National Security Archive Cold War Reader - CEU Press – serie

This book is the culmination of twenty years of research in which the editors gathered thousands of pages documenting the most important conversations of the late Cold War. Every word Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev said to each other in their five superpower summits from 1985 to 1988 is included in this volume. The editors argue in their contextual essays and detailed notes that these summits fueled a learning process on both sides of the Cold War. Their anthology provides insight into the nuanced shifts of monumentally important discussions, showing how Moscow’s sense of threat was eased and how a hawkish Reagan softened his tone in negotiations during his second presidential term. Documents from foreign ministers Eduard Shevardnadze and George Shultz offer a particularly intriguing look into the handful of conversations that ended almost half a century of conflict. These verbatim transcripts, until now top secret, are combined with fascinating photos and crucial information from declassified preparatory and after-action documents from both the Americans and Soviets, obtained in the US through the Freedom of Information Act and in Russia from the Gorbachev Foundation, the State Archive of the Russian Federation in Moscow, and from the personal files of Anatoly Chernyaev, Gorbachev’s foreign policy adviser.

This is the first book to document, analyze, and interpret the history of the Warsaw Pact based on the archives of the alliance itself. As suggested by the title, the Soviet bloc military machine that held the West in awe for most of the Cold War does not appear from the inside as formidable as outsiders often believed, nor were its strengths and weaknesses the same at different times in its surprisingly long history, extending for almost half a century. The introductory study by Mastny assesses the controversial origins of the "superfluous" alliance, its subsequent search for a purpose, its crisis and consolidation despite congenital weaknesses, as well as its unexpected demise. Most of the 193 documents included in the book were top secret and have only recently been obtained from Eastern European archives by the PHP project. The majority of the documents were translated specifically for this volume and have never appeared in English before. The introductory remarks to individual documents by co-editor Byrne explain the particular significance of each item. A chronology of the main events in the history of the Warsaw Pact, a list of its leading officials, a selective multilingual bibliography, and an analytical index add to the importance of a publication that sets the new standard as a reference work on the subject and facilitate its use by both students and general readers.

This book documents, analyzes, and interprets the history of the Warsaw Pact based on the archives of the alliance itself. The Soviet bloc military machine that held the West in awe for most of the Cold War does not appear from the inside as formidable as outsiders often believed.

This is the first ever documented account of a Cold War crisis as seen from both sides of the Iron Curtain. Based on unprecedented access to the previously closed archives of each member-state of the Warsaw Pact, this book offers a unique look at a deeply divisive intra-bloc crisis.Presented in a highly readable form, the book offers top-level documents from Kremlin Politburo meetings, multi-lateral sessions of the Warsaw Pact leading up to the decision to invade, and even transcriptions of KGB-recorded phone conversations between Leonid Brezhnev and Alexander Dubcek. Once highly classified American documents from the National Security Council, CIA, and other relevant agencies acquired through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act have also been included.In order to provide a historical and political context, the editors have included an introductory essay for each section of the volume. A chronology, glossary, and bibliography offer further background information for the reader. As members of the commission appointed by Václav Havel to investigate the events of 1967-1970, the editors have a unique Czech-Slovak perspective to offer to foreign audiences.