scholarly journals Social Movements for Democracy in Post-Communist space: two Revolutions in Czechoslovakia (1968, 1989)

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-26
Author(s):  
Olena Babinova
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Military Leadership ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Popular Resistance ◽  
Common Features ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Revolution

This article is a comparative analysis of two revolutions in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and 1989. The main question of this article is: Why did the revolution in 1968 fail, but the revolution in 1989 succeed? In this article the main reasons, common features and differences of those two revolutions were analysed and defined. The main conclusion of this article is the fact that a necessary condition for the victory of popular resistance is the support of these manifestations by the military or their non-interference. The 1968 revolution was suppressed as a result of the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops under the leadership of the Soviet Union, but the events of 1989 were marked by a decision by the country’s military leadership on their neutrality.

A Reminiscence of the Chinese People's Volunteers in the Korean War

1984 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 287-304
Author(s):  
Anthony Farrar-Hockley
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Military Leadership ◽  
Mao Zedong ◽  
North East ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
Yalu River ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military

On the night 13/14th October 1950 soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) crossed the Yalu river from north-east China into Korea. In the 10 weeks of operations that followed, these men, with others crowding in behind them, threw back the powerful divisions of the United Nations Command, ejecting them from the territory of North Korea and, further, seemed capable of driving them from the whole Korean peninsular. No doubt the government in Beijing believed for a time that its soldiers were once more about to deliver an immense political prize to Party and state. They were wrong. If the intervention of the PLA changed the course of the Korean war initially much as Mao Zedong intended, it changed also the outlook of the PLA, led to factionalism among the military leadership, which persists and, arguably, accelerated the subsequent rift between China and the Soviet Union.

Vanguard of the Revolution

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. James McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Revolution

This book is a sweeping history of one of the most significant political institutions of the modern world. The communist party was a revolutionary idea long before its supporters came to power. The book argues that the rise and fall of communism can be understood only by taking into account the origins and evolution of this compelling idea. It shows how the leaders of parties in countries as diverse as the Soviet Union, China, Germany, Yugoslavia, Cuba, and North Korea adapted the original ideas of revolutionaries like Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin to profoundly different social and cultural settings. The book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand world communism and the captivating idea that gave it life.

Military Technology Races

1999 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 537-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vally Koubi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Technology ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
International Distribution ◽  
Strategic Defense ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
The Military

Because of the nature of modern weapons, significant innovations in arms technology have the potential to induce dramatic changes in the international distribution of power. Consider, for example, the “strategic defense initiative” (SDI), a program initiated by the United States in the early 1980s. Had the program been successfully completed, it might have led to a substantial devaluation of Soviet nuclear capabilities and put the United States in a very dominant position. It should not then come as a surprise that interstate rivalry, especially among super powers, often takes the form of a race for technological superiority. Mary Acland-Hood claims that although the United States and the Soviet Union together accounted for roughly half of the world's military expenditures in the early 1980s, their share of world military research and development (R&D) expenditures was about 80 percent. As further proof of the perceived importance of R&D, note that whereas the overall U.S. defense budget increased by 38 percent (from $225.1 billion to $311.6 billion in real terms) from 1981 to 1987, military R&D spending increased by 100 percent (from $20.97 billion to $41.96 billion). Moreover, before World War II military R&D absorbed on average less than 1 percent of the military expenditure of major powers, but since then it has grown to 11–13 percent. The emphasis on military technology is bound to become more pronounced in the future as R&D becomes the main arena for interstate competition.

Afghanistan: Martial Society Without Military Rule

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amin Tarzi
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Central Government ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Military Campaigns ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Military

Since its inception as a separate political entity in 1747, Afghanistan has been embroiled in almost perpetual warfare, but it has never been ruled directly by the military. From initial expansionist military campaigns to involvement in defensive, civil, and internal consolidation campaigns, the Afghan military until the mid-19th century remained mainly a combination of tribal forces and smaller organized units. The central government, however, could only gain tenuous monopoly over the use of violence throughout the country by the end of the 19th century. The military as well as Afghan society remained largely illiterate and generally isolated from the prevailing global political and ideological trends until the middle of the 20th century. Politicization of Afghanistan’s military began in very small numbers after World War II with Soviet-inspired communism gaining the largest foothold. Officers associated with the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan were instrumental in two successful coup d’états in the country. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, ending the country’s sovereignty and ushering a period of conflict that continues to the second decade of the 21st century in varying degrees. In 2001, the United States led an international invasion of the country, catalyzing efforts at reorganization of the smaller professional Afghan national defense forces that have remained largely apolitical and also the country’s most effective and trusted governmental institution.

Ethnicity and Anthropology in the Soviet Union

1977 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Gellner
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Anthropology ◽  
The West ◽  
Academic World ◽  
Soviet Academy ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Interaction History ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
The Revolution

InThePastDecade, a minor revolution has taken place within Soviet Anthropology. ‘Ethnography’ is one of the recognised disciplines in the Soviet academic world, and corresponds roughly to what in the West is called social anthropology. This revolution has as yet been barely noticed by outside observers (1). Its leader is Yulian Bromley, a very Russian scholar with a very English surname, Director of the Institute of Ethnography of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The revolution consists of making ethnography into the studies of ethnos-es, or, in current Western academic jargon, into the study of ethnicity—in other words the study of the phenomena of national feeling, identity, and interaction. History is about chaps, geography is about maps, and ethnography is about ethnoses. What else ? The revolution is supported by arguments weightier than mere verbal suggestiveness; but by way of persuasive consideration, etymology is also invoked.

Soviet Union: Archie Brown and Michael Kaser Eds.: The Soviet Union Since the Fall of Khrushchev, (Second edition), Macmillan, 1978, xiv, 351p., £ 4.95.

1979 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-255
Author(s):  
Hiren Mukerjee
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Revolution

SOVIET UNION: TARIQ ALI: Inside the Revolution: 1968 and After, Radha Krishna, 1978, xxxv, 218p., Rs. 35.

How Should One Evaluate the Soviet Revolution?

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vittorio Hösle
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Marxist Philosophy ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Social ◽  
Soviet Revolution ◽  
The Revolution

AbstractThe essay begins by discussing different ways of evaluating and making sense of the Soviet Revolution from Crane Brinton to Hannah Arendt. In a second part, it analyses the social, political and intellectual background of tsarist Russia that made the revolution possible. After a survey of the main changes that occurred in the Soviet Union, it appraises its ends, the means used for achieving them, and the unintended side-effects. The Marxist philosophy of history is interpreted as an ideological tool of modernization attractive to societies to which the liberal form of modernization was precluded.

8. War

2019 ◽  
pp. 100-113
Author(s):  
Jane Caplan
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The West ◽  
Loss Of Life ◽  
Nazi Occupation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Military

‘War’ focuses on German political and military strategies after the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, when Hitler could see the prize of unassailable continental dominance within reach. With Nazi power at its greatest extent in 1942, the chapter discusses the markedly different Nazi occupation regimes in the west and the east, and the turn towards defeat in 1943. Hitler’s insistence on unremitting resistance caused massive loss of life on the military and home fronts, brought to an end only with his suicide and with Germany’s official capitulation on 8 May.

The military in the Soviet Union: An overview

1991 ◽  
Vol 7 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 337-341
Author(s):  
Raymond L. Garthoff
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Military
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