ABSTRACT
The historical shadows of Yalta, Munich, the fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequent NATO enlargements carry strong purpose in the way great powers adapt to the changed power realities in Eastern Europe. The United States, Germany and Poland, with strong but diverging historical analogies, were the main players in the path-breaking decisions, while France and the United Kingdom, with less direct analogies, played more cautious, fence-sitting roles. The main ideational dividing line lies not so much in how democratisation works as in the management of the crucial Russia question.
