Boundaries and governance in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during and after the Second World War
 

During the War

Afterwards

ALBANIA

In the 1930s an Italian client state under King Zog’s royal rule. Invaded by Italy in April 1939 and made into an outlying Italian province. Base for the unsuccessful Italian invasion of Greece in October 1940; the southern third of the country is overrun by Greek armies before the end of the year. After Germany’s rapid defeat of Yugoslavia and Greece in April 1941, Albania’s borders are extended with lands from Yugoslavia (most of Kosovo, western Macedonia, and a strip of Montenegro) and Greece (northwestern Epirus). German forces occupy the country (thinly) in Sept. 1943 when Italy leaves the war, but pull out in Nov. 1944.

Restored to independence with pre-war borders. The new government of Nov. 1944, an alliance of resistance forces headed by Communist Enver Hoxha, evolves quickly into a Communist one-party state.
BALTIC STATES Russian for centuries, then independent democracies since 1920; authoritarian rule begins in 1933-34. Forced into mutual assistance treaties with the USSR in Sept.-Oct. 1939. In June 1940 occupied by the USSR, as provided for in the Nazi-Soviet Pact; annexed in August, becoming SSRs. Overrun by Germany beginning in June 1941, and placed under German civil administration as part of Reichskommissariat Ostland. Reconquered by the USSR in 1944-45. Recreated as SSRs within the Soviet Union, as in 1940.
Lithuania A sudden German invasion in March 1939 seizes Memel (Klaipeda; formerly German, under special Lithuanian administration since 1923), shortly after the German occupation of Prague. The USSR assigns the Vilnius (Wilno, Vilna) area (lost to Poland in 1920) to Lithuania in Oct. 1939, at the price of a mutual assistance treaty with the USSR. Under Soviet rule from June 1940 to June 1941, then under German administration. Restored as the Lithuanian SSR, incl. Klaipeda (Memel) and the Vilnius district.
Latvia Under Soviet rule from June 1940 to July 1941, then under German administration. Restored as the Latvian SSR.
Estonia Under Soviet rule from June 1940 to Aug. 1941, then under German administration. Restored as the Estonian SSR.

BULGARIA

Under the (relatively relaxed) royal rule of King Boris since 1935. A revisionist state, but holds to neutrality as long as possible after the war starts. Gains Southern Dobruja from Romania in Sept. 1940, by German fiat. Joins the German alliance system in March 1941 and accepts the stationing of German troops; German ally until the end. Joins in the attack on Yugoslavia in April 1941, and in July 1941 is allowed to annex most of Yugoslav Macedonia and a strip of Serbia, as well as most of Greek Thrace and the islands of Thasos and Samothrace. Does not send troops to fight in Russia. Surrenders to the Red Army in Sept. 1944 and puts its armies under Soviet command; Germans hold part of the country until November.

