The enforcement of Soviet power in Eastern and Central Europe after the end of the Second World War was based on violence and the USSR's monopoly on power. None of the socialist regimes had democratic legitimacy, and without Soviet support, none of them could survive. The Soviet Union guaranteed the security of the socialist dictatorships, even against their own populations if necessary. To this end, it primarily relied on its military troops stationed in these states. It often formed so-called ‘groups of troops’ for this purpose, because only when violence is organized and institutionalized it can be sustained over a longer period of time. The "instrumental power" of the occupying forces was predicated on their capacity to execute threats. Those who had experienced the repercussions of such actions, such as the GDR in 1953, Hungary in 1956, or the ČSSR in 1968, were compelled to prepare for the possibility of repetition and react in accordance with the demands of the situation. As a consequence, the Soviet claim to power in Eastern and Central Europe had to collapse as soon as the use of military force to maintain it was ruled out.

The objective of the workshop is to initiate an international research project on the stationing of Soviet troops in Eastern and East-Central Europe following the conclusion of the Second World War, with a view to securing their own sphere of influence. The primary objective of the project is to systematically determine the locations of Soviet Army units during the Cold War in the Soviet Occupation Zone/GDR, Austria, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and the three Baltic states. However, the stationing of Soviet units in the Caucasus and Transcaucasus will also be recorded. The investigation will also encompass short-term stationing after the conclusion of the Second World War, for instance in Norway and Finland.

The data collected in this manner will be collated for the first time in a database, with the option of geographical analysis, and thus made available for research. Concurrently, the relevant data sets will be augmented with sources from a diverse array of collections, with the objective of mitigating the repercussions of protracted Soviet and Russian confidentiality rules in this domain.
It is anticipated that, based on the information collected, a history of the Soviet Union's military occupation of Eastern Europe during the Cold War will also be written which will encompass both spatial and modern military history. This will facilitate the identification of focal points and changes in the Soviet Union's priorities in securing its influence in Eastern Europe.

A third field of research will examine the effects of the withdrawal of troops from Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Soviet army on social and political developments in the countries where they were previously stationed, as well as in the former European CIS states. There is a particular need for research in this area, as the collapse of the Soviet army encouraged armed national conflicts between the newly emerging states, violent internal conflicts between different national groups, the further development of organized crime, arms trafficking, etc.

Topics and questions to be addressed at the workshop are:

• What sources can be used to reconstruct the stationing of Soviet troops in Austria, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Moldova and the three Baltic states, as well as in the Baltic Sea Region, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia? How can the collected data be standardized and consolidated? What experience has been gained with corresponding databases?
• What was the logic behind the stationing of Soviet troops in the various countries of Eastern and Central Europe? Why were the USSR's armed forces withdrawn from certain countries but not from others? How did changes in strategy and tactics affect the composition and equipment of the occupying forces?
• What was the relationship between the occupiers and the occupied? To what extent was this relationship subject to change, and what conditions led to corresponding changes at the temporal, political and social levels? What economic relations existed between the two parties at the local level? What role did the socialist shadow economy play in this? Can differences in cultural relations between the occupied and the occupiers be identified for different regions?
• How did the withdrawal of the Soviet occupation affect the local level, and what problems did the withdrawal of large military units cause, particularly in rural areas? What
  environmental problems did the withdrawing troops leave behind, and what options were found to repair the damage? What happened to the material legacy of the troops? How did crime and arms trafficking benefit from the consequences of the withdrawal or dissolution of entire units after the collapse of the Soviet Union? How did professional soldiers react to the new conditions, what opportunities for integration could be exploited, how did the ‘drift’ into organized crime or mercenary work take place, who ended up on the margins of the new society?
• How did the disbanding of troops in the USSR fuel national conflicts, and were these conflicts exacerbated by the military resources that became available as a result? How do the occupied peoples view the occupiers today?
   

This workshop is part of a series of events on perestroika, transformation and post-socialism organized by the Max Weber Network Eastern Europe. A workshop to be held in Tbilisi in early March 2026 will address issues of violence during the transformation phase in the 1990s in the territories of the former Soviet Empire.
We invite applications from scholars at all career stages who are engaged in the history of late and post-socialist countries and experts in Cold War military history as well as spatial and environmental history. The organizers will cover costs for travel (airfare up to a maximum amount) and accommodation. Deadline for submissions is November 10, 2025. Applicants will be informed about our decision and further details until the end of November.
Proposals should be a single PDF-file, including name, affiliation, title of the presentation, and abstract (up to 300 words), as well as a short biographical note. Please send your proposals to: matthias.uhl@mws-osteuropa.org

‘Allied Occupiers?’ Research on the Groups of Soviet Army Troops in Eastern and East-Central Europe
International workshop
Date: 23–24 April 2026
Location: Max Weber Network, Helsinki
Application deadline: 10 November 2025
Working Languages: German & English

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