The Frozen Face

The Berlin Conference approached its appointed end in a fading thunder of oratory. As the transport planes stood by, and the delegations gathered up their thickets of papers, Western ministers could go home with a professional sense of achievement that they had scored more than they had been scored upon. But the net of Berlin was a clearer-eyed view of a chasm, and who could raise a cheer over that?

Judged by the agenda, Berlin had accomplished little. But there was more to Berlin than agenda. The Western ministers had found common ground, and proved it more solid than they knew. They left an opponent stripped of pretense. Russia could no longer pretend that it had any intention of uniting Germany or evacuating Austria.

The mapmakers could stop waiting on the statesmen. At least for the foreseeable future, the face of Europe was frozen in its present shape.

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