The relationship of policy to strategy is a central issue in international studies. Using the little-known but highly relevant example of British planning for the occupation in 1945, the book provides a case-study in the practicalities of 'liberating' enemy territory. It looks at the way in which policy was developed and then reconciled with those of her Allies; how negotiations were directly affected by the existing - and expected - strategic situation; and how the military were involved in the reconstruction of Austria.

This book compares the various aspects ? political, military economic ? of Soviet occupation in Austria, Hungary and Romania. Using documents found in Austrian, Hungarian, Romanian and Russian archives the authors argue that the nature of Soviet foreign policy has been misunderstood. Existing literature has focused on the Soviet foreign policy from a political perspective; when and why Stalin made the decision to introduce Bolshevik political systems in the Soviet sphere of influence. This book will show that the Soviet conquest of East-Central Europe had an imperial dimension as well and allowed the Soviet Union to use the territory it occupied as military and economic space. The final dimension of the book details the tragically human experiences of Soviet occupation: atrocities, rape, plundering and deportations.

Based on a broad array of sources from Russian and Austrian archives, this collection provides a comprehensive analysis of the Soviet occupation of Austria from 1945 to 1955. The contributors cover a wide range of topics, including the Soviet Secret Services, the military kommandaturas, Soviet occupation policies, the withdrawal of troops in 1955, everyday life, the image of “the Russians,” violence against women, arrests, deportations, Soviet aid provisions, as well as children of occupation.

An archive-based study examining how the four Allies - Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union - prepared for and conducted their occupation of Germany after its defeat in 1945. Uses the case of public health to shed light on the complexities of the immediate post-war period.

In the 'Moscow Declaration' of 1943 the Allies officially propagated the notion of Austria as the first victim of Hitlerite aggression and announced their intention to set up a "free and independent Austria" after the war, which finally happened in 1955. By questioning why it took so long to get to this point, the author addresses issues such as the victim thesis, Austrians as perpetrators, Austrian anti-Semitism and official attempts to mitigate its effects after the war. He discusses the various proposals for post-war Austria and connects for the first time the issues of Anschluss, German question, Cold War, and the State Treaty. He makes it clear that the question of Austria was from the very beginning inextricably linked with the more important question of Germany.

Using original documents, the Allied Occupation of southern Italy, particularly Sicily and Naples, is illustrated by examining crime and unrest by Allied soldiers, deserters, rogue troops and Italian civilians from drunkenness, theft, rape, and murder to riots, demonstrations, black marketeering and prostitution.

In 2005, Austria celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of its liberation from the Nazi regime and the fiftieth anniversary of the State Treaty that ended the occupation and returned full sovereignty to the country. This volume of Contemporary Austrian Studies covers foreign policy in the twentieth century. It offers an up-to-date status report of Austria's foreign policy trajectories and diplomatic options. Eva Nowotny, the current Austrian ambassador to the United States, introduces the volume with an analysis of the art and practice of Austrian diplomacy in historical perspective. Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch analyzes recent Balkans diplomacy as an EU emissary in the Bosnian and Kosovo crises. Historians G nther Kronenbitter, Alexander Lassner, G nter Bischof, Joanna Granville, and Martin Kofler provide historical case studies of pre-and post-World War I and World War II Austrian diplomacy, Austria's dealings with the Hungarian crisis of 1956, and its mediation between Kennedy and Khrushchev in the early 1960s. Political scientists Romain Kirt, Stefan Mayer, and Gunther Hauser analyze small states' foreign policymaking in a globalizing world, Austrian federal states' separate regional policy initiatives abroad and Austria's role vis-is current European security initiatives. Michael Gehler periodizes post-World War II Austrian foreign policy regimes and provides a valuable summary of both the available archival and printed diplomatic source collections. A "Historiography Roundtable" is dedicated to the Austrian Occupation decade. G nter Bischof reports on the state of occupation historiography; Oliver Rathkolb on the historical memory of the occupation; Michael Gehler on the context of the German question; and Wolfgang Mueller and Norman Naimark on Stalin's Cold War and Soviet policies towards Austria during those years. Review essays and book reviews on art theft, anti-Semitism, the Hungarian crisis of 1956, among other topics, complete the volume.