The End Of The Cold War 1985 1991

Author : Robert Service
Publisher : Pan Macmillan
Page : 656 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2015-10-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9781447287285

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The End of the Cold War by Robert Service Pdf

The Cold War had seemed like a permanent fixture in global politics, and until its denouement, no Western or Soviet politician foresaw that the stand-off between the two superpowers - after decades of struggle over every aspect of security, politics, economics and ideas - would end in their lifetimes. Even after March 1985 when Mikhail Gorbachëv became the leader of the Soviet Union it was not preordained that global nuclear Armageddon could or would be averted peaceably. But just four years later, the Berlin Wall was dismantled and perestroika spread throughout the former Soviet bloc. It was a sea change in world history, which resulted in the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Drawing on pioneering archival research, Robert Service's gripping new investigation of the final years of the Cold War pinpoints the astonishing relationships among President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachëv, Secretary of State George Shultz and the USSR's last Foreign Affairs Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, who found a way to cooperate during times of extraordinary change around the world. The story is of American pressure and Soviet long-term decline and over-stretch. The End of the Cold War shows how that small, skillful group of statesmen were determined to end the Cold War on their watch. In the process, they irreversibly transformed the global geopolitical landscape. Authoritative, compelling and meticulously researched, this is political history at its best.

Author : Robert Service
Publisher : PublicAffairs
Page : 688 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2015-11-10
Category : History
ISBN : 9781610395007

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The End of the Cold War: 1985-1991 by Robert Service Pdf

On 26 December, 1991, the hammer-and-sickle flag was lowered over the Kremlin for the last time. Yet, just six years earlier, when Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and chose Eduard Shevardnadze as his foreign minister, the Cold War seemed like a permanent fixture in world politics. Until its denouement, no Western or Soviet politician foresaw that the standoff between the two superpowers -- after decades of struggle over every aspect of security, politics, economics, and ideas -- would end within the lifetime of the current generation. Nor was it at all obvious that that the Soviet political leadership would undertake a huge internal reform of the USSR, or that the threat of a nuclear Armageddon could or would be peacefully wound down. Drawing on pioneering archival research, Robert Service's gripping investigation of the final years of the Cold War pinpoints the extraordinary relationships between Ronald Reagan, Gorbachev, George Shultz, and Shevardnadze, who found ways to cooperate during times of exceptional change around the world. A story of American pressure and Soviet long-term decline and overstretch, The End of the Cold War: 1985-1991 shows how a small but skillful group of statesmen grew determined to end the Cold War on their watch and transformed the global political landscape irreversibly.

Author : Robert Service
Publisher : Macmillan
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2015-10-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781743540237

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The End of the Cold War by Robert Service Pdf

The first comprehensive account to reveal exactly how the Cold War - and the Soviet Union - came to an end, a process which transformed the world in the late 20th century. "Our leading historian of the Soviet Union ... magisterial" Observer The dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the spread of Perestroika throughout the former Soviet bloc was a sea change in world history and two years later resulted in the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In The End of the Cold War, acclaimed Russian historian Robert Service examines precisely how that change came about. Drawing on a vast and largely untapped range of sources, he builds a picture of the two men who spearheaded the breakthrough: Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, and Mikhail Gorbachev, last General Secretary of the Soviet Union and first and last President of the USSR. He also analyses the role of influential players not only in America and the USSR, but throughout Eastern and Western Europe, and focuses especially on Pope John Paul II, Lech Watesa and Vaclav Havel. Authoritative, compelling and meticulously researched, this is political history at its best. PRAISE FOR ROBERT SERVICE "An abundance of superbly organized material" Independent "Detailed and clear ... his main strength is his forensic challenge to the clichés and myths on which western triumphalism about the Cold War is based ... Service is an authoritative voice offering a more nuanced view." Sunday Times "Well-written and thought-provoking" Literary Review "Masterful chronicle about personalities and ideas ..." Times Higher Education Supplement "A magisterial account of a turning point in modern history, whose intellectual rigour and robustness make it unlikely to be bettered" Spectator

Author : Robert J. McMahon
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 201 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2021-02-25
Category : History
ISBN : 9780198859543

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The Cold War: a Very Short Introduction by Robert J. McMahon Pdf

Vividly written and based on up-to-date scholarship, this title provides an interpretive overview of the international history of the Cold War.

Author : David Armstrong,Erik Goldstein
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 211 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2013-11-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9781135188375

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The End of the Cold War by David Armstrong,Erik Goldstein Pdf

Giving an overview of the origins and history of the Cold War, this work considers whether the Cold War is truly over, and what the effects have been on Europe, and the former Soviet Union, as well as US foreign policy.

