title: Military Strategy
abstract: Eastern Europe was clearly defined as a Soviet sphere of influence. The private agreements at Potsdam and Yalta had been publicly codified by Brezhnev. However desperately Poles, Hungarians or Czechs might react to the extent of Soviet control, they had become aware that they could expect no military assistance from the West. The Soviet Union had constructed a military pact, bilateral treaties, and economic infrastructure on foundations laid by the Russian armies of occupation. The utility of mi