| Description |
1 online resource : maps |
| Contents |
Cover -- The Big Three Allies and the European Resistance: Intelligence, Politics, and the Origins of the Cold War, 1939-1945 -- Copyright -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Maps -- Introduction -- PART I -- 1: Resistance and Diplomacy in Occupied Europe: September 1939-July 1940 -- Generals Without an Army: The Comintern on the Eve of the War -- 'We have gotten smarter!': Stalin and the War -- British Experiments in Guerrilla Warfare -- Polish Agenda -- The Special Operations Executive -- 2: The Special Operations Executive at War: July 1940-June 1941 |
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'If German resistance did not exist, it was necessary to invent it' -- Polish and Czechoslovak Entanglements -- SOE and the Governments-in-Exilein London -- A Hotbed of Troubles: The Balkans on the Verge of War -- The German Invasion of the Balkans -- 3: The Communists Enter the Scene: June 1941-November 1941 -- The Comintern and the European Communists after June 1941 -- The Reorientation of British Policy -- Central Europe between the West and the East -- The Balkans in Flames -- The Outbreak of Civil War in Yugoslavia and the First Anglo-Soviet Skirmishes -- PART II |
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4: Uncertain Times: December 1941-December 1942 -- The Foreign Office-SOE Agreement -- The Soviets Move into the Yugoslav Morass -- SOE on the Slippery Slope in Greece -- A "Hudson for Greece": SOE Middle East Full Steam Ahead -- The Americans Join in: The Office of Strategic Services -- 5: The Militarization of British Policy and the Beginning of the US Challenge in the Mediterranean: January-December 1943 -- The Communist Resistance in the Balkans -- SOE's 'Fighting Greece' -- Tito Emerges -- Showdown in the Balkans -- 6: The Communist Movement on the Offensive: January-December 1943 |
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Polish and Czechoslovak Dilemmas -- Stalin's Move on Poland -- The Disbandment of the Comintern -- The Balkan Powder Keg -- Churchill's Fateful Decision -- PART III -- 7: Civil War and Liberation in the Balkans 1944-1945 -- Greece and Albania in the Civil War -- Out in the Cold: Churchill and Yugoslavia in 1944 -- EAM's Bid for Power in Greece -- The Soviets Weigh In -- Stalin and Tito in 1944 -- Endgame in the Balkans -- 8: Central and Eastern Europe between Liberation and Soviet Occupation: 1944-1945 -- Takeovers -- The Polish Resistance Braces for the Red Army |
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Setting the Scene for the Takeover -- Towards Disaster -- The Warsaw Uprising -- 9: The Liberation of Western Europe: 1944-1945 -- The Italian Resistance -- The French Partisan Movement and the Invasion of France -- The OSS-SOE Competition over the Italian Resistance in the Summer of 1944 -- The Agreement between AFHQ and the CLNAI -- The Liberation of North Italy -- 10: Conclusion -- Main Bibliography -- Special Operations Executive and British Policy -- US Office of Strategic Services and US Policy -- Comintern and Soviet Union -- European Resistance -- Inter-AlliesRelations -- Albania |
| Summary |
While the Big Three and their continental Allies fought against Nazi Germany for the mastery of Europe, another war was under way on the continent: the war to shape the political landscape of post-war Europe. It often found the British, the Americans, the Soviets, and the partisan movements on opposite sides of the barricades. In the Balkans, the anti-Nazi war overlapped with political and ethnic conflicts, engulfing the region in bloody civil wars. In Central and Eastern Europe, partisan movements engaged the Germans without losing sight of the danger posed by the arrival of the Red Army. In France and in Italy, the adoption of the slogans of national liberation provided the communist parties with a formidable democratic legitimacy, which established them as key players in the political lives of their countries. The British and the Americans did not stand by and watch idly. To stir up, support, control, and direct the resistance groups, London created the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and Washington the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Agents were sent into occupied Europe to liaise directly with the guerrilla groups: many of them never came back. Through the Comintern, Moscow carefully coordinated the actions of the European communist parties with the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, which was acting for the first time as a key player in the arena of international relations. The forests and the mountains where the partisans were fighting the Germans soon became a major part of the proxy war that the three Allies waged to shift the geopolitical balance in their favour. Looking for the first time at the three Allies together and spanning Europe from Yugoslavia to Poland, from Greece to France and Italy, this book vividly depicts and sharply analyses how this proxy war shaped the history of the post-war settlement |
| Notes |
Also issued in print: 2024 |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Audience |
Specialized |
| Notes |
Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (viewed on December 12, 2023) |
| Subject |
World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Europe
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Proxy war.
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Diplomatic relations.
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Proxy war.
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War -- Underground movements.
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European history.
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Warfare and Defence.
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| SUBJECT |
Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- 1936-1945.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85056716
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Soviet Union -- Foreign relations -- 1917-1945.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85125758
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United States -- Foreign relations -- 1933-1945.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140096
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| Subject |
Europe.
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Great Britain.
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Soviet Union.
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United States.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9780191865299 |
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019186529X |
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9780192560865 |
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0192560867 |
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