began to appear in the late 60’s with student
protests
● 1971: Croatian spring brought massive protests and a new constitution giving the
separate republics more power
● Separate republics given almost complete economic autonomy
● The economic crises of the 1970’s brought major economic decline in Yugoslavia
● 1975-1983: Construction of the Krsko nuclear power plant.
● 1974: a new constitution, preceded by purges in the government, is adopted, giving
Kosovo and Vojvodina greater power and autonomy and recognizing Tito as president
for life.
Yugoslavia after Tito

● May 4, 1980: Josip Broz Tito dies after a failed attempt at amputating his leg.
● After Tito, the 1974 constitution left Yugoslavia without a leader.
● Tito was like an iron hand that held Yugoslavia together
● Economic crisis continued after Tito’s death, and ethnic tensions began to build up (Yugoslavia
was a country of many ethnicities and religions)
● The US was able to bail Yugoslavia out of economic crisis, the countries being friends
● 1984: Yugoslavia hosts Olympics
● One of the later politicians of Yugoslavia, Ante Markovic, attempted to oversee a switch to a
market economy
● Serbian communist leader Slobodan Milosevic asserts power, Croatia and Slovenia weary of
“Greater Serbia” ambitions. Milosevic wants pre-1974 conditions.
● 1988-1989: Anti-bureaucratic revolution, supporters of Milosevic install pro-Milosevic
governments in Kosovo, Vojvodina, and Montenegro.
Ethnic Conflicts and Collapse

● Yugoslavia made up of Orthodox Christian Serbs, Monetnegrins,

and Macedonians, Muslim Bosniaks and Kosovars, Catholic Croats
and Slovenes (mostly)
● Milosevic believed that parts of Bosnia and Croatia that were
Serbian should belong to Serbia, cutting down freedoms granted
by Tito.
● Majority-Albanian region of Kosovo wanted more autonomy.
● Croats and Slovenes unwilling to pay for policing of Kosovo in
Serbia.
● January 20 - 22 1991: 14th congress of League of Communists of
Yugoslavia is spent in argument between Serbia and Slovenia,
leading to Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia walking out in protest.
Collapse of Yugoslavia

● June 25, 1991: Croatia and Slovenia declare independence.

● June 26, 1991: Federal Executive Council orders People’s Army of
Yugoslavia to take retake Croatia and Slovenia.
● September 1991: Montenegro declares independence.
● Yugoslav/Serbian forces defeated in Ten Day War in Slovenia.
● December 19, 1991: Republic of Serbian Krajina proclaimed, Yugoslav forces
aid pro-Serbian rebels.
● January 9, 1992: pro-Serbian Republika Srpska is proclaimed in Bosnia and
Herzegovina
1990-Today

● 1991-1995: Croatian War of Independence, Croatia vs. Croatian breakaway republics aided by
Yugoslavia. May 1-3, Aug 4-7 1995: after losing much of its territory, Croatian enacts operations
Flash and Storm, retaking its territory.
● 1992-1995: Bosnian War, Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. breakaway states aided by Croatia and
Serbia. Srebrenica massacre: 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys killed by Serbs. September
1995: Croats and Bosniaks enact operation Mistral, NATO airstrikes force Bosnian Serbs to
negotiate. Dayton Agreements 1995: Bosnia split between Republika Srpska and Federation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
● Kosovo War 1998-1999: 1996: KLA created, clashes between Serbian and Kosovo forces in 1998,
NATO decides to install peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, and when Serbia refuses, begins bombing
campaign.
● 1994-2017: International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Milosevic and others indicted.
● February 17, 2008: Kosovo declares independence from Serbia.
The Destruction of War