In this chapter, called The Impossible Settlement, Tony Judt attempts to give insight as to how different political solutions (both capitalist and communist) tried to fix Europe in the aftermath of World War II. Judt attempts to give insight on what each side of the political coin was planning. Judt does so by examining the action that economic powers such as France, Soviet Union and America took to lead Europe back to their subjective idea of glory. Judt begins the chapter by stating how important it was for the allies to defeat Germany. The examples that the author gives help the reader get an idea of how important it was for the allies to rid of Hitler’s government; “At Casablanca, in January 1943, it was agreed that the war in Europe could …show more content…
p.117). Judt illustrates very accurately how intent Stalin was in taking control of all the territories between Russia and Germany. From Judt’s examples it would seem that Stalin simply wanted to control the most land possible, so that he could prove to the rest of the world, how good of a political attitude communism is. In Stalin’s mind that would lead to more countries throughout the world adopting communism and defeating capitalism. At the end of the chapter, Judt mentions how it is important understanding that the Cold War was started as a dispute regarding the division of Germany (Judt et al. p.126). Stalin was simply hoping to let Germany rot by being united and weak instead of divided, therefore eventually Germany would simply succumb to communism (Judt et al. p.127.). That hope never really came true as divided Germany remained on its feet and thanks to capitalistic influence leading them to create a Western democratic state. This chapter of Judt’s postwar proves to be a great piece for a person that is attempting to understand the historical context of how Europe went from World War II, straight into an ideological Cold War. Judt gives superb examples of how the leaders of the super powers took action to attempt to promote their political ideas and fix Europe in the aftermath of the Great