Author : Svetlana Savranskaya,Thomas S. Blanton
Publisher : Central European University Press
Page : 1080 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2016-11-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9789633861714

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The Last Superpower Summits by Svetlana Savranskaya,Thomas S. Blanton Pdf

This book publishes for the first time in print every word the American and Soviet leaders – Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, and George H.W. Bush – said to each other in their superpower summits from 1985 to 1991. Obtained by the authors through the Freedom of Information Act in the U.S., from the Gorbachev Foundation and the State Archive of the Russian Federation in Moscow, and from the personal donation of Anatoly Chernyaev, these previously Top Secret verbatim transcripts combine with key declassified preparatory and after-action documents from both sides to create a unique interactive documentary record of these historic highest-level talks – the conversations that ended the Cold War. The summits fueled a process of learning on both sides, as the authors argue in contextual essays on each summit and detailed headnotes on each document. Geneva 1985 and Reykjavik 1986 reduced Moscow's sense of threat and unleashed Reagan's inner abolitionist. Malta 1989 and Washington 1990 helped dampen any superpower sparks that might have flown in a time of revolutionary change in Eastern Europe, set off by Gorbachev and by Eastern Europeans (Solidarity, dissidents, reform Communists). The high level and scope of the dialogue between these world leaders was unprecedented, and is likely never to be repeated.

Author : Jack Matlock
Publisher : Random House Trade Paperbacks
Page : 402 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2005-11-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9780812974898

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Reagan and Gorbachev by Jack Matlock Pdf

“[Matlock’s] account of Reagan’s achievement as the nation’s diplomat in chief is a public service.”—The New York Times Book Review “Engrossing . . . authoritative . . . a detailed and reliable narrative that future historians will be able to draw on to illuminate one of the most dramatic periods in modern history.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review In Reagan and Gorbachev, Jack F. Matlock, Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R. and principal adviser to Ronald Reagan on Soviet and European affairs, gives an eyewitness account of how the Cold War ended. Working from his own papers, recent interviews with major figures, and unparalleled access to the best and latest sources, Matlock offers an insider’s perspective on a diplomatic campaign far more sophisticated than previously thought, waged by two leaders of surpassing vision. Matlock details how Reagan privately pursued improved U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations even while engaging in public saber rattling. When Gorbachev assumed leadership, however, Reagan and his advisers found a willing partner in peace. Matlock shows how both leaders took risks that yielded great rewards and offers unprecedented insight into the often cordial working relationship between Reagan and Gorbachev. Both epic and intimate, Reagan and Gorbachev will be the standard reference on the end of the Cold War, a work that is critical to our understanding of the present and the past.

Author : Frances FitzGerald
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 592 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2001-02-21
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780743203777

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Way Out There In the Blue by Frances FitzGerald Pdf

Way Out There in the Blue is a major work of history by the Pulitzer Prize­winning author of Fire in the Lake. Using the Star Wars missile defense program as a magnifying glass on his presidency, Frances FitzGerald gives us a wholly original portrait of Ronald Reagan, the most puzzling president of the last half of the twentieth century. Reagan's presidency and the man himself have always been difficult to fathom. His influence was enormous, and the few powerful ideas he espoused remain with us still -- yet he seemed nothing more than a charming, simple-minded, inattentive actor. FitzGerald shows us a Reagan far more complex than the man we thought we knew. A master of the American language and of self-presentation, the greatest storyteller ever to occupy the Oval Office, Reagan created a compelling public persona that bore little relationship to himself. The real Ronald Reagan -- the Reagan who emerges from FitzGerald's book -- was a gifted politician with a deep understanding of the American national psyche and at the same time an executive almost totally disengaged from the policies of his administration and from the people who surrounded him. The idea that America should have an impregnable shield against nuclear weapons was Reagan's invention. His famous Star Wars speech, in which he promised us such a shield and called upon scientists to produce it, gave rise to the Strategic Defense Initiative. Reagan used his sure understanding of American mythology, history and politics to persuade the country that a perfect defense against Soviet nuclear weapons would be possible, even though the technology did not exist and was not remotely feasible. His idea turned into a multibillion-dollar research program. SDI played a central role in U.S.-Soviet relations at a crucial juncture in the Cold War, and in a different form it survives to this day. Drawing on prodigious research, including interviews with the participants, FitzGerald offers new insights into American foreign policy in the Reagan era. She gives us revealing portraits of major players in Reagan's administration, including George Shultz, Caspar Weinberger, Donald Regan and Paul Nitze, and she provides a radically new view of what happened at the Reagan-Gorbachev summits in Geneva, Reykjavik, Washington and Moscow. FitzGerald describes the fierce battles among Reagan's advisers and the frightening increase of Cold War tensions during Reagan's first term. She shows how the president who presided over the greatest peacetime military buildup came to espouse the elimination of nuclear weapons, and how the man who insisted that the Soviet Union was an "evil empire" came to embrace the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, and to proclaim an end to the Cold War long before most in Washington understood that it had ended. Way Out There in the Blue is a ground-breaking history of the American side of the end of the Cold War. Both appalling and funny, it is a black comedy in which Reagan, playing the role he wrote for himself, is the hero.

