The Crack in the Plaster: Crisis in Romania and the Origins of the Cold War
Author(s)
Rieber, Alfred J.
Abstract
This article is a reinterpretation of a highly publicized 1945 conversation between Soviet deputy foreign minister Andrei Vyshinskii and Romania’s King Michael argues that the incident reflected Soviet frustration with their policy of limited intervention. Vyshinskii demanded that King Michael’s government be replaced by a coalition of the communist-dominated National Democratic Front. The crack in the plaster wall that resulted when Vyshinskii slammed the door upon leaving became emblematic of brutal Soviet intervention in Romanian domestic affairs and increasing dissension between the Soviet Union and the West over the future of Eastern Europe. Soviet failure to honor the Declaration of Liberated Territories approved by the Big Three at Yalta, which guaranteed free elections, is explored. Other issues discussed include political crises in Romania that led Vyshinskii to descend upon that nation in such a fury; reasons for Soviet opposition to free elections; the evolution of the Romanian Communist Party; the failure of Moscow’s policy of limited intervention; and the impact of the Soviet-Romanian conflict on the later breakdown of the Grand alliance and the start of the Cold War.
