Editing Eastern Bloc (section)

===Expansion of the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1940===
{{Main|Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|Soviet invasion of Poland|Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|Occupation of the Baltic states|Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|Winter War|Moscow Armistice}}

In 1939, the USSR entered into the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] with [[Nazi Germany]]<ref name="britannicamr"/> that contained a secret protocol that divided Romania, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland into German and Soviet spheres of influence.<ref name="britannicamr">Encyclopædia Britannica, ''German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact'', 2008</ref><ref name="mrtext">[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1939pact.html ''Text of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141114231303/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1939pact.html |date=14 November 2014 }}, executed 23 August 1939</ref> Eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and [[Bessarabia]] in northern Romania were recognized as parts of the [[Soviet sphere of influence]].<ref name="mrtext"/> Lithuania was added in a second secret protocol in September 1939.<ref name="christie">Christie, Kenneth, ''Historical Injustice and Democratic Transition in Eastern Asia and Northern Europe: Ghosts at the Table of Democracy'', RoutledgeCurzon, 2002, {{ISBN|0-7007-1599-1}}</ref>

The [[Soviet invasion of Poland|Soviet Union had invaded the portions of eastern Poland assigned to it]] by the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] two weeks after the German invasion of western Poland, followed by co-ordination with German forces in Poland.<ref name="stalinswars43">{{Harvnb|Roberts|2006|p=43}}</ref><ref name="sanford">{{Citation |author-link=George Sanford (scholar) |last=Sanford |first=George |year=2005 |title=Katyn and the Soviet Massacre Of 1940: Truth, Justice And Memory |location=London, New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-33873-8}}</ref> During the [[Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|Occupation of East Poland by the Soviet Union]], the Soviets liquidated the Polish state, and a German-Soviet meeting addressed the future structure of the "Polish region".<ref name="Nekrich131">{{Harvnb|Nekrich|Ulam|Freeze|1997|p=131}}</ref> Soviet authorities immediately started a campaign of [[sovietization]]<ref name="Sowietyzacja">{{Citation | title =Sowietyzacja Kresów Wschodnich II Rzeczypospolitej po 17 wrzesnia 1939 | year =1998 | editor =Adam Sudol | page =441 | publisher=Wyzsza Szkola Pedagogiczna | location =Bydgoszcz | isbn =978-83-7096-281-4 |language=pl}}</ref><ref name="Relocation">{{Citation | title =Demography and National Security | year =2001 | editor =Myron Weiner, Sharon Stanton Russell | pages =308–315 | chapter =Stalinist Forced Relocation Policies | chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=J9nuv7MGQ5MC&q=Sovietization&pg=PA309 | publisher=Berghahn Books | isbn =978-1-57181-339-8}}</ref> of the [[Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|newly Soviet-annexed areas]].<ref>The Soviets organized staged elections,{{in lang|pl}} Bartlomiej Kozlowski [http://kalendarium.polska.pl/wydarzenia/article.htm?id=132394 ''Wybory" do Zgromadzen Ludowych Zachodniej Ukrainy i Zachodniej Bialorusi''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923190801/http://kalendarium.polska.pl/wydarzenia/article.htm?id=132394 |date=23 September 2009 }}, [[Naukowa i Akademicka Sieć Komputerowa|NASK]], 2005, Polska.pl, the result of which was to become a legitimization of Soviet annexation of eastern Poland. [[Jan Tomasz Gross]], ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=XKtOr4EXOWwC&pg=PA71 Revolution from Abroad]'', Princeton University Press, 2003, p. 396 {{ISBN|0-691-09603-1}}</ref><ref>Soviet authorities attempted to erase Polish history and culture, Trela-Mazur, Elzbieta, ''Sowietyzacja oswiaty w Malopolsce Wschodniej pod radziecka okupacja 1939–1941 (Sovietization of Education in Eastern Lesser Poland During the Soviet Occupation 1939–1941)'', ed. Wlodzimierz Bonusiak, ''et al''. (eds.), Wyzsza Szkola Pedagogiczna im. Jana Kochanowskiego, 1997, {{ISBN|978-83-7133-100-8}}</ref><ref>Soviet authorities withdrew the [[Polish złoty|Polish currency]] without exchanging rubles,{{in lang|pl}}, [[Karolina Lanckoronska]] ''Wspomnienia wojenne; 22 IX 1939 – 5 IV 1945'', 2001, ed, p. 364, [http://www.lwow.com.pl/karolina.html Chapter I – Lwów] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327101720/http://www.lwow.com.pl/karolina.html |date=27 March 2009 }}, ZNAK, {{ISBN|83-240-0077-1}}</ref> Soviet authorities [[collective farming|collectivized]] agriculture,<ref name="PWN OKUPACJA SOWIECKA W POLSCE 1939–41">{{cite web |url=https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/okupacja-sowiecka-ziem-polskich;3950665.html |title=okupacja sowiecka ziem polskich 1939–41 |trans-title=Soviet occupation of Polish territories 1939–41 |language=pl |website=[[Internetowa encyklopedia PWN|Encyklopedia PWN]] |access-date=6 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324085324/https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/okupacja-sowiecka-ziem-polskich;3950665.html |archive-date=24 March 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[nationalized]] and redistributed private and state-owned Polish property.<ref name="Piotrowski_11">{{Harvnb|Piotrowski|2007|p=11}}</ref><ref>Soviet authorities regarded service for the pre-war Polish state as a "crime against revolution" [[Gustaw Herling-Grudziński]], ''A World Apart: Imprisonment in a Soviet Labor Camp During World War II'', 1996, p. 284, [[Penguin Books]], {{ISBN|0-14-025184-7}} and "counter-revolutionary activity",{{in lang|pl}} [[Władysław Anders]], ''Bez ostatniego rozdzialu'', 1995, p. 540, Test, {{ISBN|83-7038-168-5}} and subsequently started arresting large numbers of Polish citizens.</ref><ref>During the initial Soviet invasion of Poland, between [[Polish prisoners-of-war in the Soviet Union after 1939|230,000 to 450,000 Poles were taken as prisoner, some of which were executed]] (see also [[Katyn massacre]]).[[George Sanford (political scientist)|Sanford]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=PZXvUuvfv-oC&pg=PA20 Google Books, pp. 20-24.]; [[Benjamin Fischer (historian)|Fischer, Benjamin B.]], "[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/winter99-00/art6.html The Katyn Controversy: Stalin's Killing Field] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324185250/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/winter99-00/art6.html |date=24 March 2010 }}", ''[[Studies in Intelligence]]'', Winter 1999–2000; [https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/pdf/v43i3a06p.pdf ''Stalin's Killing Field''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709144143/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/pdf/v43i3a06p.pdf |date=9 July 2008 }}</ref>

