The body of literature on the Balkans during the early Cold War, in particular in English, is far from impressive in spite of the explosion in the availability of documentary sources from Soviet and regional archives after 1989. By far the most comprehensive survey of the history of the region after 1945 can be found in Richard J. Crampton, The Balkans since the Second World War (New York: Longman, 2002). Although mainly focused on the first half of the century and the Second World War, an overview by Barbara Jelavich, History of the Balkans, vol. II (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), is a valuable contribution.
A more elaborate review of the literature on the Soviet policies toward Eastern Europe in the early Cold War is already given in the entries in this bibliographical essay, sections 5 and 9. However, works such as The Diary of Georgi Dimitrov, 1933-1949, ed. Ivo Banac (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), Milovan Djilas, Conversations with Stalin (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1963), and the most recent book by Vesselin Dimitrov, Stalin’s Cold War: Soviet Foreign Policy, Democracy, and Communism in Bulgaria, 1941-1948 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), provide invaluable insight into Stalin's attitudes toward the Balkans. See also Artiom Uunian, Balkany: goriachii mir kholodnoi voiny. Gretsiia i Turtsiia mezhdu Zapadom i Vostokom, 1945-1960 gg. [The Balkans: Hot Peace, Cold War. Greece and Turkey between West and East, 1945-1960] (Moscow: Rossiiskie vesti, 2001).
Among the country-specific literature, Dimitrov, as well as R. J. Crampton's Bulgaria (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), offer exceptional insight into developments in Bulgaria. For US policy, Michael M. Boll, Cold War in the Balkans: American Foreign Policy and the Emergence of Communist Bulgaria, 1943-1947 (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1984), is still useful.
For an overview of the history of Turkey during this period, one should consult Erik J. Zurcher, Turkey: A Modern History, 3rd ed. (London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2005), and William Hale, Turkish Foreign Policy, 1774-2000 (London: Frank Cass, 2000). For relations between London and Ankara, see Mustafa Bilgin, Britain and Turkey in the Middle East: Politics and Influence in the Early Cold War Era (London: Tauris Academic, 2008), and between Moscow and Ankara, Bulent Gokay, Soviet Eastern Policy and Turkey, 1920-1991: Soviet Foreign Policy, Turkey and Communism (London: Routledge, 2006). A useful overview of domestic politics in Turkey is John M. VanderLippe, The Politics of Turkish Democracy: Ismet Inonu and the Formation of the Multi-Party System, 1938-1950 (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2005).
From a relatively large body of literature on the Greek Civil War, two edited volumes deserve special mention, as they provide a comprehensive general overview of the conflict with its many complexities: John O. Iatrides (ed.), Greece in the 1940s: A Nation in Crisis (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1981), and John O. Iatrides and Linda Wrigley (eds.), Greece at the Crossroads: The Civil War and Its Legacy (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 1995). On the American role in the conflict, one should consult Lawrence S. Wittner, American Intervention in Greece, 1943-1949 (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1982). On the subject of the Greek Communists' goals and tactics in the Greek Civil War and Soviet policies, a very good overview can be found in Peter J. Stavrakis, Moscow and Greek Communism, 1944-1949 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989). Additional insights can be gleaned from more recent articles that have benefited from the opening of the Soviet archives, such as John O. Iatrides, "Revolution or Self-Defense? Communist Goals, Strategy, and Tactics in the Greek Civil War," Journal of Cold War Studies, 7, 3 (Summer 2005), 3-33, and Thanasis D. Sfikas, "War and Peace in the Strategy of the Communist Party of Greece, 1945-1949,” Journal of Cold War Studies, 3,3 (Fall 2001), 5-30. A rare and thus valuable comparative analysis of Soviet and British attitudes in the conflict is provided in the article by Thanasis D. Sfikas, "Toward a Regional Study of the Origins of the Cold War in Southeastern Europe: British and Soviet Policies in the Balkans, 1945-1949,” Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 17 (1999), 209-27. For Greece after the civil war, see Euanthes Chatzevasileiou, Greece and the Cold War: Frontline State, 1952-1967 (London: Routledge, 2006). The scarcity of published Greek documents on the Greek Civil W ar is somewhat compensated for by the inclusion of relevant documents in series from the US and British governments.
Among English-language books on Yugoslavia during this period that focus on the Tito-Stalin split and its aftermath, see the excellent analysis of Western policies and the dilemmas of policymaking in Lorraine M. Lees, Keeping Tito Afloat: The United States, Yugoslavia, and the Cold War (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 1997), and Beatrice Heuser, Western “Containment” Policies in the Cold War: The Yugoslav Case, 1948-1953 (London and New York: Routledge, 1989). A still unsurpassed insight into the Yugoslav side of the conflict and an accurate reading of Stalin's mjindset is provided in Vladimjir Dedijer's The Battle Stalin Lost: Memoirs of Yugoslavia 1948-1953 (Nottingham: Spokesman, 1978), and in the documentary collections he edited in Serbo-Croatian, the three-volume Dokumenti 1948 [Documents on 1948], (Belgrade: Rad, 1979). Interesting aspects of the Tito-Stalin split and its ramifications are discussed in Ivo Banac, With Stalin against Tito: Cominformist Splits in Yugoslav Communism (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1988).
Several memoirs and biographies are particularly important for the understanding of the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict and the process of normalization after Stalin's death, most notably Vladimjir Dedijer's documentary biography of Tito, Novi prilozi za biografiju Josipa Broza Tita [New Supplements to the Biography of Josip Broz Tito], vol. III (Belgrade: Izdavacka radna organizacija Rad, 1984), as well as Nikita Khrushchev, Vremia, liudi, vlast' [Times, People, Power], vols. III and IV (Moscow: Moskovskie novosti, 1999), Veljko Micunovic, Moskovske godine, 1956-1958 [Moscow Years, 1956-1958] (Zagreb: Sveucilisna naklada Liber, 1977), and Svetozar Vukmanovic-Tempo, Revolucija koja tece: memoari [The Continuous Revolution: Memoirs] (Belgrade: Komunist, 1971). For the process of Soviet-Yugoslav reconciliation, see Svetozar Rajak, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the Early Cold War, 1953-1957 (London: Routledge, 2010).
See also entries in section 9 of this bibliographical essay.
World History
