What surprised me when I read this book was that Soviet domination was not completed in an instant after the war, but proceeded through various processes in a cursory manner.

It was not a simple matter of the Soviet Union gaining effective control over Eastern Europe and completing the Iron Curtain.

I had no idea that the governance had taken so many twists and turns. The book brings up a series of very interesting facts.

This is a wonderful book to learn about how the Soviet Union brought other countries under its control. I highly recommend it.

This book made me realize how intricate and chaotic the Marshall Plan was.

It is easy to say, "Thanks to the U.S., Europe's devastated economy has revived thanks to the U.S.," but it was surprising to learn how many peaks and valleys and cunning tactics were involved in this tremendous exchange of ideas between the major powers. It was not simply a matter of the U.S. providing enormous financial support.

The Soviet Union, of course, would oppose this, but the European countries on the receiving end of the funds would not say, "Yes, yes, of course, we will be very grateful. In particular, the former hegemonic nations of the United Kingdom and France are quite cunning. As one would expect from a country that had ruled the world until then, their diplomatic bargaining skills are extraordinary.

What surprised me when I read this book was that from the end of World War II, when the Cold War began in earnest, to the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a constant struggle going on somewhere in the world. And these conflicts were so dangerous that they could have turned into all-out wars at any time.

When I thought of the Cold War, I thought of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it was a real surprise to me that there were many, many other crises of all-out war besides this incident.

In Japan, we tend to think that after World War II, the war was over and the world was at peace, but this is not true at all.