1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910793590003321

Titolo

A cardboard castle? [[electronic resource] ] : an inside history of the Warsaw Pact, 1955-1991 / / edited by Vojtech Mastny and Malcolm Byrne ; editorial assistant Magdalena Klotzbach

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Central European University Press, 2005

ISBN

1-4237-2446-1

615-5053-69-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xlix, 726 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations, map

Collana

National Security Archive Cold War readers

Altri autori (Persone)

MastnyVojtech <1936->

ByrneMalcolm

Disciplina

355/.031/0947

Soggetti

Cold War

Europe, Eastern History, Military 20th century

Europe, Eastern History, Military 20th century Sources

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 693-704) and index.

Nota di contenuto

The formative years -- The crisis -- The alliance at its peak -- The incipient decline -- Disintegration.

Sommario/riassunto

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.