Austria in the First Cold War, 1945-55: The Leverage of the Weak - Cold War History (Hardback)

Gunter Bischof (author)

£144.00

Hardback 237 Pages / Published: 12/08/1999

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Synopsis

At the height of the first Cold War in the early 1950s, the Western powers worried that occupied Austria might become 'Europe's Korea' and feared a Communist takeover. The Soviets exploited their occupation zone for maximum reparations. American economic aid guaranteed Austria's survival and economic reconstruction. Their military assistance turned Austria into a 'secret ally' of the West. Austrian diplomacy played a vital role in securing the Austrian treaty in bilateral negotiations with Stalin's successors in the Kremlin demonstrating the leverage of the weak in the Cold War.

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9780333725474
Number of pages: 237
Weight: 475 g
Dimensions: 216 x 140 x 22 mm

MEDIA REVIEWS

'...richly documented, provocative and full of valuable insights.' - Professor Wolfgang Krieger, Philipps-Universitat, Marburg

'Bischof provides by far the most authoritative account available of the extraordinary process by which the postwar leadership of Austria maintained the country's unity and independence while navigating among the varying pressures of the four occupying powers and the competing domestic forces. Based on vast new evidence from each of the countries involved, his analyses of the political effects of Soviet economic depredations and the creation of a new national myth to sidestep Austria's Nazi past are compelling.' - Vojtech Mastny and Kathryn Weathersby, The Norwegian Nobel Institute