[balance_factor]

Starting in 1945, Russia had a very strong desire to pull out of Berlin and east Germany, it never wanted to be there. England and the US had agreed that Germany would be demilitarized, but then reneged on that promise, and formed a military alliance against Russia which west Germany joined in 1955. That was two years after Radio Free Europe in west Berlin was advocating riots to east Berliners and east Germans - which took place. And only six years after this was a wall built. Imagine if Iran occupied half of San Francisco or New York City and Iranians became indignant a wall was put up around their section? Of course much of the Nazis and SS high command was put to work in west Germany after the war in intelligence and business (union-busting etc.) other than their cleaner hands leaders like Reinhard Gehlen, or less clean hands such as Nazi and SS leader Hanns Martin Schleyer who was head of the post-war German Employers' Association (but whose past was not discussed much, most references to him are in regards to "far-left Red Army Faction terrorism"). Also, the Rhineland was the heart of German industrial might, the Russians got the duds in Germany other than a divided Berlin which caused them and the DDR's leaders headaches.

Whereas Austria, which Russia had occupied but which did not go remilitarize and join NATO, was withdrawn from by Russia, just like Russia pulled out of Iran and a number of other places as agreed. The allies had agreed Germany not be remilitarized and made a military threat to a twice invaded Russia within a 30 year span, but then England and the US broke that deal.

So Russia, who wanted to leave and have Germany reunite, was stuck by US/UK policy. Actually, as has been revealed, Margaret Thatcher was forcibly against east Germany reuniting with west Germany at a time when the Russians wanted it. So this thread stretched all the way from 1945 to 1990.

[keiferski]

Right. Just like Russia wanted to leave Poland, Ukraine, the Baltics, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. It was the west that forced them to stay.

[balance_factor]

When the Russian Revolution took place, many of the areas you discuss were part of the Russian empire. So "Russian occupation", if that is what it was, did not start with the Bolsheviks.

Hungary is a different story, but then of course, the Hungarians established themselves as a communist republic in 1919 with no Russians in sight. This was actually put down by foreign intervention - Romanian invasion and guns, with strong support from England in the background. So you could say the Red Army was just restoring what had been taken away by foreign invasion in 1919.

[keiferski]

Most of these areas were only “a part of the Russian empire” because Russia had previously invaded them. You seem to have completely forgotten the Partitions of Poland, the numerous uprisings in the 19th Century, and the defeat of the Soviet Army by Poland following WWI, which thus curtailed Soviet expansion. Clearly the Poles did not want to be a part of the Russian empire. The same story is essentially true to a varying degree for most other cultures in the area.

[gaius]

Actually, as has been revealed, Margaret Thatcher was forcibly against east Germany reuniting with west Germany at a time when the Russians wanted it

At that point in history Gorbachev was in a precarious position and Thatcher worried that giving up East Germany might see him forced from office and hardliners taking over. Mitterand also opposed reunification for much the same reason.

[philwelch]

There was, in fact, a coup against Gorbechev shortly afterwards, bearing out the fears of Thatcher and Mitterand.

Of course, the coup petered out, Boris Yeltsin climbed atop one of the tanks and addressed the crowd of anti-Communist protesters who had assembled outside of the Russian Parliament building, and the Soviet Union promptly collapsed, which is not a series of events that anyone in the West had predicted.

[gandhium]

I will address only one line from your post:

> Whereas Austria, which Russia had occupied but which did not go remilitarize and join NATO, was withdrawn from by Russia, just like Russia pulled out of Iran and a number of other places as agreed.

Russia "overstayed" their occupation in Austria (although they left without issues).

But they've definitely overstayed their forces in Persia and tried to create a separatist republic there.

It took a complaint to UN (and as rumours say, nuclear threat from US) for Persia to get rid of Russian forces.

So no, they definitely didn't "pull out of Iran and a number of other places as agreed"

[philwelch]

They also didn't pull out of Korea until after they set up the Kim regime--in fact, the Korean War saw Soviet fighter pilots, still serving with the North Korean military, go into battle against the UN forces flying Soviet-provided MiGs.