Book Review: International Politics and Economics: Beginnings of the Cold War
| Date | 01 December 1967 |
| Author | W. M. Dobell |
| Published date | 01 December 1967 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206702200415 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
668
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
DeConde's
perspective
been
different,
he
might have
treated
his
subject
with
some
of
the
irony
it
deserves.
University
of
British
Columbia
HARVEY
MITCHELL
BEGINNINGS
OF
THE
CoL
WARn.
By
Martin
F
Herz.
1966.
(Bloomington:
Indiana
University
Press.
Toronto:
Fitzhenry
&
Whiteside.
x,
214pp.
$6.25)
The
title
of
this
work under
review
begs
comparison with
D.
F
Fleming's
The
Cold
War
and
its
Origins.
The
substance
is
quite
to
the
contrary.
Fleming's
is
a
long,
tendentious examination
of
half
a
century
of
Western-Soviet
relations.
Herz's
is
a
short, straight
presentation
of
a
few
months
of
that
span.
Herz
is
an
American
Foreign
Service
Officer
determined
not
to
appear as
an
American
Foreign
Service
Officer.
He
is
all
for
being
diplomatic,
but loath
to
appear
partisan.
It
is
difficult
to
fault
Herz's
arguments,
since
he
offers none.
How
does
he
define
"Cold
War"
9
He
does
not.
When
did
it
begin.
"Its
origins
go
back,
no
doubt,
to
Marx and
Lenin"
he
writes
at
the
start.
"In
the
period between
Yalta and
Potsdam"
he
concludes
at
the
end.
How
does
he
describe
the
period
between
Potsdam
and
the
Brussels
Treaty
9
No
comment,
except
to
note
that
events
after
Potsdam
are
beyond
the
scope
of
his
narrative.
He
states
that
his
book
is
a
modest
effort
with
a
limited
purpose.
It
does
not
try
to
lay
bare
the
ideological
roots
of
the
Cold
War, or
to
survey
its
entire
development.
The
purpose
is
simply to
summarize
and
highlight
a
few
chapters-which
turn
out
to
be
the
last
stages
of
the
War
in
Europe.
At
the
end
he blandly notes
that
it
will
not
have
escaped
the
reader
that
he
has
refrained
from
making judgments.
Indeed
it
will
not.
One
of his
rare
judgments
is
to call
his
book
an
analytical
compilation.
This seems
a
little
strong,
since
none
of
his
analysis
is
very
explicit.
Herz quotes
G6bbels's
use
of
the
term
"iron
curtain"
in
February
1945
to
describe
the
division
of
Europe
that
was
being
created
by
Russian
policy.
Although
Churchill
used
the
same
term
in May
1945,
Herz
states
there
is
no
evidence
that
the
British
Prime
Minister was
aware
of
Gibbels's
earlier
use
of
the
term.
Is
it
not
likely
that
the
P.M.
was
briefed
on
Gbbbels's
pronouncements,
whether
or not
he
remembered
where he
picked
up
the
term.
Surely,
too,
Harry
Hopkins's
statement
to
Stalin,
that
the
United
States
"would
accept
any
government
in
Poland
which
was
desired
by
the
Polish
people
and
was
at
the
same
time
friendly to
the
Soviet
Government"
should
prompt
some
comment.
One
presumes
that
Mr.
Herz
is
one of
those
American
diplomats
who
was
profoundly
disturbed
by
the
enquiry
in
the
late
1940s
and
early
1950s
into
whether
F.D.R.
had
"surrendered" to
the
Russians
at
Yalta.
Why
else
should
we
be
treated
to
the
obiter
dicta
of
Patrick
J.
Hurley,
Robert
A.
Taft
and
Isaac
Don
Levine
9
Herz
would
seem anxious
that
the
present
generation
of
students
should
have
in
handy
form the
salient
facts
needed
to
counter propagandists.
This he
has
given
them,
with
acknowledged
indebtedness to
the
standard
surveys
of
W
H.
McNeill
To continue reading
Request your trial