The Impossible Peace

Britain, the Division of Germany, and the Origins of the Cold War

Anne Deighton

A Clarendon Press Publication

The Impossible Peace

Britain, the Division of Germany, and the Origins of the Cold War

Anne Deighton

A Clarendon Press Publication

Description

Presenting a new interpretation of the British government's policy toward Germany from the period of Churchill and Eden to that of Attlee and Bevin, this study exploits recently released documents to illuminate the strategic maneuverings of West and East over Germany and the emergence of the Cold War.

The Impossible Peace

Britain, the Division of Germany, and the Origins of the Cold War

Anne Deighton

A Clarendon Press Publication

Reviews and Awards

"Deighton's well-written, well-researched book makes a strong case for Bevin and the Foreign Office's early fear of the Soviet Union and for their role in helping the United States to abandon hopes of preserving the wartime alliance and instead to create Western security institutions for Europe."--Journal of Modern History

"Sheds substantial new light on personalities and policymaking in the postwar Labour government. Her thorough exploitation of official British documents, published and unpublished, presents a new dimension to our understanding of the origins of the cold war."--History: Reviews of New Books

"Well-researched....Should be read by all who have an interest in 'the conduct of Britain's foreign affairs.'...All will be in debt to Deighton's work."--New Statesmen & Society

"A superb reconstruction of the early Cold War period."--Times Educational Supplement

"Deighton argues with effective documentation that Bevin and the British played significant roles in encouraging the United States toward a solution to the German problem that would secure the western zones from Soviet influence, even if it meant a collapse of the four-power occupation regime established at Potsdam."--The Historian