The Soviet Union was able to dominate Eastern Europe after World War II due to the agreements made at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences. At these conferences, the Allied powers (the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union) agreed to divide Germany and its occupied territories into four occupation zones. The Soviet Union was given control of the eastern zone, which included most of Eastern Europe. This allowed the Soviet Union to install communist governments in the countries of Eastern Europe, which it did in the years following the war.
