Eastern Bloc

For Eastern Europe, the 20th century was nothing short of tumultuous; two world wars and stints with totalitarianism troubled the continent. Because of all that happened, it is hard to encompass the breath of the 20th century in a single work. Therefore, it seems that the question “What work best represents the turmoil in Eastern Europe during the 20th century?” does not have an answer. How can one work encompass the mess that was the 20th century? Is it possible to represent the varying…

Ann Snitow ’s essay, “Feminist Futures in the Former East Bloc” is an intriguing text that presents twelve points that draw a comparison between Western and Eastern European understanding of feminism and why it has not taken shape in Eastern Europe as it did in the Western part of the world. Although I find the list portrayed by Snitow slightly subjective in tone, since the list is presented through her perspective as a Western feminist, I appreciate the effort in bringing into the conversation…

purpose was to help rebuild Europe’s economy and landscape during the post world war two crisis that many countries were dealing with following the war. Europe had spent tremendous amounts of money and used many resources on their fight to subdue the Eastern invaders. The Marshall plan was created by Secretary of State George Marshall, and the plan has a sphere of controversy around it. The Marshall Plan has largely been considered the greatest instance of foreign aid ever…

of barbwire and guards. Each side professing the other’s weakness and oppression; neither willing to act on their threats in fear of retaliation. This was the Cold War. A political war between the Western nations and the Eastern Bloc. As Soviet power rapidly grew in the Eastern territories, the Western nations became evermore concerned for their own governments. In order to avoid being taken over by Communist forces, the Western countries joined…

However, the communist Eastern Europe had laws and regulations that far exceeded those in the West. Abortion was briefly recriminalized, and contraceptives were hard to come by as Soviet access to them was denied. As Dagmar Herzog points out in Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth…

The Cold War is a war unlike any other that if a person would ask different historians or people who lived during the time what it was, that person would get so many different and varied answers. Fear and hysteria dominated the public and political atmosphere during the time after World War II because of the start of a conflict that what was to be called the Cold War. This war dragged on for decades lasting from 1945 to 1991 when the Soviet regime finally fell. It was an unusual war that saw…

Comparing Individuality and Conformity in Fahrenheit 451 Individuality is celebrated in modern day society, but during the Cold War, the world seemed as though there was little hope for self-expression to live another day. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, there is a prominent theme of conformity found various times throughout the dystopian society. Conformity was a common theme in the real world during the Cold War, when this novel was written. In this society, books have all been…

European relations. In Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union began reconstructing based on the goals of the Moscow communist parties. In Western Europe, their economic shortages and fears of the Soviet Union made them dependent on the United States. In order for there not to be an economic collapse, the United States developed and international trade and financial…

successful, and should be spread throughout war-stricken East Europe in order to restore it. Although it is certainly debatable how genuine these sentiments of Stalin’s were, at face value, it is clear that the wish to gain a sphere of influence over Eastern Europe during it’s restoration, was no more dangerous than that of the United States’ economic aid plans. Stalin wished to adopt a sphere of influence for his own assertion as a co-world power in the new international order that was being…

and ransacked and shaved the heads of women accused of having relations with Axis soldiers (Dunn, 777). Even after the resolution of the war, there were reports of Poles killings Jews, persuading more than 200,000 Holocaust survivors to flee from Eastern Europe and never return. In some of the more heavily…