Victorious troops of the Soviet Red Army ride through the streets of Bucharest, Romania, as the capital city falls in the spring of 1945. The country had been an Axis partner under the rule of dictator Marshal Ion Antonescu. Soon after World War II ended, the communist faction in Romania solidified its power base with Soviet backing. Failed British diplomacy prior to the outbreak of World War II contributed directly to half a century of postwar communist domination of Eastern Europe.
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