ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that even during the early years of the East-West conflict, small and neutral Austria was an active rather than a mere passive player in international affairs. It covers very different aspects of the repercussion of international Cold War policy on Austria between 1945 and 1958, the editor has succeeded admirably in integrating the different articles into a coherent whole. The chapter enables the reader to gain a very good overview of the role of Austria in western Cold War planning and execution. It deals with the role of the USA in post-war Austria; in particular, the work of the American intelligence services in Austria is examined in great detail. The chapter provides a convenient overview of allied war planning in the late 1940s and discusses the genuine fear, once the Berlin crisis had erupted, that a Soviet attempted coup in Austria might be imminent.
