Looming over the political efforts at stabilisation and reconstruction, amid escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington, was the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Stalin’s ambitions for postwar Europe have been the subject of extensive debate. The cold war emerged because Soviet geopolitical ambitions (and anxieties) were ultimately at loggerheads with those of the western powers. Naimark passes over the ruthless communist takeovers of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, eastern Germany and RomaniaSome will find Naimark’s treatment of Soviet policy in Europe rather too selective. • Stalin and the Fate of Europe is published by Harvard (RRP £23.95).

Source: The Guardian December 21, 2019 12:00 UTC