Initial Soviet [[Occupation of the Baltic states|occupations of the Baltic countries]] had occurred in mid-June 1940, when Soviet NKVD troops raided border posts in [[History of Lithuania#First Soviet occupation|Lithuania]], [[Estonia in World War II#Soviet occupation|Estonia]] and [[Latvia#Latvia in World War II|Latvia]],<ref name="wettig20">{{Harvnb|Wettig|2008|p=20}}</ref><ref name="senn">Senn, Alfred Erich, ''Lithuania 1940 : revolution from above'', Amsterdam, New York, Rodopi, 2007 {{ISBN|978-90-420-2225-6}}</ref> followed by the liquidation of state administrations and replacement by Soviet cadres.<ref name="wettig20"/><ref>34,250 Latvians, 75,000 Lithuanians and almost 60,000 Estonians were deported or killed. [[Simon Sebag Montefiore]], ''Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar'', p. 334</ref> Elections for parliament and other offices were held with single candidates listed and the official results fabricated, purporting pro-Soviet candidates' approval by 92.8 percent of the voters in Estonia, 97.6 percent in Latvia, and 99.2 percent in Lithuania.<ref name="wettig21">{{Harvnb|Wettig|2008|p=21}}</ref><ref>Furthermore, the Latvian results are known to be fabrications, having been accidentally released to the press in London and published a day ahead of schedule. Visvaldis, Mangulis, ''Latvia in the Wars of the 20th century'', 1983, Princeton Junction: Cognition Books, {{ISBN|0-912881-00-3}}, Chapter=VIII. September 1939 to June 1941; Švābe, Arvīds. ''The Story of Latvia''. Latvian National Foundation. Stockholm. 1949. Feldbrugge, Ferdinand et al., ''Encyclopedia of Soviet Law'', 1985, Brill, {{ISBN|90-247-3075-9}}, p. 460</ref> The fraudulently installed "people's assemblies" immediately declared each of the three corresponding countries to be "Soviet Socialist Republics" and requested their "admission into [[Stalin]]'s Soviet Union". This formally resulted in the Soviet Union's annexation of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in August 1940.<ref name="wettig21"/> The international community condemned this annexation of the three Baltic countries and deemed it illegal.<ref name="smithpabriksxix">{{Harvnb|Smith|Pabriks|Purs|Lane|2002|p=xix}}</ref><ref name="oconnor117">{{Harvnb|O'Connor|2003|p=117}}</ref>

In 1939, the Soviet Union unsuccessfully [[Winter War|attempted an invasion of Finland]],<ref name="ckpipe">{{Citation|last=Kennedy-Pip|first=Caroline|title=Stalin's Cold War|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=1995|isbn=978-0-7190-4201-0}}</ref> subsequent to which the parties entered into an [[Moscow Peace Treaty|interim peace treaty]] granting the Soviet Union a portion of the eastern region of [[Karelia]] (10% of Finnish territory),<ref name="ckpipe"/> and the [[Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic]] was established by merging the ceded territories with the [[Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic|KASSR]]. After a June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum demanding Bessarabia, [[Bukovina]], and the [[Hertsa region]] from Romania,<ref name="stalinswars55">{{Harvnb|Roberts|2006|p=55}}</ref><ref name="shirer794">{{Harvnb|Shirer|1990|p=794}}</ref> the Soviets entered these areas, Romania caved to Soviet demands and the [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|Soviets occupied the territories]].<ref name="stalinswars55"/><ref>The occupation accompanied [[religious persecution during the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina]] and [[Soviet deportations from Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina]].</ref>