Austria in the First Cold War 1945-55

by Sally Cabot Gunning

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333725474
Publisher:	Palgrave MacMillan UK
Publication date:	08/12/1999
Series:	Cold War History Series
Edition description:	1999 ed.
Pages:	237
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: THE AUSTRIANS' ROLE AND ALLIED PLANNING DURING WORLD WAR II No Indigestion: The Anschluss Perpetrators and Victims: Austrians in World War II Between Responsibility and Rehabilitation: Allied Planning for Postwar Austria PART II: THE ANGLO-SOVIET COLD WAR OVER AUSTRIA, 1945-46 The Rape of Austria: Liberation Soviet-Style The Looting of Austria: The Soviets and Austrian Reparations The Showdown: British Containment of Soviet Action PART III: PRESENT AT THE CREATION OF AUSTRIAN FOREIGN POLICY, 1945-46 The Agenda: Investing a Usable past The Campaign: Selling a Usable Past Whither Austria? Between East and East PART IV: AUSTRIAN ECONOMIC MALAISE: SOVIET-AMERICAN COLD WAR OVER AUSTRIA, 1946-47 The Take: Soviet Economic Pressure and the Origins of the Cold War in Austria The Dilemma: Austrian Economic Problems The Response: Washington and Austrian Economic Recovery PART V: IN THE SHADOW OF GERMANY: THE MILITARIZATION OF THE COLD WAR IN AUSTRIA, 1948-52 A Treaty: Austrian Treaty Negotiations in the Shadow of Germany No Treaty: The Communist Threat and the Militarization of Austria Short Treaty? The Ice Age of the First Cold War PART VI: AFTER STALIN'S DEATH: 'PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE' AND THE CONCLUSION OF THE AUSTRIAN TREATY, 1953-55 Peaceful Coexistence? The Western Response to Stalin's Death No Coexistence: The Berlin CFM and the Demise of Austrian Treaty Diplomacy The Leverage of the Weak: The Culmination of Austro-Soviet Bilateral Diplomacy and the Conclusion of the Austrian Treaty Conclusion Notes and References Select Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

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

From the Publisher