After all the cheering had died-down following the 1945 German surrender, Western diplomats found themselves having to assemble a coalition of nations willing to contain Soviet expansion throughout Europe. A COLLIER’S journalist wandered among the rubble of West Germany and found that a great number of draft-age men simply replied “nein” when asked if they would be willing to fight alongside the Americans, French and British. A wise old English spy opined:
“Remember that Germany is a convalescent country…These people have lost two world wars in a generation. The last one cost them nearly 3,000,000 dead and another 1,000,000 or so still missing, to say nothing of some 4,000,000 wounded. They just don’t want to take a chance of being on the losing side again.”
The West Germans joined NATO in 1955.
Click here to read about espionage during the Cold War.
Click here to read an article about American public opinion during the early Cold War years
