1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910817145503321

Autore

Zubok V. M (Vladislav Martinovich)

Titolo

A failed empire : the Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev / / Vladislav M. Zubok

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chapel Hill, : University of North Carolina Press, c2007

ISBN

0-8078-8759-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (487 p.)

Collana

The new Cold War history

Classificazione

15.70

Disciplina

947.085

Soggetti

Cold War

Soviet Union Politics and government 1953-1985

Soviet Union Politics and government 1985-1991

Soviet Union Foreign relations 1945-1991

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [417]-453) and index.

Nota di contenuto

; 1. The Soviet people and Stalin between war and peace, 1945 -- ; 2. Stalin's road to the Cold War, 1945-1948 -- ; 3. Stalemate in Germany, 1945-1953 -- ; 4. Kremlin politics and "peaceful coexistence," 1953-1957 -- ; 5. The nuclear education of Khrushchev, 1953-1963 -- ; 6. The Soviet home front : first cracks, 1953-1968 -- ; 7. Brezhnev and the road to detente, 1965-1972 -- ; 8. Detente's decline and Soviet overreach, 1973-1979 -- ; 9. The old Guard's exit, 1980-1987 -- ; 10. Gorbachev and the end of Soviet power, 1988-1991.

Sommario/riassunto

Western interpretations of the Cold War--both realist and neoconservative--have erred by exaggerating either the Kremlin's pragmatism or its aggressiveness, argues Vladislav Zubok. Explaining the interests, aspirations, illusions, fears, and misperceptions of the Kremlin leaders and Soviet elites, Zubok offers a Soviet perspective on the greatest standoff of the twentieth century.Using recently declassified Politburo records, ciphered telegrams, diaries, and taped conversations, among other sources, Zubok explores the origins of the superpowers' confrontation under Stalin, Khrushchev's