Restored to pre-war borders, but is allowed to keep Southern Dobruja on the grounds that the population is ethnically Bulgarian. Under manipulation by the Soviet occupation forces, the coalition governments of 1945-46 gradually come under definitive Communist control.
CZECHO-
SLOVAKIA		 The only democracy in Eastern Europe to survive intact until German intervention. Dismembered in 1938-39: parts are annexed by Germany, Hungary, and Poland, and the rest is set up as the puppet state of Slovakia (see below). Maintains a government-in-exile in London during the war. Restored to 1937 borders, minus Ruthenia (see below); 3 million ethnic Germans flee or are expelled. A parliamentary democracy until the Communist coup of March 1948.
Bohemia and Moravia The Sudetenland is annexed by Germany in Sept. 1938 in consequence of the Munich Agreement. Under pressure, the small adjacent Tešín (Cieszin, Teschen) area is ceded to Poland at the same time. The rump is effectively annexed by the Reich in March 1939, though governed separately as the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia". Quiet and relatively prosperous during the war. Invaded by Soviet and American forces only in the last weeks of the war. Recovered intact by Czechoslovakia, including the Sudetenland and Tešín.
Slovakia Made fully autonomous in Oct. 1938, after Munich, under the "clerical fascist" government of Msgr. Tiso. In Nov. 1938 the Hungarian-speaking southern strip is ceded to Hungary by German fiat (the First Vienna Award). In March 1939 the remainder becomes nominally independent, in practice a German dependency (minus the Hungarian uplands and a strip of eastern Slovakia). Joins the German alliance system in Nov. 1940, sends troops to the war in Russia, and is among the first to deport its Jews to Poland. In Aug. 1944 German forces move in to prepare defenses against the Soviet army, provoking a popular revolt that is not crushed until Oct. Liberated by Soviet forces in winter 1944-45. Recovered intact by Czechoslovakia, with the 1937 borders.
Ruthenia (Carpatho-
Ukraine, Subcarpathian Rus)		 Made fully autonomous in Oct. 1938, after Munich, minus a Hungarian-speaking southern strip which Germany assigns to Hungary (the First Vienna Award). The rest, along with a strip of eastern Slovakia, is forcibly annexed by Hungary in March 1939. Liberated by Soviet forces in fall 1944. Ceded (with 1937 borders) by Czechoslovakia to the USSR in June 1945, giving the Soviet Union a common border with Hungary. Becomes part of the Ukrainian SSR.
DANZIG (Gdańsk) A formerly German city made into a Free State by the Treaty of Versailles; annexed by the Reich In Sept. 1939, at the start of the war. Incorporated into Poland.
FINLAND Independent from the Russian Empire since 1918. Invaded by the USSR in Nov. 1939, it fights until March 1940 (the "Winter War"), losing important southern border districts, incl. Vyborg, and some lands further north. In June 1941 joins the German attack on the USSR and fights as a German ally until 1944, when it makes peace with the USSR, ceding the lands lost in 1939-40 and the Petsamo area in the north. In March 1945 declares war on Germany. Keeps the borders negotiated with the USSR in 1944. A parliamentary democracy, but neutral in the developing Cold War.

GREECE

In Oct. 1940 invaded by Italian armies from Albania, which are repulsed in fighting during the winter with significant military assistance from Britain. Overrun quickly by German armies in April 1941. In July most of Greek Thrace and the islands of Thasos and Samothrace are assigned to Bulgaria and part of Epirus to Italian-controlled Albania. The rest of the country, including Crete and the remaining islands, is under Italian or German military rule (nominally mostly Italian, in practice mostly German), with a vestigial puppet government; after Italy leaves the war in Sept. 1943 Greece is entirely under German military rule. Significant partisan activity, partly Communist and partly anti-Communist, begins in 1942. German forces, in danger of being cut off, withdraw in Oct. 1944 (except from Crete).

Restored to pre-war borders, plus the Dodecanese Islands (incl. Rhodes) from Italy. The Western-style parliamentary monarchy imposed by the British on mutually hostile partisan factions reaches relative stability only with the end of the civil war of 1946-49.

HUNGARY

In the 1930s an oligarchical parliamentary state under the powerful regent Admiral Horthy. As a "revisionist" state, friendly to Germany before the war. In Nov. 1938, after Munich, gains the Hungarian-speaking districts of Slovakia and Ruthenia from Czechoslovakia at German insistence (the First Vienna Award). In March 1939 Hungary forcibly annexes the rest of Ruthenia, as rump Czechoslovakia collapses under German invasion. In August 1940 Hungary acquires northern Transylvania (some two-fifths of the whole) from Romania at German insistence (the Second Vienna Award). Hungary joins the German alliance system in Nov. 1940; German ally until almost the end. Joins in the attack on Yugoslavia in April 1941 and is rewarded with half of the Voivodina (the Bačka) and other small territories. Joins in the fighting in Russia. Occupied by German troops in March 1944 as Soviet armies approach; put under German military rule in October 1944 when the Hungarian government attempts to change sides in the war. Liberated by Soviet forces in destructive fighting between September 1944 and April 1945; the battle of Budapest lasts from Nov. 1944 to February 1945.

