Author: Michael Jabara Carley Publisher: Ivan R. Dee ISBN: 146169938X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 352
Book Description
At a crucial point in the twentieth century, as Nazi Germany prepared for war, negotiations between Britain, France, and the Soviet Union became the last chance to halt Hitler’s aggression. Incredibly, the French and British governments dallied, talks failed, and in August 1939 the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with Germany. Michael Carley’s gripping account of these negotiations is not a pretty story. It is about the failures of appeasement and collective security in Europe. It is about moral depravity and blindness, about villains and cowards, and about heroes who stood against the intellectual and popular tides of their time. Some died for their beliefs, others labored in obscurity and have been nearly forgotten. In 1939 they sought to make the Grand Alliance that never was between France, Britain, and the Soviet Union. This story of their efforts is background to the wartime alliance created in 1941 without France but with the United States in order to defeat a demonic enemy. 1939 is based upon Mr. Carley’s longtime research on the period, including work in French, British, and newly opened Soviet archives. He challenges prevailing interpretations of the origins of World War II by situating 1939 at the end of the early cold war between the Soviet Union, France, and Britain, and by showing how anti-communism was the major cause of the failure to form an alliance against Hitler. 1939 was published on September 1, the sixtieth anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland and the start of the war.
Author: Colin Turbett Publisher: Pen and Sword Military ISBN: 1526776596 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 369
Book Description
Considers the inter-war and wartime relationship between Britain and the USSR and its impact on the attitudes of ordinary citizens. From the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917 until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Britain enjoyed an ambiguous relationship with the USSR and its people. All inter-war governments were concerned about the communist ideals of the new state and the threat they presented to British interests at home and abroad, and this was inevitably reflected amongst the general population. However there was a well-established British Communist Party whose fortunes were tied to the Soviet Union’s successes and failures. The wartime alliance offered the Communists an opportunity to extend their influence and win electoral support. Or did it? There were influences at work stemming from both sides that sought to put the importance of allied victory above competing ideology, with agreement over the need for a strong and unconditional anti-Fascist alliance. Compromises were made and relationships formed that would have seemed strange indeed to the pre-war observer. There were, however, tensions throughout the period of the war. By mid-1945, the alliance was threatened by differences that reflected original ideologies that had been glossed over for the duration of the conflict: these led to a Cold War for the next 45 years. This book, using both contemporary sources as well as post-war analyses, examines these matters alongside images that take us back to the period and help us understand its intricacies. It will start with a look at Britain’s opposition to the Bolshevik Revolution and the consolidation of the Soviet State under Lenin and then Stalin. The main body of the book goes on to give detail of the Wartime Alliance and the various forms through which it was expressed – from Government led Lend-Lease of equipment, to voluntary 'Aid for Russia. t ends with the War’s aftermath and the division of the world between the influences of capitalism on the one hand, and the “really existing socialism” of the Soviet Union and its satellites on the other. Tensions and expectations resulted, amongst other great social events, in the launch of the Welfare State, the demise of the British Empire, the nuclear arms race and, ultimately, the end of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Author: Peter R. Mansoor Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1107136024 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 417
Book Description
A broad-ranging study of the relationship between alliances and the conduct of grand strategy, examined through historical case studies.
Author: Stephanie Salzmann Publisher: Boydell & Brewer ISBN: 0861932609 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 213
Book Description
The treaty of Rapallo, concluded in 1922 between Germany and the Soviet Union, the two vanquished powers of the Great War, ranks high among the diplomatic coups de surprise of the twentieth century. Its real importance, however, lies in the repercussions of the alliance on the subsequent policies of the two victorious powers, Britain and France. This study examines the impact of Rapallo on British foreign policy between 1922 and 1934, when the German-Soviet relationship had virtually ended. The "ghost of Rapallo" is the central theme of this story, as ever since the treaty's conclusion Rapallo has been a byword for Soviet-German secret and potentially dangerous collaboration. This book describes how the British viewed the Rapallo co-operation, how they dealt with this special relationship, and how the lingering memory of Rapallo affected British policy for decades to come. While examining a particular aspect of international relations it throws additional light on broader topics of European relations in the 1920s and early 1930s. Dr STEPHANIE SALZMANN completed her PhD at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Author: Louise Grace Shaw Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1135761264 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 228
Book Description
Private papers, diaries and government and Foreign Office records are used within this book to produce an analysis of the attitudes of the British political elite towards the Soviet Union, assessing the influence such attitudes had upon British foreign policy between May 1937 and August 1939.
