A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (The New Cold War History)

488 Pages·2007·3.16 MB·english

by  Vladislav M. Zubok

( A FAILED EMPIRE )
★
the new cold war history
John Lewis Gaddis, editor
VLADISLAV M.ZUBOK
(A FAILED EMPIRE)
THE SOVIET UNION
IN THE COLD WAR
FROM STALIN TO
CORBACHEV
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill
∫ 2007 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Set in Quadraat, Eagle, and Scala Sans type
by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council on Library Resources.
Parts of this book have been reprinted with permission in revised form from
Vladislav M. Zubok, ‘‘The Nuclear Education of Nikita Khrushchev,’’ in Cold War
Statesmen Confront the Bomb: Nuclear Diplomacy since 1945, edited by John Lewis Gaddis et al.
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), and ‘‘Gorbachev and the End of the Cold War:
Di√erent Perspectives on the Historical Personality,’’ in Cold War Endgame: Oral History,
Analysis, Debates, edited by William C. Wohlforth (University Park: Pennsylvania State
University Press, 2003).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zubok, V. M. (Vladislav Martinovich)
A failed empire: the Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev /
Vladislav M. Zubok.
p. cm. — (New Cold War history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8078-3098-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Soviet Union—Politics and government—1953–1985. 2. Soviet Union—Politics and
government—1985–1991. 3. Soviet Union—Foreign relations—1945–1991. 4. Cold War.
I. Title. II. Series.
dk274.z825 2007
947.085—dc22 2007011439
11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1
For my parents
Martin and Liudmila Zubok
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( CONTENTS )
★
Preface ix
Abbreviations xv
1. The Soviet People and Stalin between War and Peace, 1945 1
2. Stalin’s Road to the Cold War, 1945–1948 29
3. Stalemate in Germany, 1945–1953 62
4. Kremlin Politics and ‘‘Peaceful Coexistence,’’ 1953–1957 94
5. The Nuclear Education of Khrushchev, 1953–1963 123
6. The Soviet Home Front: First Cracks, 1953–1968 163
7. Brezhnev and the Road to Détente, 1965–1972 192
8. Détente’s Decline and Soviet Overreach, 1973–1979 227
9. The Old Guard’s Exit, 1980–1987 265
10. Gorbachev and the End of Soviet Power, 1988–1991 303
Epilogue 336
Notes 345
Bibliography 417
Index 455
A section of illustrations appears after page 154.
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( PREFACE )
★
This book explores the motives that drove the Soviet Union in the Cold War,
a global confrontation with the United States and its allies. The opening of
archives in Russia and other countries of the onetime Communist bloc provides
fascinating opportunities to write about the Soviet past. The abundance of
sources on domestic politics and social and cultural developments behind the
former iron curtain is astounding. One can now examine Politburo deliberations,
read hour-by-hour cable correspondence between Communist leaders, observe
how impulses from above trickled down into the bureaucracy, and even read the
private journals of Communist apparatchiks. A series of critical oral history
projects brought together veterans of the decision-making process and provided
the emotional background that is missing in the bureaucratic paperwork.
With all these sources, it became possible to write about the Cold War not just
as a clash of great powers and as an accumulation of deadly weaponry. Above all,
every history is the story of people and their motives, hopes, crimes, illusions,
and mistakes. The Soviet Cold War had many fronts and dimensions—from
Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin to Moscow kitchens, where dissidents spoke about
Communism ‘‘with a human face,’’ from the Politburo in the Kremlin to stu-
dents’ dorms. It was a war of nerves and resources, but above all it was a struggle
of ideas and values.∞ Also, truly international comparative studies have become
possible, an intellectual accomplishment that helps place Soviet policies and
behavior in a larger perspective—the context of empire. Recently, scholars have
done a great deal of research illuminating the leverage of the Kremlin’s allies and
satellites upon Soviet international behavior. Some of the most striking findings
in the ‘‘new’’ Cold War historiography reveal how the People’s Republic of China,
North Korea, East Germany, Cuba, Afghanistan, and various other clients af-
fected Moscow’s motives, plans, and calculations.≤
These expanding horizons and new methodological challenges shaped this
book. A Russian scholar by nationality and training, I have lived and worked in
the United States since the early 1990s. Months of research in Russian, American,
and other archives, participation in numerous international scholarly confer-
ences, and exchanges with colleagues, friends, and critics have greatly influenced
the last fifteen years of my life. My participation in the cnn twenty-four-part
television project on Cold War history was a new experience that alerted me to the
significance of perceptions, images, and collective imagination. Finally, teaching