ABSTRACT
Because of the symmetry of the two security systems, many have attempted to draw parallels between Soviet relations with Eastern Europe and American relations with Western Europe. This chapter concerns the relative and continuing importance of each half of Europe to the respective superpower to which it has been allied or bound, and on which it has been dependent, in varying degrees, since 1945. In attempting to analyze shorter-term perceptions and motivations, broader dimensions are easily overlooked. This is sometimes the case with the greatest Soviet achievement in Europe resulting from World War II: the division of Germany through the creation of the German Democratic Republic. The rise of Solidarity in Poland had specific Polish characteristics and causes, but it also symptomatized the basic incompatibility between Soviet-type rule and East European aspirations referred to earlier.