Restored to pre-war borders; 250,000 ethnic Germans flee or are expelled. A parliamentary democracy, distorted by heavy pressure from Soviet occupation authorities, fades by degrees to definitive Communist Party rule by mid-1947.
POLAND Since 1926 an authoritarian state with parliamentary trimmings, allied to France. Seizes Cieszin (Tešín, Teschen) from Czechoslovakia in Sept. 1938 in the wake of Munich. Dismembered and annexed or occupied (first by Germany and Russia, later by Germany alone) in Sept. 1939. Attacked first by Germany in Sept. 1939, two weeks later also by the USSR, and divided up according to the provisions of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Aug. 1939 (see below). This division is undone by the German attack on the USSR in June 1941. Maintains a government-in-exile in London during the war. Loses perhaps 20% of its population (half Jewish, half not) during the fighting and German rule. Widespread partisan activity, partly anti-Communist (the "Home Army") and partly Communist. Liberated from summer 1944 through the next winter. Restored with radically new borders: loses Eastern Poland, but gains all pre-war German territory east of the Oder and Neisse Rivers (except the Königsberg area), plus Danzig. 3.3 million ethnic Germans flee or are driven out, replaced in part by over a million ethnic Poles fleeing Eastern Poland. Post-war political institutions, heavily influenced by the occupying Soviets from the start, become definitively Communist during 1947.
Western Poland Upper Silesia, Poznania (Wartheland), and West Prussia (the "Polish Corridor"), all German lands up to 1918, plus Mazovia are annexed by the Reich in fall 1939. Returned to Poland.
Central Poland Effectively annexed by the Reich, but governed separately as the Generalgouvernement, with Hans Frank as Governor. Returned to Poland.
Eastern Poland (mainly the "Kresy") These lands, with their predominantly non-Polish population (Ukrainian, Belorussian, and Jewish) had a special status in interwar Poland. They are overrun and annexed by the USSR in Sept. 1939 under the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. In Oct. 1939 the USSR awards the Wilno (Vilna, Vilnius) district to Lithuania, in return for a mutual assistance treaty. In summer 1941 the whole region is overrun by Germany during its assault on the USSR. Bialystok is annexed to the Reich, Eastern Galicia to the Generalgouvernement; the rest is subjected to German civil government under the fiefdoms called the Reichskommissariat Ostland and Reichskommissariat Ukraine. The Wilno district remains with Lithuania, which is now an SSR; Bialystok is returned to Poland; the rest (much the greater part) is incorporated into the Ukrainian and Belorussian SSRs.

ROMANIA

The political system in the 1930s is dominated by King Carol. As a victor state in World War I, friendly to the Allies before the war. Forced by German pressure to cede territories to German allies in summer of 1940 (see below). After Marshal Antonescu comes to power in a coup, becomes a German ally. German forces are stationed in the country from Oct. 1940 on. Joins the German alliance system in Nov. 1940; in June 1941 joins in the invasion of the USSR and recovers the territories lost to the USSR in 1940. Romanian armies are decimated at Stalingrad. With Soviet armies already well into the country in Aug. 1944, the Romanian government changes sides in the war, and its armies fight on under Soviet command. Parts of the country come under German military rule until October 1944.

Restored with all of Transylvania but without Northern Bukovina, Bessarabia and Southern Dobruja. The post-war coalition government is definitively under Communist control by the end of 1947.

Transylvania
(w/ Crisana,
Maramures &
most of the Bánát)

Hungarian before 1918. The northern part of the territory (some two-fifths of the whole) is ceded to Hungary in August 1940 by German fiat (the Second Vienna Award).

Returned intact to Romania.

Bessarabia
and Northern
Bukovina

Bessarabia was Russian before 1918, Northern Bukovina Austrian. Ceded to the USSR In June 1940 under pressure from the USSR, Germany and Italy. Northern Bukovina and coastal Bessarabia are added to the Ukrainian SSR, while the rest of Bessarabia forms the Moldavian SSR. Returned to Romania after the German invasion of Russia, along with Transnistria (incl. Odessa) to the east of Bessarabia. Reconquered by the USSR in summer 1944.

Re-incorporated into the USSR as in 1940.

