Inside the Kremlin's Cold War - From Stalin to Khrushchev (Paperback, Revised)

An important book by two members of a new generation of Russian historians. Using newly (but somewhat arbitrarily) declassified files, they have set out to explore the "background, psychology, motives, and behavior of Soviet rulers" from Stalin to Khrushchev. Zubok (Senior Fellow/National Security Archive, Washington) and Pleshakov (Director, Pacific Studies/Institute of US and Canada, Moscow) do not offer any major new interpretations of the period but give instead an infinitely more nuanced understanding of the forces that shaped Soviet policy. Among the surprises: the role played by Stalin in the Korean War, when, after succumbing to Kim Il Sung's pleas to sanction an attack on South Korea, he forced Chinese intervention by being prepared to accept Kim's defeat. Another is the bold policy advocated by Beria (once described by Stalin as "our Himmler") after Stalin's death: He was willing to throw over East Germany to secure detente with the West. The authors suggest that the opposition to such moves was partly generational, and that Khrushchev - the "last true believer" - was in turn overthrown by a new generation "yearning for personal security" and led by a group more cynical than revolutionary. Not all of their interpretations are as persuasive: They view Roosevelt and Churchill as helping "to soothe Stalin's ego," providing him with "an important psychological motive that pushed him in the direction of postwar cooperation." That push propelled Stalin, if at all, for a very short time. But their analysis of the group that surrounded Stalin and succeeded him - some well known in the West and others (like Zhdanov, Beria, and Malenkov) less so - is vivid and acute. The most careful, comprehensive, and balanced assessment yet of what Wellington once called "the other side of the hill." (Kirkus Reviews)

Using recently uncovered archival materials, personal interviews, and a broad familiarity with Russian history and culture, two young Russian historians have written a major interpretation of the Cold War as seen from the Soviet shore. Covering the volatile period from 1945 to 1962, Zubok and Pleshakov explore the personalities and motivations of the key people who directed Soviet political life and shaped Soviet foreign policy. They begin with the fearsome figure of Joseph Stalin, who was driven by the dual dream of a Communist revolution and a global empire. They reveal the scope and limits of Stalin's ambitions by taking us into the world of his closest subordinates, the ruthless and unimaginative foreign minister Molotov and the Party's chief propagandist, Zhdanov, a man brimming with hubris and missionary zeal. The authors expose the machinations of the much-feared secret police chief Beria and the party cadre manager Malenkov, who tried but failed to set Soviet policies on a different course after Stalin's death. Finally, they document the motives and actions of the self-made and self-confident Nikita Khrushchev, full of Russian pride and party dogma, who overturned many of Stalin's policies with bold strategizing on a global scale. The authors show how, despite such attempts to change Soviet diplomacy, Stalin's legacy continued to divide Germany and Europe, and led the Soviets to the split with Maoist China and to the Cuban missile crisis. Zubok and Pleshakov's groundbreaking work reveals how Soviet statesmen conceived and conducted their rivalry with the West within the context of their own domestic and global concerns and aspirations. The authors persuasively demonstrate thatthe Soviet leaders did not seek a conflict with the United States, yet failed to prevent it or bring it to conclusion. They also document why and how Kremlin policy-makers, cautious and scheming as they were, triggered the gravest crises of the Cold War in Korea, Berlin, and Cuba.

General

Imprint:	Harvard University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	April 1997
First published:	April 1997
Authors:	Vladislav Zubok • Constantine Pleshakov
Dimensions:	235 x 155 x 25mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	382
Edition:	Revised
ISBN-13:	978-0-674-45532-0
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > European history > General Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Central government > Central government policies Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > General Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 Books > History > European history > General Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 Promotions
LSN:	0-674-45532-0
Barcode:	9780674455320

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