Assessing an Ally and Potential Enemy: U.S. Estimates of Soviet War Potential During World War Ⅱ

摘要

When the Soviet Union and the United States became potential enemies at the end of World War Ⅱ increased U.S. resources were spent on trying to better understand the USSR's economy and society. As the Cold War escalated in the immediate post-war years new U.S. organizations were created to analyze the USSR. Studies have been conducted about U.S. government assessments of the USSR during the Cold War, for example regarding the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) estimates of Soviet capabilities and intentions. But the United States had already been trying to assess Soviet capabilities before the onset of the Cold War, and these efforts were of particular interest during World War Ⅱ, when Soviet resources were being used against a common enemy: the Axis Powers.