The Politics of War: Allied Diplomacy and the World Crisis of 1943-1945
About this book
To what extent was the United States responsible for the Cold War? How far was its self-interest, determination, and ruthless ambition to supplant Britain in as many as possible of its traditional spheres of influence, responsible for creating the tensions of the post-war world situation?It is now becoming possible to glimpse the perspective and the realities of the international power struggle at the end of the war, the political strategies and manoevres of the Allies, their determination as they strove to reshape and influence the post-war world. Greece, where against the will of the population the Royal Family was placed on the throne and enforcedly kept there by British military intervention; the question of the future of Japan, shattered by its entry into war; the restoration of order in a disturbed post-Mussolini Italy; the question of a devastated Poland; the momentous summit conference at Yalta; the conditions of military strategy in the Far East - The Politics of War is universal in scope. It demonstrates how the aggressiveness of American foreign policy circumscribed British influence in the post-war world; how Churchill sought to restrict left-wing influence wherever he could in Europe; how Stalin fought to bring the communist parties of France, Italy, and Yugoslavia under Moscow's conservative control.By reassessing the actions and intentions of the Allies during the last two years of war, Gabriel Kolko in this most controversial book has shown how the balance of word power shifted and how the roots of the Cold War were planted.