"This book analyzes the last phase of the Warsaw Pact, based on unusually large-scale archival research conducted in many countries. Focussing on the changes in the organization's functioning after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, the author examines the role played by the Warsaw Pact in the final stages of the Cold War, as well as exploring the deepening conflicts between individual member states which resulted from the changing international situation and Gorbachev's initiatives to reform the East European state-socialist dictatorships. The book argues that the causes of the rapid dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in the early 1990s were due to many complicated factors, not simply the collapse of communist power in Eastern Europe, factors such as the loss from early in the second half of the 1980s of important internal ties and the failure to create new ties, disputes between individual member states, and the questioning of the overall legitimacy of the organization, which was indispensable for its effective functioning. The book also highlights the impact of external pressures and developments on the international scene. Overall, the book reveals how an apparently robust and solid multilateral organization can so quickly and unexpectedly disappear"--

This book analyzes the last phase of the Warsaw Pact based on unusually large-scale archival research conducted in many countries. Focusing on the changes in the organization’s functioning after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, the author examines the role played by the Warsaw Pact in the final stages of the Cold War, as well as exploring the deepening conflicts between individual member states which resulted from the changing international situation and Gorbachev’s initiatives to reform the East European state-socialist dictatorships. The book argues that the causes of the rapid dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in the early 1990s were due to many complicated factors, not simply the collapse of communist power in Eastern Europe, factors such as the loss from early in the second half of the 1980s of important internal ties and the failure to create new ties, disputes between individual member states, and the questioning of the overall legitimacy of the organization, which was indispensable for its effective functioning. The book also highlights the impact of external pressures and developments on the international scene. Overall, the book reveals how an apparently robust and solid multilateral organization can so quickly and unexpectedly disappear.

This is the first book to document, analyze, and interpret the history of the Warsaw Pact based on the archives of the alliance itself. As suggested by the title, the Soviet bloc military machine that held the West in awe for most of the Cold War does not appear from the inside as formidable as outsiders often believed, nor were its strengths and weaknesses the same at different times in its surprisingly long history, extending for almost half a century. The introductory study by Mastny assesses the controversial origins of the "superfluous" alliance, its subsequent search for a purpose, its crisis and consolidation despite congenital weaknesses, as well as its unexpected demise. Most of the 193 documents included in the book were top secret and have only recently been obtained from Eastern European archives by the PHP project. The majority of the documents were translated specifically for this volume and have never appeared in English before. The introductory remarks to individual documents by co-editor Byrne explain the particular significance of each item. A chronology of the main events in the history of the Warsaw Pact, a list of its leading officials, a selective multilingual bibliography, and an analytical index add to the importance of a publication that sets the new standard as a reference work on the subject and facilitate its use by both students and general readers.

Matlock, who served in the USSR for most of his career, including as ambassador during the Reagan and Bush administrations, gives this insider's look at the years leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991.

Research on the East Slavs in the medieval period has considerably changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The emergence of new states forced a rethinking of many aspects of the history and culture of the early East Slavs as the subject became increasingly disentangled from the umbrella of Byzantine studies and fruitful collaboration was fostered between scholars worldwide. This book, which brings together scholars from Russia, Ukraine, western Europe and North America, of several generations, presents a broad overview of the main results of the last three decades of research and mutual collaboration. This is important work, providing a much-needed counterbalance to studies of western Europe in the period, which has been the main focus of study, with the lands of the East Slavs relatively neglected.

The Routledge Handbook of Great Power Competition is a comprehensive, pioneering, and interdisciplinary guide of this re-emerging field. Offering a team of cutting-edge researchers in the field, it advances an analytical framework of great power competition. It surveys the major theories (mainstream and critical), actors (state, quasi-state, and non-state), mechanisms (military, economic, and ideational influence), and domains (territorial and non-territorial) pertaining to contemporary great power competition. This Handbook is an essential text for scholars and students of international relations, security studies, global governance, and comparative politics. It will also appeal to global policy makers and practitioners who need to observe contemporary great power competition.

This book, based on extensive original research, examines the widespread and violent pogroms against Jews which took place in the Russian Empire in 1905. It briefly surveys the earlier history of Jews in the Russian Empire and the discriminatory policies against them. The work outlines the extent of the killings and lootings in 1905, explores the role of the authorities who were often neutral or complicit in the violence, and highlights Jewish self-defense measures. It relates the pogroms to the place of the Jews in Russian urban and rural life, to social change and modernisation, and to the revolutionary events of 1905, in which Jews played a prominent role, and during which calls for ethnic self-determination arose among many nationalities of the Russian Empire, most broadly and consequentially among Jews. Overall, the book views the pogroms as a consequence not only of Russian antisemitism, but of the broader, revolutionary breakdown of Russian state and society in 1905.

This book explores the path that led to the Treaty of Rapallo (1920) between Italy and the new Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, in the aftermath of the First World War, when the territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire were allotted to new and existing states, with regard as far as possible to the nationalities of the people living in the various territories in addition to the future of Montenegro and Albania. Based on vast archival documentation and published sources, the contributors to this book discuss the nature of the disputes which arose in the Adriatic area, often as the result of the inhabitants of the different territories being of several nationalities, and examine how the disputes were concluded. The book charts the disappointments of both Italians and Yugoslavs, the Italians disappointed that the terms of the Treaty of London of 1915, which promised Dalmatia to Italy in return for Italy entering the war against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were not fulfilled. The Yugoslavs were disappointed loosing territories containing large Yugoslav populations. The volume considers public opinion, the words, positions and actions of leading politicians, and the continuing consequences of the settlement, many of them adverse consequences for particular cities and localities. Presenting a comprehensive approach to the Adriatic controversy, this book will be of interest to those studying European history of international relations, diplomatic negotiations and nationalism, modern history, Central Asian, Eastern European and Russian Studies.

Soviet efforts to end the Cold War were intended to help revitalize the USSR. Instead, Nick Bisley argues, they contributed crucially to its collapse. Using historical-sociological theory, The End of the Cold War and the Causes of Soviet Collapse shows that international confrontation had been an important element of Soviet rule and that the retreat from this confrontational posture weakened institutional-functional aspects of the state. This played a vital role in making the USSR vulnerable to the forces of economic crisis, elite fragmentation and nationalism which ultimately caused its collapse.