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

429 Pages·1979·7.729 MB·English

by  Vojtech Mastny

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