Stalin and Austria: New Evidence on Soviet Policy in a Secondary Theatre of the Cold War, 1938–53/55

Abstract

This article reassesses on the basis of recently discovered documents from Russian archives Soviet planning and policy on and in Austria after World War II. Given its small size and its location at the periphery of the Soviet orbit, Austria never had a high priority for Stalin. Due to its quadripartite occupation by the allies, the country could not be claimed openly as part of the Soviet sphere of influence. However, Stalin and his officers tried to set up a Soviet-friendly government in Austria and, until 1953, took measures to strengthen Soviet influence in the country and to induce its transition into a people's democracy. In the meantime, Soviet diplomacy used the occupation of Austria as a legal justification to keep Soviet troops in Eastern Europe and, therefore, refused to withdraw from Austria.