1948 Czechoslovak Coup

Anais Dethou & Quentin Pierre

BACKGROUND

President Edvard Benes

Political differences

Benes = Czech National Social Party

Gottwald = Communist Party of Czechoslovakia [KSC]

Two resistance groupsOne in London led by Benes One in Moscow led by Gottwald

WWII: Czechoslovakia occupied by Germany

Government in exile in London

President = Edvard Benes1943 = Friendship treaty with

USSR

The Communist wave

The Communist party wins 38% of the votes in the

parlimentary elections of 1946

Communism gains popularity

Help of the Red Army during WWII

Bennes gets reelected on the 10th of June 1946o He’s on friendly terms with

the communists Communists get key

ministrieso Gottwald becomes Prime

Ministero Ministry of interior

o Police control

o Ministry of informationo Propaganda

o …

The Communist fall

The communists lost popularity because of the way they dealt with economic issues

Because of the strong link with the USSR (friendship treaty of 1943) Benes was forced to refuse the Marshall aid

1947: refusal of the

Marshall aid

Economic difficulties

Rationing was lowered

Working class

affected

Popularity of 25% in 1948

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

Klement Gottwald

September

1947

•Non-communist ministers vote against a communist bill

•10th: 3 of them received bombs

January 194

8

•Ministry of Interior (=communist) replaces 8 non-communist commanders of the police by communists

February 194

8

•20th: non-communist ministers’ resignation

•They wanted early elections to decrease the communist influence

The ministries’ resignation remained useless: Benes didn’t react early enough, nor did he call for early elections.

Right after this event, the communists reacted:o They used the police to control the areas they wantedo They began using mass propagandao (Thanks to the communist Ministry of Interior & of

Information)

SETTLEMENT

Benes feared a civil war and the intervention of the sovietso Some Russian troops were indeed stationing at

the Hungarian border since the end of WWII

On the 25th of February, Benes accepted the resignations, and the creation of a new government led by Gottwald & the communists

Then the communists began to consolidate their power: they fired and arrested non-communists

o 30th May 1948: absolute majority of the National Front, Communist and Social Democrats in the elections

o 2nd of June 1948: Benes resigned and died in Septembero Czechoslovakia became a communist country for more than

40 years

1948 Czechoslovak Coup in the Cold War context:

• Ideological gap between the two resistance groups in exile = ideological gap between the Eastern and the Western block

• Marshall Aid refused because of the Soviets

• Czechoslovakia became a Communist country : passed to the East of the Iron Curtain