What was Stalin's view of the postwar world? Because Soviet records remained secret for so many decades, historians lacked sufficient information to explain Stalin's intentions. But revisionist historians made the case that American policy makers consistently exaggerated Soviet ambitions. Over the previous two centuries, Russians had seen their lands invaded once by Napoleon (in 1812) and twice by Germany, during the two world wars. In 1945, as the Soviets struggled to rebuild their war-ravaged economy, the United States continued to gain influence and power throughout the world. When Stalin looked outward, he saw American occupation forces in Europe and Asia ringing the Soviet Union, their military might backed by a newly developed atomic arsenal. American corporations owned or controlled vast oil fields in the Middle East. Along with the French and British, the United States was a strong presence in Southeast Asia. Given that situation, revisionist historians argued, Stalin's actions after the war were primarily defensive, designed to counter what appeared to him to be a threatening American-European alliance.

More recently, some historians have used evidence from Russian archives to argue that Stalin's position was hardly as defensive as some scholars had suggested. Despite the ravages of war, Stalin recognized that in 1945 the Soviet Union was emerging as a more powerful state. With Germany and Japan defeated, Soviet borders to the east and west were secure from invasion. Only to the south did Stalin see a problem, along the border with Iran. Further, he recognized that the people of Britain and the United States had tired of fighting. Their leaders were not about to threaten the Soviet Union with war, as least in the near term. Equally significant, Soviet spies had informed Stalin in late 1946 that the United States possessed only a few atom bombs. For the time being, the nuclear threat was more symbolic than real. These historians thus conclude that Stalin was neither a global expansionist nor a leader fearful that his nation would soon be encircled and broken apart by American imperialists. Rather, he was a political realist eager to advance the interests of the Soviet state and his own regime—so long as his actions did not risk war.

1			The following two sites assess Stalin's role in inciting the Cold War through two different methods. What does Pleshakov use to support his argument? Why does he turn back all the way to the fifteenth century? In contrast, browse through the Cold War Soviet policy site by clicking on the icons of the documents. How does this evidence compare to that in the initial essay? Which sources of information seem more persuasive to you? Is there any type of evidence that might be helpful which is missing from both sites? If so, what is it? Based on the information we do have, what do you believe Stalin's intentions were at the beginning of the Cold War? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/inside.htm http://learningcurve.pro.gov.uk/coldwar/G3/cs1/default.htm