ABSTRACT
The expression 'cold war', derived as it is from the jargon of journalists and politicians, eludes precise definition. In his classic Histoire de la guerre froide Andre Fontaine goes back as far as the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the military intervention by the Western states. Fontaine himself, however, stresses the bipolar element in his observation that 'no cold war would have come about had there not been in mid-century two, and only two, powers with large enough territory, large enough manpower, and sufficient confidence in the values of their creed and multiform armaments to dispute the mastery of the world, though neither of them could ever be wholly assured of its decisive superiority'. While the war was still being waged, no problem engaged the Big Three as totally nor was discussed at such length during their negotiations as that of Poland. In 1946-47 the major issues were Greece and Turkey, and later, and primarily, the future of Germany.
