The Collapse of the Soviet Military
One of the great surprises in modern military history is the collapse of the Soviet Armed Forces in 1991--along with the party-state with which it was inextricably intertwined. In this important book, a distinguished United States Army officer and scholar traces the rise and fall of the Soviet military, arguing that it had a far greater impact on Soviet politics and economic development than was perceived in the West.
General William E. Odom asserts that Gorbachev saw that dramatically shrinking the military and the military-industrial sector of the economy was essential for fully implementing perestroika and that his efforts to do this led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Odom enhances his account with interviews with key actors in the Soviet Union before, during, and after the collapse. He describes the condition of the Soviet military during the mid-1980s and explains how it became what it was--its organizational structures, manpower policies, and military-industrial arrangements. He then moves to the dramatic events that led to its destruction, taking us to the most secret circles of Soviet policy making, as well as describing the public debates, factional struggles in the new parliament, and street combat as army units tried to repress the political forces unleashed by glasnost. Odom shows that just as the military was the ultimate source of stability for the multinational Soviet state, the communist ideology justified the military's priority claim on the economy. When Gorbachev tried to shift resources from the military to the civilian sector to overcome economic stagnation, he had to revise the official ideology in order to justify removing the military from its central place. Paralyzed by corruption, mistrust, and public disillusionment, the military was unable and unwilling to intervene against either Gorbachev's perestroika or Yeltsin's dissolution of the Soviet Union. |
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LibraryThing Review
Nutzerbericht - EricCostello - LibraryThingNot really a casual book, or even a book for a person who loves history. This is a very high-level analysis of why the USSR collapsed as it did in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, and to my mind ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET MILITARY
Nutzerbericht - KirkusA subtle, profound, and authoritative assessment of the life and sudden death of the Soviet military by the former director of the National Security Agency. By almost every measure, the Soviet armed ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Inhalt
1 | |
16 | |
38 | |
49 | |
65 | |
Deciding to Change Course
|
88 |
Defensive Doctrine and Arms Reductions
|
118 |
Glasnost and the Public Debate
|
147 |
From Force Reductions to Disintegration
|
272 |
The August Crisis
|
305 |
Illusions of Another Chance
|
347 |
The Illusion of the CIS Armed Forces
|
375 |
Conclusion
|
388 |
Chronology
|
405 |
Biographical Reference
|
413 |
Notes
|
421 |
Legislating Military Reform
|
173 |
The Intractable PartyMilitary Connection
|
203 |
The Intractable MilitaryIndustrial Sector
|
223 |
The Army and Maintaining Domestic Order
|
244 |
Bibliography
|
479 |
Index
|
499 |
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Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
Achalov affairs Afghanistan airborne Akhromeev Aleksandr Armenia arms control August Azerbaijan bachev Baku became began Central Committee Chernyaev civilian Colonel command Communist Party Congress of People's conscription crisis critical December dedovshchina defense minister economic Europe foreign GKChP glasnost Gorbachev GOSPLAN Grachev Ibid ideological industrial insisted interview issue Krasnaya zvezda leaders leadership Lebed Lenin Ligachev Lithuania Lopatin major Marshal meeting mili military district military doctrine military policy military reform military-industrial sector military's minister of defense ministry Moiseev Moscow negotiations nuclear weapons operations parliament Party Congress People's Deputies percent perestroika Politburo Politburo member problems radical Red Army reductions RFE/RL Daily Report role Russian secretary Shakhnazarov Shaposhnikov Shevardnadze soldiers Soviet forces Soviet military Soviet Union Staff Stalin strategic structure Supreme Soviet tactical tary Tbilisi tion treaty troops Ukraine units USSR Warsaw Pact Western White House Yakovlev Yazov Yeltsin