Bøger i The Harvard Cold War Studies Book Series serien

Imposing, Maintaining, and Tearing Open the Iron Curtain, edited by Mark Kramer and Vit Smetana, consists of cutting-edge essays by distinguished experts who discuss the Cold War in Europe from beginning to end, with a particular focus on the countries that were behind the iron curtain.

In The Legacy of the Cold War Vojtech Mastny and Zhu Liqun bring together scholars to examine the worldwide effects of the Cold War on international security. Focusing on regions where the Cold War made the most enduring impact¿the Euro-Atlantic area and East Asiähistorians, political scientists, and international relations scholars explore alliances and other security measures during the Cold War and how they carry over into the twenty-first century.

In The Legacy of the Cold War Vojtech Mastny and Zhu Liqun bring together scholars to examine the worldwide effects of the Cold War on international security. Focusing on regions where the Cold War made the most enduring impact¿the Euro-Atlantic area and East Asiähistorians, political scientists, and international relations scholars explore alliances and other security measures during the Cold War and how they carry over into the twenty-first century.

Imposing, Maintaining, and Tearing Open the Iron Curtain, edited by Mark Kramer and Vit Smetana, consists of cutting-edge essays by distinguished experts who discuss the Cold War in Europe from beginning to end, with a particular focus on the countries that were behind the iron curtain.

At the beginning of June 1961, the tensions of the Cold War were supposed to abate as both sides sought a resolution. The two most important men in the world, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, met for a summit in Vienna. Yet the high hopes were disappointed. Within months the Cold War had become very hot: Khrushchev built the Berlin Wall and a year later he sent missiles to Cuba to threaten the United States directly. Despite the fact that the Vienna Summit yielded barely any tangible results, it did lead to some very important developments. In The Vienna Summit and Its Importance in International History international experts use new Russian and Western sources to analyze what really happened during this critical time and why the parties had a close shave with catastrophe.

After Stalin''s death in March 1953, the Cold War changed almost overnight. The Soviet Union embarked on a course of reconciliation and greater openness. However, despite an end to the Korean War and progress on many other outstanding East-West questions, the Western world remained mistrustful of Soviet motives and policies and Soviet leaders remained suspicious of Western intentions. Less than a decade after Stalin''s death the Berlin Wall was erected and the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world close to nuclear annihilation. Was this development unavoidable? Was an opportunity missed to overcome and terminate the Cold War? Was there a possibility for the creation of a more stable, less threatening, and less costly world in both human and material terms? It is only now, after the end of the Cold War and based on recently declassified western documents and revelations from once-closed archives in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China, that new light can be shed on the nature of international Cold War policies in the years after Stalin''s death. The essays in this book offer a historical understanding of this crucial period of the Cold War, assessing both the possibilities for change and the obstacles to détente. The book draws on the collective talents of an international group of scholars with a wide range of historical, geographical, and linguistic expertise. All of the essays are based on original research, many of them drawing from previously inaccessible archival documents from both the East and West. This book should be read by everyone interested in the final stage of the defining conflict that was the Cold War.Contributions by: Csaba Békés, Günter Bischof, Jeffrey Brooks, Ira Chernus, Jerald A. Combs, Lloyd Gardner, Jussi M. Hanhimäki, Hope M. Harrison, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Mark Kramer, Klaus Larres, Vojtech Mastny, Kenneth Osgood, Kathryn C. Statler, and Qiang Zhai

On August 20, 1968, tens of thousands of Soviet and East European ground and air forces moved into Czechoslovakia and occupied the country in an attempt to end the ''Prague Spring'' reforms and restore an orthodox Communist regime. The leader of the Soviet Communist Party, Leonid Brezhnev, was initially reluctant to use military force and tried to pressure his counterpart in Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek, to crack down. But during the summer of 1968, after several months of careful deliberations, the Soviet Politburo finally decide that military force was the only option left. A large invading force of Soviet, Polish, Hungarian, and Bulgarian troops received final orders to move into Czechoslovakia; within 24 hours they had established complete military control of Czechoslovakia, bringing an end to hopes for ''socialism with a human face.'' Dubcek and most of the other Czechoslovak reformers were temporarily restored to power, but their role from late August 1968 through April 1969 was to reverse many of the reforms that had been adopted. In April 1969, Dubchek was forced to step down for good, bringing a final end to the Prague Spring. Soviet leaders justified the invasion of Czechoslovakia by claiming that ''the fate of any socialist country is the common affair of all socialist countries'' and that the Soviet Union had both a ''right'' and a ''sacred duty'' to ''defend socialism'' in Czechoslovakia. The invasion caused some divisions within the Communist world, but overall the use of large-scale force proved remarkably successful in achieving Soviet goals. The United States and its NATO allies protested but refrained from direct military action and covert operations to counter the Soviet-led incursion into Czechoslovakia. The essays of a dozen leading European and American Cold War historians analyze this turning point in the Cold War in light of new documentary evidence from the archives of two dozen countries and explain what happened behind the scenes. They also reassess the weak response of the United States and consider whether Washington might have given a ''green light,'' if only inadvertently, to the Soviet Union prior to the invasion.

