Abstract
The Cold War broke into the open early in Austria as the result of Soviet economic depredations in their zone of occupation and the hardening of the American response during 1946/7. Flush with the success of the Red Army against Hitler’s Third Reich, the Soviet Union stayed on the offensive and built an “empire by coercion”, adding security zones all along its extended periphery. As a response, the United States overcame its isolationist instincts and embarked on containing Soviet expansionism. The outbreak of the Cold War in Europe is best understood as a game of tit-for-tat between Soviet pressure, probing Western weaknesses along its peripheries, and Western responses, containing perceived Soviet aggression.
Published Version
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