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1 results

  • 2 - The Parting of Ways

  • from Part I - Ambition
  • Sergey Radchenko, Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe
  • Book:
    To Run the World
    Published online:
    30 May 2024
    Print publication:
    30 May 2024, pp 39-68

  • Summary

    This chapter discusses Stalin's intentions and actions in the second half of 1945, and how they contributed to the Cold War. The chapter argues that Stalin did not have plans for turning the world red and instead looked forward to a prolonged period of great power cooperation after the war. Stalin was willing to give up opportunities for advancing Soviet influence, for power without legitimacy was insecure power. Legitimacy required external, especially American, recognition. Stalin had no one-fit-all solution for projecting Soviet influence; his arsenal included anything from outright annexation to indirect control through Communist-dominated coalition governments. The chapter contends that Stalin was determined to resist perceived American pressure, not least during the ill-fated London Conference of Foreign Ministers (September 1945), believing that concessions under pressure implied weakness. That was especially true now that the United States had the A-bomb, which gave Washington huge leverage in talking to Stalin from a position of strength.