17. The Unthinkable Operation Unthinkable
The Soviet military by 1945 was not the hapless rabble it had been in 1941 when the Germans invaded. It had grown into a veteran and battle-hardened force that had won bigger campaigns against significantly greater opposition than the Allies had faced. In a nutshell, Churchill’s generals concluded that it would be ill advised to pick a fight with the Soviets. Far from being a pushover, the Red Army in 1945 was dangerous, vicious, and very big. If war broke out, it was more likely to end with the Red Army’s conquest of all of continental Europe, rather than with the Red Army getting chased back to the Soviet Union’s borders.
More importantly, Churchill’s generals pointed out, Britain on her own stood no chance against the Soviets. The US had no incentive to attack them – especially not over Poland and Eastern Europe. To stand up for Poland was a point of honor for Churchill. However, few in the British government, and fewer still in that of the US, thought Poland or Eastern Europe were worth an even greater war against the Soviet Union than the one they had just concluded against Germany. Unlike Britain, America had never guaranteed Poland’s territorial integrity, nor had it entered WWII in order to defend Polish sovereignty. Presented with such unwelcome facts, Churchill grudgingly let the matter drop, and Operation Unthinkable was archived.