On March 10th, 1952 Stalin passed on a note to the other Allied powers in Germany proposing a united, neutral, and demilitarized Germany with no preconditions on economic policy and guaranteed democratic freedoms and participation. Some historians have argued this might not have been a bluff, as the US assumed, as it would have guaranteed Soviet security. A demilitarized Germany wasn't going to repeat the Great Patriotic War and guaranteed neutrality, even if it ended up being a western capitalist democracy, would give a huge buffer zone along with neutral Austria and Tito between the Eastern Bloc, the USSR, and the West. In effect Germany, if we assume the proposal was genuine, would have been another Finland.
What PoD is necessary, after 1945, to have the West receive this proposal favorably and how will the Cold War unfold without the intense military buildup of both sides along the Fulda Gap for the Third World War? Could it be possible for some kind of lasting detente to be reached after Stalin's death?
What PoD is necessary, after 1945, to have the West receive this proposal favorably and how will the Cold War unfold without the intense military buildup of both sides along the Fulda Gap for the Third World War? Could it be possible for some kind of lasting detente to be reached after Stalin's death?