Southern
Dobruja

Ceded to Bulgaria In Sept. 1940 under German pressure.

Allowed to remain with Bulgaria on the grounds that the population is ethnically Bulgarian.
TURKEY

Maintains a precarious neutrality throughout the war, being surrounded on all sides by belligerents or by territories controlled by belligerents.

 No territorial changes in Europe, and no change in system of government.
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS Ally of Germany from Aug. 1939 to June 1941, then at war with Germany. Acting under the Nazi-Soviet Pact of Aug. 1939, in Sept.-Oct. 1939 the USSR seizes the Polish Kresy and Eastern Galicia (see under Poland) and draws the Baltic States into its sphere of influence; in June 1940 it annexes Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia (from Romania), in Aug. 1940 the Baltic States. In between, in the winter of 1939-40, the USSR annexes Finnish territory after the Winter War (and later more Finnish territory in a 1944 peace settlement). The invasion by Germany and her allies in June 1941 reaches, at its farther extent, to Leningrad (besieged), almost to Moscow, to the Volga at Stalingrad, and to the fringes of the Caucasus. The tide turns early in 1943 with the relief of Leningrad and Stalingrad, confirmed in June in the battle of Kursk. By the end of summer 1944 Soviet armies largely pass the borders of June 1941 and start to fight on foreign soil. The USSR’s western borders after the war are by and large those achieved by 1940 as a result of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, with Eastern Poland, Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia, and the former Baltic States added to prewar territory. Also keeps the conquered Finnish territory; acquires Ruthenia from Czechoslovakia by cession; and takes the Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) region of East Prussia from Germany.
Ukrainian SSR Germany assigns Transnistria (adjacent to Bessarabia, incl. Odessa) to Romania in summer 1941. The rest comes under German civil administration as part of Reichskommissariat Ukraine, or under military administration, from late 1941 to spring 1944. Recovers Transnistria and expands to include Western Volhynia and Eastern Galicia (from Poland), Ruthenia (from Czechoslovakia), and Northern Bukovina and coastal Bessarabia (from Romania).
Belorussian SSR Under German civil administration as part of Reichskommissariat Ostland (partly also Reichskommissariat Ukraine) from summer 1941 to summer 1944. Expands to include the northern Kresy (from Poland).
Moldavian SSR Created in summer 1940 by adding a small Moldavian autonomous district to most of Bessarabia (minus its coastal region), newly seized from Romania under the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. After the German invasion of June 1941 it returns to Hitler's Romanian ally. Reconquered by the USSR in summer 1944. Reemerges as an SSR with the Soviet Union with its 1940 borders.
Russian SFSR The parts overrun by the invaders remain under military administration until the occupiers are expelled in 1943 and 1944. Expands to include the lands taken from Finland and an exclave, the Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) district of East Prussia.

YUGOSLAVIA

In the 1930’s a royal dictatorship (since 1934 by the regent Prince Paul) with some parliamentary influence. As a victor state in World War I, friendly to the Allies before the war but drifting in Germany’s direction until a coup in March 1941; this provokes a sudden invasion by German, Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian forces in April. Dismembered: parts are annexed by Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria, and the rest is set up as the occupied puppet states of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. Maintains a government-in-exile in London during the war. Strong guerrilla activity in the mountains leads to formation of a counter-government in Nov. 1943, sponsored by the largest branch of the resistance, the Communist-led Partisans under Tito. Belgrade is freed in Oct. 1944 jointly by the Partisans and the Soviet Army, after which the Red Army leaves the fighting (more against Chetniks, Ustashe and others than against Germans) to the Partisans.

Restored to pre-war borders, plus lands seized from Italy up nearly to Trieste and Udine; Yugoslav demands for the Klagenfurt area of Austria are finally rejected in 1949. The Partisans, by right of military victory, establish a Communist one-party state in 1945.

(Apart from the Banovina of Croatia pre-war Yugoslavia was a unitary state; the regions below are historic territories corresponding roughly to the six post-war Republics.)