After World War II, 12 million Germans, 3 million Poles and Ukrainians, and tens of thousands of Hungarians were expelled from their homes and forced to migrate to their supposed countries of origin. This work gives an account of the turmoil caused by the migration during the nascent Cold War.

The Polish crisis in the early 1980s provoked a great deal of reaction in the West. Not only governments, but social movements were also touched by the establishment of the Independent Trade Union Solidarnosc in the summer of 1980, the proclamation of martial law in December 1981, and Solidarnosc''s underground activity in the subsequent years. In many countries, campaigns were set up in order to spread information, raise funds, and provide the Polish opposition with humanitarian relief and technical assistance. Labor movements especially stepped into the limelight. A number of Western European unions were concerned about the new international tension following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the new hard-line policy of the US and saw Solidarnosc as a political instrument of clerical and neo-conservative cold warriors. This book analyzes reaction to Solidarnosc in nine Western European countries and within the international trade union confederations. It argues that Western solidarity with Solidarnosc was highly determined by its instrumental value within the national context. Trade unions openly sided with Solidarnosc when they had an interest in doing so, namely when Solidarnosc could strengthen their own program or position. But this book also reveals that reaction in allegedly reluctant countries was massive, albeit discreet, pragmatic, and humanitarian, rather than vocal, emotional, and political.

In the US, the Cold War is often remembered as a two-power struggle. The Eisenhower administration placed an extremely high priority on victory in the Third World. This book assesses the impact of the globalizing Cold War and the process of decolonization on the Eisenhower administration's foreign policy. It is intended for diplomatic historians.

Explains why, in 1953, Mao changed direction in economic policy, and launched China on a Stalinist road to socialism, changing the country's economic and political land.

In this book an international group of scholars examines China's acceptance and ultimate rejection of Soviet models and practices in economic, cultural, social, and other realms.

For half a century, the United States and the Soviet Union were in conflict. But how and where did the Cold War begin? This book attempts to answer this question.

The Polish crisis in the early 1980s provoked a great deal of reaction in the West. Not only governments, but social movements were also touched by the changes. This book analyzes Western European social reaction to the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarnosc, Revealing how many unionists hesitated between détente and workers' rights, between Atlantic cold warriors and European cooperation. It provides new insights relevant to historians dealing with the Cold War, Labor, and European integration.

The essays of a dozen leading European and American Cold War historians analyze the 'Prague Spring' and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in light of new documentary evidence from the archives of two dozen countries and explain what happened behind the scenes. They also reassess the weak response of the United States and consider whether Washington might have given a 'green light,' if only inadvertently, to the Soviet Union prior to the invasion.

This book offers novel perspectives and insights into key themes of French foreign policy in the de Gaulle years (1958-69). Globalizing research on the ideas and impact of le général, the volume's 13 well-matched essays by leading experts in the field tap into newly available records, ranging from Europe to the US, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The volume is the first to reassess Charles de Gaulle's foreign policies from a global angle.

This intriguing book, based on recently accessible Soviet primary sources, is the first to explain the emergence of the Cold War and its development in Stalin's lifetime from the perspective of Soviet policy-making. It pays particular attention to the often-neglected "societal" dimension of Soviet foreign policy as a crucial element of the genesis and development of the Cold War. Gerhard Wettig provides readers with new insights into Stalin's willingness to initiate crisis with the West while still avoiding military conflict.

This book offers novel perspectives and insights into key themes of French foreign policy in the de Gaulle years (1958-69). Globalizing research on the ideas and impact of le général, the volume's 13 well-matched essays by leading experts in the field tap into newly available records, ranging from Europe to the US, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The volume is the first to reassess Charles de Gaulle's foreign policies from a global angle.