The <span>primary way that the economy in the South differed from the economy of the North was that the South's economy was almost entirely based on agriculture, while the North's was almost entirely mercantilist. </span>
To preserve the dead, because they believed that the souls of the deceased would come back to their bodies, but needed to be able to recognize it to do so.
The main idea of the quote is that the Soviets are tightening their contol over Cnetral and Eastern Europe. The other sentences complete that idea by letting us know what they are doing with Central and Eastern Europe.