ABSTRACT
The Europea n alliance system that had been meticulously erected by Bismarck after 1871, and which formed the starting point for this book, lay in ruins in 1945. All hope of returning to the European status quo of 1914 had been shattered. Indeed, the fate of the historic states of Europe which had dominated the world in the late nineteenth century now depended on two great ‘superpowers’ that had come together late in the war to form an unlikely alliance against fascism. Looking back to 1945, it is not surprising that the Grand Alliance did not survive the end of hostilities. The decision to fight on until Germany surrendered unconditionally created a power vacuum in the centre of Europe that America and the Soviet Union filled enthusiastically. Differences that had been played down during the war became more and more evident as hostilities drew to a close. The first major test of the Grand Alliance was the meeting of the ‘Big Three’ at Yalta, in the Crimea, in February 1945.
