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Russia’s Road to the Cold War: Diplomacy, Warfare, and the Politics of Communism, 1941–1945 PDF

429 Pages·1979·7.729 MB·English
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Russia’s Road to the Cold War Diplomacy, Warfare, and the Politics of Communism, 1941-1945 Vojtech Mastny Columbia University Press / New York Vojtech Mastny is visiting professor of Soviet Studies at the Schpol of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins Univer­ sity. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Mastny, Vojtech, 1936- Russia’s road to the cold war. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Russia—Foreign relations—1917-1945. 2. World War, 1939-1945. I. Title. DK273.M4 327.47 78-13433 ISBN 0-231-04360-0 (cloth) ISBN 0-231-04361-9 (paper) Columbia University Press New York and Guildford, Surrey Copyright (c) 1979 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America p 10 9 8 7 6 5 c io 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 For Kitty and the children, Katja, John, and Lisa contents Preface ix Introduction xiii 1. Traditions and Antecedents 1 The Russian Tradition • The Bolshevik Experience • Stalin and Hitler: The Formative Relationship 2. The Minimum Aims, June 1941-February 1943 37 The Improbable Allies • Reversing the Cordon Sanitaire • A Role for the Communists 3. Hazy Perspectives, February-October 1943 73 A Separate Peace? • The Specter of Communism • Toward Spheres of Influence 4. The Crucial Conferences, October-December 1943 111 The Foreign Ministers at Moscow • The Big Three at Teheran • The Czechoslovak Model 5. From Teheran to Lublin, December 1943-July 1944 145 The Conditions of Unconditional Surrender • The Second Front at Last • The Poles That One Could Talk to 6. The Birth of an Empire, July-November 1944 183 The Doomed Uprisings • The Balkan Machinations • The Future of the Alliance vii Contents 7. The Hopes and Blows of Yalta, November 1944-April 1945 225 The Expectations • The Dubious Success • Misdeeds, Mistakes, Misperceptions 8. A Peace Lost? April-August 1945 267 The Contest That Never Was • The Cramped Detente • Potsdam and the Bomb Concluding Thoughts 307 Abbreviations 315 Note on Sources 317 Notes 321 Index 399 viii preface By its nature, contemporary history imposes upon a scholar a more personal commitment than do other periods of the past. Rather than determining the topic of his inquiry solely be­ cause of its intrinsic merit, he can hardly pretend that he was not influenced in his choice by direct exposure to his subject matter. This book grew out of my preoccupation with the German poli­ cies, collaboration, and resistance during World War II—the theme of my earlier study on the Czechs under Nazi rule. The deeper one delves into the complexities of that era, the more one is led to perceive it as the true watershed between the past and our own times; in countless ways, we still live with the problems the war created or failed to solve. Among these, the East-West conflict remains pre-eminent, and the memory of living in eastern Europe through the climactic years of the Cold War added to the fascination of exploring its origins as part of history. Finally, the confusion that muddled the understanding of the subject in this country, especially at American universities, during the 1960s reinforced my conviction that here was a topic eminently worth investigating. Several institutions and individuals contributed to making possible an endeavor which, because of the many controversial ramifications of its subject, proved more protracted than origi­ nally anticipated. In 1969 and 1970, the Columbia University Council for Research in the Social Sciences provided summer ix Preface grants, and two years later the Alexander von Humboldt Founda­ tion gave me a fellowship; together they enabled me to initiate the necessary research in the United States and Europe, All this time, Columbia’s Institute on East Central Europe offered both stimulating working conditions and funds to keep the project going, Midway in the process, when an author can greatly benefit from exposing his preliminary findings to critical judgment by a distinguished sample of his future readers, the Lehrman Institute furnished this very experience. I acknowledge with profound gratitude the research fellowship I held in 1974-1975 at that in­ comparable New York institution, which combines its dedication to high standards of intellectual inquiry with a keen concern for the crucial issues of public policy. During its brief existence, the Institute has already proved an outstanding testimonial not only to the vision and energy of its founder but also to the enduring in­ fluence of the great surrounding metropolis that fertilizes it with its own vitality. The members of the study group on the “Aims and Motives of Soviet Policies in 1944-45,” which I conducted at the Lehrman Institute, helped me to clarify my thoughts and focus my reason­ ing before proceeding to the final stage. Besides the ever-helpful Nicholas X. Rizopoulos, the Executive Director of the Institute, they included especially Cyril Black, Thomson Bradley, John C. Campbell, James Chace, Herbert Dinerstein, Warren F. Kim­ ball, Henry Krisch, Walter LaFeber, Ivo J. Lederer, Hans Morgenthau, Forrest C. Pogue, Joseph Rothschild, Benjamin Rowland, Harrison Salisbury, Gaddis Smith, Stanley W. Stillman, Robert C. Tucker, and Daniel Yergin. Toward the end of my work, the University of Illinois’s Re­ search Board and its Russian and East European Center gen­ erously supplied further financial aid while the Harry S. Truman Library Institute awarded me a travel grant. Finally, the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins Univer­ sity in Washington provided me with a congenial environment Preface when I was putting the last touches on a manuscript already prepared for publication. Besides the staff of the archives and libraries enumerated in the Note on Sources, several of my research assistants and gradu­ ate students, who aided me at different times, deserve special ap­ preciation. At Columbia University, these were Vladimir Socor, Andre Kaldi, and George Deak. At the University of Illinois, I was assisted by Edward Tabler and, above all, Tom Dyman, whose skill, efficiency, and dedication were crucial to help bring the manuscript and the footnotes to the final shape. At Columbia University Press, Bernard Gronert expertly saw the book through all the stages of the publication process. Maria B. Caliandro proved very much the ideal editor that every au­ thor wishes to work with. While ever ready to share her critical opinion as an experi­ enced researcher and writer, my wife maintained both a detach­ ment from the subject of my study and an attachment to its au­ thor which proved an unfailing inspiration. To her and to our children, who, for having to endure all the tribulations of my prolonged involvement with Stalin, have surely earned the dis­ tinction of ranking among his many innocent victims, the book is dedicated. Washington, D.C. January 1978 xi

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