At the height of the first Cold War in the early 1950s, the western powers worried that occupied Austria might become "Europe's Korea" and feared a Communist takeover. The Soviets exploited their occupation zone for maximum reparations. American economic aid guaranteed Austria's survival and economic reconstruction. Their military assistance turned Austria into a "secret ally" of the West. Austrian diplomacy played a vital role in securing the Austrian treaty in bilateral negotiations with Stalin's successors in the Kremlin, demonstrating the leverage of the weak in the Cold War.