Author: Anthony Cross Publisher: Open Book Publishers ISBN: 190925410X Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 350
Book Description
"The essays in this stimulating collection attest to the scope and variety of Russia's influence on British culture. They move from the early nineteenth century -- when Byron sent his hero Don Juan to meet Catherine the Great, and an English critic sought to come to terms with the challenge of Pushkin -- to a series of Russian-themed exhibitions at venues including the Crystal Palace and Earls Court. The collection looks at British encounters with Russian music, the absorption with Dostoevskii and Chekhov, and finishes by shedding light on Britain's engagement with Soviet film."--Back cover.
Author: Onur Isci Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1788317815 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 258
Book Description
Based on newly accessible Turkish archival documents, Onur Isci's study details the deterioration of diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Soviet Union during World War II. Turkish-Russian relations have a long history of conflict. Under Ataturk relations improved – he was a master 'balancer' of the great powers. During the Second World War, however, relations between Turkey and the Soviet Union plunged to several degrees below zero, as Ottoman-era Russophobia began to take hold in Turkish elite circles. For the Russians, hostility was based on long-term apathy stemming from the enormous German investment in the Ottoman Empire; for the Turks, on the fear of Russian territorial ambitions. This book offers a new interpretation of how Russian foreign policy drove Turkey into a peculiar neutrality in the Second World War, and eventually into NATO. Onur Isci argues that this was a great reversal of Ataturk-era policies, and that it was the burden of history, not realpolitik, that caused the move to the west during the Second World War.
Author: Robert J. McMahon Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0192603272 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 208
Book Description
Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring The Cold War dominated international life from the end of World War II to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But how did the conflict begin? Why did it move from its initial origins in Postwar Europe to encompass virtually every corner of the globe? And why, after lasting so long, did the war end so suddenly and unexpectedly? Robert McMahon considers these questions and more, as well as looking at the legacy of the Cold War and its impact on international relations today. The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction is a truly international history, not just of the Soviet-American struggle at its heart, but also of the waves of decolonization, revolutionary nationalism, and state formation that swept the non-Western world in the wake of World War II. McMahon places the 'Hot Wars' that cost millions of lives in Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere within the larger framework of global superpower competition. He shows how the United States and the Soviet Union both became empires over the course of the Cold War, and argues that perceived security needs and fears shaped U.S. and Soviet decisions from the beginning—far more, in fact, than did their economic and territorial ambitions. He unpacks how these needs and fears were conditioned by the divergent cultures, ideologies, and historical experiences of the two principal contestants and their allies. Covering the years 1945-1990, this second edition uses recent scholarship and newly available documents to offer a fuller analysis of the Vietnam War, the changing global politics of the 1970s, and the end of the Cold War. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author: Olga Kucherenko Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1474213448 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 257
Book Description
A time of great hardship, the Second World War became a consequential episode in the history of Soviet childhood policies. The growing social problem of juvenile homelessness and delinquency alerted the government to the need for a comprehensive child protection programme. Nevertheless, by prioritizing public order over welfare, the Stalinist state created conditions that only exacerbated the situation, transforming an existing problem into a nation-wide crisis. In this comprehensive account based on exhaustive archival research, Olga Kucherenko investigates the plight of more than a million street children and the state's role in the reinforcement of their ranks. By looking at wartime dislocation, Soviet child welfare policies, juvenile justice and the shadow world both within and without the Gulag, Soviet Street Children and the Second World War challenges several of the most pervasive myths about the Soviet Union at war. It is, therefore, as much an investigation of children on the margins of Soviet society as it is a study of the impact of war and state policies on society itself.
Author: Francesca Gori Publisher: Springer ISBN: 1349251062 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 468
Book Description
After the Cold War, its history must be reassessed as the opening of Soviet archives allows a much fuller understanding of the Russian dimension. These essays on the classic period of the Cold War (1945-53) use Soviet and Western sources to shed new light on Stalin's aims, objectives and actions; on Moscow's relations with both the Soviet Bloc and the West European Communist Parties; and on the diplomatic relations of Britain, France and Italy with the USSR. The contributors are prominent European, Russian and American specialists.
Author: Michael Jabara Carley
Author: Colin Turbett
Author: Peter R. Mansoor
Author: Stephanie Salzmann
Author: Louise Grace Shaw
Author: Anthony Cross
Author: Onur Isci
Author: Robert J. McMahon
Author: Olga Kucherenko
Author: Francesca Gori