Introduction

‘Who has Germany, has Europe', Lenin is reported to have said. In this he may have been correct, but in 1945 there was not much to rule in Germany. The country had been devastated by years of war, it lacked a political structure, it was under the military authority of four foreign powers, and its economy — like those in the European countries that Nazi Germany had once held under its sway — was in no condition to feed or clothe its population.

In fact, the Soviet Union was in almost as bad a shape as its defeated German enemy. The country had suffered catastrophic human losses (estimated at twenty million deaths) and much of its economic infrastructure had been destroyed by the German invasion. Already, in order to rally the Russian population behind the war effort, Stalin had felt it necessary to abandon ideological purity in his wartime internal policies. Now in the post-war period, it appeared that unless the Soviet regime created a better standard of living, it could hardly rely on its population to regard the previous years’ sacrifices as having been worthwhile. Moreover, while the Red Army was the largest standing army on the European continent, it would, sooner or later, need to be demobilized in order for the reconstruction work to begin. In addition to security guarantees, the Soviets needed money and material aid in order to rebuild their country after the war.

Ultimately, the only power that was in a position to provide significant economic assistance in the post-war years was the United States. In contrast to much of the rest of the world, including its wartime allies, the United States was in excellent shape. With the exception of Pearl Harbor, it had not suffered from bombing campaigns against its territory. In 1945 the American economy was responsible for 50 per cent of the world’s industrial output. In the immediate post­war years the United States would account for one-third of total world exports. American economic power was matched by its military might: its troops were present in Asia and Europe, its navy and air force were the largest in the world, and it held a monopoly over the atomic bomb.

In short, of the two key post-war Powers, the United States clearly held the edge. Still, the Americans were at a distinct disadvantage in Europe. Ever since the American Revolution in the late eighteenth century, successive governments in Washington had proclaimed their distaste for long-term external commitments. While much of this may have been rhetoric, the Truman administration still faced a difficult task if it wished to maintain a long-term military presence in Europe, for such a departure could only be explained if a major threat to American interests and ideals existed.

The origins of the Cold War were not, though, a purely, perhaps not even primarily, a Soviet-American game. Other countries were bound to play a significant role as the battle-lines of the post-war confrontation hardened. Indeed, as one historian has forcefully argued, the United States did not become permanently engaged in Europe by imposing its will on Western Europe - the American influence was in large measure a result of West European initiatives; it was the British, for example, who pushed hard for American participation in a Western European defensive alliance. At the same time, numerous American policy-makers were eager to prevent a return to the conditions of the 1930s, when the Great Depression and the rise of right-wing totalitarian powers had prompted the onset of the Second World War.