WWI was easily followed by WWII, but in no way was it certain or inevitable. Magnanimous policies by the victors, fewer reparations, a different Weimar constitution, a less devastating depression or any number of wiser decisions could have avoided the "Austrian corporal" and his march to war. But according to this author, in a book sub-titled 'FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman - From World War To Cold War', the falling out between the Allies was as inevitable as night following day. The Anglo-Americans and the Soviets might as well have been a different species, for all they had in common. They did not understand each other's history, perspective, goals, political systems - all they had in common was Nazi Germany and by early May, the Reich was gone. Hitler himself predicted the alliance would not last, and that each side would covet the Germans.
At Yalta, a dying FDR thought he could charm a man who viewed Ivan the Terrible as his role model. FDR wanted the Soviets to agree to the UN and declare war against Japan. It was thought that the Soviets were needed to help conquer the home islands. Stalin wanted peace and a chance to rebuild his country, and never contemplated that anyone would argue with the centuries-old European tradition that the ruler (or occupier) of a country determined its policies. If the self-determination provisions of the Atlantic Charter had exceptions carved out for the Empire and the Monroe Doctrine, why were they questioning his plans for eastern Europe? At Tehran, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to move the Soviet's borders into what was Poland and to move Poland into Germany. In exchange, they were promised "democratic institutions" and "free elections". To the Soviets, a democratic institution was one free of fascists. A fascist was anyone opposed to communism and elections were always "fixable".
By VE day, those few who understood the Soviets knew trouble was brewing. Kennan said, "They [Washington] think the war is ending, but it is beginning" and Harriman told Truman, "we are faced with a Barbarian invasion of Europe." A month after VE Day, the Soviets let the US and Britain into their respective sectors of Berlin. The Westerners were shocked by the looting and shipment of everything movable to the east and were told by Zhukov that there was no food or coal. By the time Churchill and Truman arrived, the lines were being drawn; some were already using the phrase "iron curtain" and the Americans and Brits were seeing what went on behind it in Berlin. Knowing he was about to have an atomic bomb, Truman rejected any claims for reparations from the Western sectors and told Stalin we would not recognize his governments in Finland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.
By the time of Hiroshima, the Allies had fallen out. Stalin had to preserve his territorial gains in order to protect the Homeland from a future invasion. Truman had to fight for free speech, markets, and peoples as the US had now intervened in two wars in order to make the world safe for democracy. No one particularly wanted to head into a series of confrontations. But there simply was no way to compromise such disparate strategies. Although the British were reduced to observers by Potsdam, Churchill had not lost any of his verbal skills. Atlee was there as an observer, in case Labor carried the election. One day Sir Winston looked at him and muttered, "a sheep in sheep's clothing." Somehow, Churchill always carries the day.
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