Author : Melvyn P. Leffler,Odd Arne Westad
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 663 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2010-03-25
Category : History
ISBN : 9780521837194

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The Cambridge History of the Cold War by Melvyn P. Leffler,Odd Arne Westad Pdf

This volume examines the origins and early years of the Cold War in the first comprehensive historical reexamination of the period. A team of leading scholars shows how the conflict evolved from the geopolitical, ideological, economic and sociopolitical environments of the two world wars and interwar period.

Author : Pavel Palazchenko
Publisher : Penn State Press
Page : 434 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2010-11-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780271040929

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My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze by Pavel Palazchenko Pdf

Author : Aaron Donaghy
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 405 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2021-04-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9781108838030

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The Second Cold War by Aaron Donaghy Pdf

The compelling account of the last great Cold War struggle between America and the Soviet Union that took place between 1977 and 1985.

Author : Archie Brown
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2020-03-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9780190614911

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The Human Factor by Archie Brown Pdf

In this penetrating analysis of the role of political leadership in the Cold War's ending, Archie Brown shows why the popular view that Western economic and military strength left the Soviet Union with no alternative but to admit defeat is wrong. To understand the significance of the parts played by Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in East-West relations in the second half of the 1980s, Brown addresses several specific questions: What were the values and assumptions of these leaders, and how did their perceptions evolve? What were the major influences on them? To what extent were they reflecting the views of their own political establishment or challenging them? How important for ending the East-West standoff were their interrelations? Would any of the realistically alternative leaders of their countries at that time have pursued approximately the same policies? The Cold War got colder in the early 1980s and the relationship between the two military superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, each of whom had the capacity to annihilate the other, was tense. By the end of the decade, East-West relations had been utterly transformed, with most of the dividing lines - including the division of Europe - removed. Engagement between Gorbachev and Reagan was a crucial part of that process of change. More surprising was Thatcher's role. Regarded by Reagan as his ideological and political soulmate, she formed also a strong and supportive relationship with Gorbachev (beginning three months before he came to power). Promoting Gorbachev in Washington as 'a man to do business with', she became, in the words of her foreign policy adviser Sir Percy Cradock, 'an agent of influence in both directions'.

Author : Frédéric Bozo
Publisher : Berghahn Books
Page : 367 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : History
ISBN : 9780857452887

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Visions of the End of the Cold War in Europe, 1945-1990 by Frédéric Bozo Pdf

Exploring the visions of the end of the Cold War that have been put forth since its inception until its actual ending, this volume brings to the fore the reflections, programmes, and strategies that were intended to call into question the bipolar system and replace it with alternative approaches or concepts. These visions were associated not only with prominent individuals, organized groups and civil societies, but were also connected to specific historical processes or events. They ranged from actual, thoroughly conceived programmes, to more blurred, utopian aspirations -- or simply the belief that the Cold War had already, in effect, come to an end. Such visions reveal much about the contexts in which they were developed and shed light on crucial moments and phases of the Cold War.

Author : Martin McCauley
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 249 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2013-11-04
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317863878

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Russia, America and the Cold War by Martin McCauley Pdf

The conflict between Russia and America shaped the world for over four decades. Both were universalist powers – they wanted every country in the world to copy their model of government and economy. They could not rest until the other side had been vanquished, and until the mid-1980s this included the prospect of nuclear war. In a new edition of one of the best-selling books in the Seminar Studies in History Series, Martin McCauley looks at the epic struggle between the two superpowers that put everyone in danger. In a clear and accessible manner, the book: Gives a succinct summary of the main turning points in the conflict Looks at how the whole world was sucked into the Cold War Shows how the arms race eventually bankrupted Russia Discusses whether or not America and Russia have learnt anything from this confrontation Also containing a Chronology, Glossary and Who’s Who of key figures, this revised second edition of Russia, America and the Cold War is essential reading for all students of twentieth century history. Martin McCauley is a seasoned writer and broadcaster who has a wealth of experience in Russian and international affairs. His recent publications include The Origins of the Cold War revised 3rd edition (2008), Stalin and Stalinism revised 3rd edition (2008) and The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union (2007)

Author : N. Bisley
Publisher : Springer
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2004-04-30
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780230000544

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The End of the Cold War and the Causes of Soviet Collapse by N. Bisley Pdf

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.