Last of the Empires: A History of the Soviet Union, 1945-1991 (Opus)

Designed with the general reader in mind, this clearly written narrative history of the Soviet Union from the end of World War II to its collapse in 1991 provides an integrated introduction to the "Last of the Empires." Keep deals with those of the more than one hundred nationalities in the USSR that held union-republic status, especially the Baltic and Central Asian peoples, emphasizing the key problem of inter-ethnic relations and central themes of political, economic, social, and cultural development. The story begins with the last years of Stalin's despotic rule, which Keep treats as the introduction to the comparatively optimistic era of Khrushchev. Under his leadership Communist rule was reformed, though not necessarily liberalized, and there was an overall relaxation of police terror and an improvement in living standards. Keep shows how the ensuing Brezhnev years brought greater material prosperity but marked a setback to popular aspirations for change in other respects. Yet it was in these years that official ideology became less relevant than ever to people's everyday concerns; Keep argues that the Party lost moral authority due to internal corruption, and that the system gradually eroded. The fate of the reform policies of the younger and more pragmatic leadership symbolized by Gorbachev is the subject of the book's final chapters, which delineate how central institutions crumbled as national minorities claimed their rights and centrifugal pressures brought about the empire's collapse. Making use of a broad literature of "sovietological" expertise along with the new information made available since Soviet secrecy was relaxed in 1988, Last of the Empires sums up what is now known about postwar Soviet history and presents it in a clear and coherent narrative. Designed with the general reader in mind, this clearly written narrative history of the Soviet Union from the end of World War II to its collapse in 1991 provides an integrated introduction to the "Last of the Empires." Keep deals with those of the more than one hundred nationalities in the USSR that held union-republic status, especially the Baltic and Central Asian peoples, emphasizing the key problem of inter-ethnic relations and central themes of political, economic, social, and cultural development. The story begins with the last years of Stalin's despotic rule, which Keep treats as the introduction to the comparatively optimistic era of Khrushchev. Under his leadership Communist rule was reformed, though not necessarily liberalized, and there was an overall relaxation of police terror and an improvement in living standards. Keep shows how the ensuing Brezhnev years brought greater material prosperity but marked a setback to popular aspirations for change in other respects. Yet it was in these years that official ideology became less relevant than ever to people's everyday concerns; Keep argues that the Party lost moral authority due to internal corruption, and that the system gradually eroded. The fate of the reform policies of the younger and more pragmatic leadership symbolized by Gorbachev is the subject of the book's final chapters, which delineate how central institutions crumbled as national minorities claimed their rights and centrifugal pressures brought about the empire's collapse. Making use of a broad literature of "sovietological" expertise along with the new information made available since Soviet secrecy was relaxed in 1988, __Last of the Empires__ sums up what is now known about postwar Soviet history and presents it in a clear and coherent narrative. In this book, John Keep gives a narrative history of the USSR from the last years of Stalin's despotic rule to the eventual collapse of the empire in 1991. During these years living standards slowly improved as various attempts were made to reform Communist rule. Although material prosperity rose under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, however, the Communist system itself began to erode. The official ideology grew less and less relevant to people's everyday concerns; the Party lost its moral authority. The early 1980s saw a growing black market economy, incompetent management, and agricultural waste. When control passed to pragmatic, younger leaders like Gorbachev, their attempts to reinvigorate the economy by appealing to the intelligentsia opened a Pandora's box of conflicting opinions. The Party surrendered its monopoly of power, central institutions crumbled, and the centrifugal forces emanating from national minorities culminated in the empire's downfall. . Since 1988 the mantle of Soviet secrecy has slowly been lifted, allowing historians access to some of the country's vast archival resources. Last of the Empires explores the central currents of political, cultural, social, and economic development running through forty-six crucial years of Soviet rule, and enables us to gain a greater understanding of one of the most tragic experiences in human history. Focusing upon political, economic, social and cultural developments, this history of the USSR is divided into four parts: Stalin's final years; Nikita Krushchev's attempts to reform communist rule; the years 1964-1985, largely Breshnev's tenure; and Gorbachev's attempts at a "democratic" communism. When cannon fired salutes across the land to celebrate VE-Day in May 1945, Soviet citizens had every ground for pride in their achievement and relief that the epic four-year struggle was at an end.