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After the end of the Second World War, Yugoslavia, as one of the victorious countries, received various assistances for its post-war reconstruction from United States, Britain, France and Soviet Union. The Soviets expulsion of Yugoslavs out of Cominform in 1948 signalized the unfolding of the first Soviet-Yugoslav conflict, which led to the subsequent economic blockade of Yugoslavia from Soviet bloc countries. Faced with potential Soviets military invasion and political subversion, as well as worsening domestic economic situation resulted from collectivization and drought, Yugoslavia changed its strategic orientation to the West and turned to United States for help. American thought the tension between Yugoslavia and Soviet bloc would be used to further widen the split within the Soviet bloc, so they actively developed several programs to "keep Tito afloat". This paper examines the evolution of the American efforts to aid Yugoslavia in the early Cold War period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the geopolitical contradictions between Soviet Union and Yugoslavia during 1946 and 1948. Their strategic orientations split significantly toward the Greek Civil War, the construction of Yugoslav-Bulgarian Federation and Balkan Federation, the Yugoslav-Albanian relation and integration, and the final settlement of Trieste. These irreconcilable geostrategic contradictions and separate divergences of national interests finally led to the first crack within the Socialist Bloc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]