May 14, 2018
THE LOSING OF WWII:
Who Lost Czechoslovakia?: After its liberation in 1945, Czechoslovakia soon fell behind the 'Iron Curtain'. That it would do so was not a formality: the US could have brought the country into the Western Bloc - had it been so inclined. (Benn Steil, 09 May 2018, History Today)
It is often taken for granted that all European nations involved in the early Cold War, save Germany, fell naturally onto one side of the Iron Curtain or the other. Yet Czechoslovakia was not pre-ordained to become part of the Soviet sphere. There were multiple opportunities for the United States to influence its position on the political map of Europe.Czechoslovakia emerged from the Second World War unaligned. Hitler and Stalin had not allocated it in the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Stalin and Churchill had not included it in their secret 1944 'percentages' deal, which designated spheres of influence in eastern and southern Europe. The victorious Allies had not discussed its orientation at Yalta or Potsdam. Both the Soviets and the Americans had liberated it. But whatever cards Washington had to play, diplomatically and militarily, it gave most of them up in 1945.'I believe that Russia wants to and will cooperate' in Czechoslovakia, President Roosevelt told the Czech Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk, a democrat unaffiliated with any party, in February 1944. Red Army officials, however, made clear to their Czech counterparts that the country would be brought within the Soviet sphere. What capacity the US Army had to countervail was circumscribed by the fateful decision of Generals George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower to stop its own advance 50 miles west of Prague.The Red Army, which had been 150 miles further from the Czech capital than General George Patton just before the war's end, marched into Prague on 9 May 1945. It was one of its easier victories, but also one that had great subsequent historical significance. 'We could have liberated Prague', lamented one bitter US embassy official. [...]President Truman decided to write to Stalin on 2 November proposing a simultaneous US and Soviet withdrawal by 1 December. Given that such a deal would tip the military balance of power in the country overwhelmingly to the Soviets, who would have hundreds of thousands of soldiers available near its borders to smother the country as necessary, Stalin agreed.
The notion of FDR & Truman as successful presidents depends on approving of the Iron Curtain.
Posted by Orrin Judd at May 14, 2018 4:03 AM