Slovenia

The north (except for a small district ceded to Hungary) is re-annexed by Austria (now part of the Reich), as before 1918; the south (incl. Ljubljana) is annexed by Italy, then by the Reich (along with Istria) after Italy leaves the war in September 1943. The Partisans take Ljubljana only in May 1945.

Becomes a constituent Republic of federal Yugoslavia. Restored to pre-war borders, plus Italian territory inhabited by Slovenes: up to and partly beyond the Isonzo (set in 1947), and northern Istria up to the edge of Trieste (finally set in 1954).

Croatia

Already before the war (Aug. 1939) historic Croatia-Slavonia is enlarged into the semi-autonomous "Banovina of Croatia", incl. Dalmatia and large ethnically Croatian parts of Bosnia-Hercegovina. Following the defeat parts of Dalmatia are annexed by Italy, and small northern areas of Slavonia are annexed by Hungary. The remainder, enlarged by the rest of Bosnia-Hercegovina, is nominally independent, a dictatorship of Ante Pavelič’s genocidal Ustasha; supposedly part of Italy’s sphere of influence, it is in practice increasingly under the influence of Germany, whose troops are also stationed there. After Italy leaves the war in Sept. 1943, German rule is more overt, and Croatia recovers Italy’s gains in Dalmatia. Much of the resistance fighting takes place on Croatian territory, but the Partisans take Zagreb only in May 1945.

Becomes a constituent Republic of federal Yugoslavia. Restored to its historic (not its pre-war) borders, incl. Dalmatia, plus southern Baranya (not part of Croatia before the war); from Italy it gains most of Istria (with Rijeka/ Fiume) and Italy’s pre-war Dalmatian territories (Zadar and some islands); while it gives up the Kotor area (to Montenegro) and most of Syrmia (to Serbia).

Bosnia-
Hercegovina

Partially assigned already before the war to the Banovina of Croatia; wholly annexed by Croatia in the dismemberment after defeat. The Partisans take Sarajevo only in April 1945.

Becomes a constituent Republic of federal Yugoslavia. Restored to its borders of Austro-Hungarian times.

Serbia

Loses the Bačka to Hungary, the Serbian Bánát to direct German military administration, the Sanjak to the Italian puppet state of Montenegro, most of Kosovo province to Italian Albania, and a southeastern strip of territory to Bulgaria. (Also loses Yugoslav Macedonia, as described below.) The remainder comes under German military administration, with only a shadowy puppet state under General Nedič. Liberated from Sept. to Dec. 1944.

Becomes a constituent Republic of federal Yugoslavia. Regains the lands lost to Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Hungary, and gains most of Syrmia (formerly part of Croatia-Slavonia); but loses Macedonia, which itself becomes a Republic. Two autonomous regions are formed within Serbia: the Voivodina, including the Bačka, the Bánát, and Syrmia; and Kosovo.

Montenegro

Loses small territories to Italian Albania but gains the Sanjak from Serbia. At first nominally a kingdom under Italian military occupation; after Italy leaves the war in Sept. 1943, it has a puppet administration subject to German military rule. Evacuated by German forces from Nov. 1944 to Jan. 1945.

Becomes a constituent Republic of federal Yugoslavia. Restored to its historic, pre-1918 borders plus the Kotor area (formerly part of Dalmatia).

Macedonia

A Serbian province before the war. After the defeat a western section is annexed by Italian Albania, the rest by Bulgaria. Evacuated by German forces from Nov. 1944 to Jan. 1945.

Becomes a constituent Republic of federal Yugoslavia. Recovers the lands lost to Albania and Bulgaria.

Recent historical atlases useful for this topic:

Eastern Europe:

Richard and Ben Crampton. Atlas of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century. London and New York: Routledge,1996.
Dennis P. Hupchick and Harold E. Cox. The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the Balkans. New York: Palgrave, 2001.
Paul Robert Magocsi. Historical Atlas of East Central Europe. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993.

Soviet Union:

Allen F. Chew. An Atlas of Russian History, rev. ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970.
Martin Gilbert. Atlas of Russian History, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Nazi Germany:

Michael Freeman. Atlas of Nazi Germany, 2nd ed. London and New York: Longman, 1995.