Alexander II's Great Reforms of the early 1860s unleashed hopes among Russians for a true civil society resulting in increased political freedom. An attempt on the Tsar's life in 1866 put an abrupt end to these hopes, trapping Russian political life within a vicious circle of political reaction, growing disillusionment with government, and ......
As Lenin lay dying, the once-powerful Bolsheviks were splitting into hostile groups. The 'direct' and 'indirect' heirs to power were moving into the light of history, each having his own identity and peculiar features, ambitions and purposes. This book attempts to give scientific and documental presentation of the struggle at that stage.
Stalin's Forced Labour System in the Light of the Archives
Throughout the Stalin era and after, the Gulag system of forced labor blighted the Soviet Union. Millions were incarcerated in its camps, some to be eventually released, many to die imprisoned and faceless. For decades, histories of the camp system have relied on the experiences of those who suffered within them for their main source of ......
This text explores a range of topics, including underground literature, religious revival, and the rise of a national Jewish consciousness. It examines the ambivalent role traditionally played by the Soviet Union in both allowing cultural expression and suppressing individual religious practice.
This book provides a systematic review of social policy developments in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Leading specialists on the social policies of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, West and East Germany, Hungary, Poland and the USSR interpret these policies in a framework that enables the reader to understand why the old bureaucratic state collectivist system of welfare had to go and why the emerging system is, at least initially, woefully inadequate.
The last five years have brought such extraordinary changes to Germany and Europe as to make the previous forty years of Cold War existence seem deceptively placid and well- ordered by comparison. The collapse of communist rule in East Germany in the midst of massive demonstrations against the Honecker regime in late 1989 were only the beginning. ......
... an imaginative and dispassionate re-examination of the significance of the Mongol Conquest and its aftermath for Russia's historical development." -Slavic Review On all counts Russia and the Golden Horde infuses the subject with fresh insights and interpretations." -History Combining rigorous analysis of the major scholarly findings with his ......
