The Soviet Union in the Middle East and the Afghanistan Intervention

2022 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
The Soviet Union

From Buzuluk to London: The Combat Trail and Everyday Service of Women Auxiliaries in the Polish Army (1941–1945)

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Marcinkiewicz-Kaczmarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Second World

This article explores the establishment of the Polish Women’s Auxiliary Service (was) as part of the complex story of the formation of a Polish army in exile. In 1941, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Polish Army in the Soviet Union was established. The Women’s Auxiliary Service was formed at the same time as a means to enable Polish women to serve their country and also as a way for Polish women to escape the Soviet Union. The women of the was followed the Polish Army combat trail from Buzuluk to London, accompanying their male peers first to the Middle East and then Italy. The women of the was served as nurses, clerks, cooks and drivers. This article examines the recruitment, organization and daily life of the women who served their country as exiles on the battlefront of the Second World War.

Revolution in Iraq

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dina Rezk
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Virus Spreading ◽  
First Time

In July 1958, an unknown nationalist, General Abdul Karim Qasim, came to the helm of power in Iraq. Chapter 3 reveals how analysts reacted to the brutal murder of his predecessor Nuri al Said, as Britain’s most important ally in the Middle East seemed to contract the Nasser ‘virus’ spreading through the region. Qasim quickly demonstrated that he was no Nasserist stooge however. Whilst British policymakers hoped in vain that the new Iraqi leader could be cultivated as a counterweight to Nasser, the intelligence community rapidly realised that Qasim had neither the charisma nor the popularity to compete with his Egyptian counterpart in the Arab Cold War. Qasim reliance on Iraqi Communists to counteract the influence of local Nasserites led to widespread fears that Iraq was on the brink of acquiring Soviet satellite status. This chapter brings to light for the first time the JIC’s nuanced analysis of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), suggesting to policy-makers that in fact the Soviet Union was acting as a restraining influence on the Iraqi communists. Qasim came to be increasingly depicted as ‘paranoid’ and ‘irrational’, whilst assessments of Nasser took on a new and more complimentary light as a ‘moderate’ potential ally in the quest to prevent Communist penetration of the Middle East.

Armenian Transnational Social Field and Diaspora Entrepreneurs

2021 ◽  
pp. 195-212
Author(s):  
Maria Koinova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Armenian Genocide ◽  
Social Field ◽  
Defining Moment ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Armenian Diaspora ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Profiles

This chapter and the following Chapter 9 are interconnected as they both discuss Armenian diaspora mobilizations. This chapter focuses on the transnational social field and the four types of diaspora entrepreneurs. Armenians have lived in the Caucasus and the Middle East prior to the 1915 Armenian genocide, a defining moment historically and especially for the diaspora. Self-determination claims of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have been interconnected historically, considered part of ‘Eastern Armenia’. They both seceded from the Soviet Union in 1991. An independent Armenia was internationally recognized as a state, unlike the de facto state of Karabakh, unrecognized at present. A devastating 1988 earthquake and a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh (1992–4) created opportune moments for the diaspora in Western countries to connect to Armenia and Karabakh. The diaspora in Europe was primarily formed by survivors and descendants of the Armenian genocide, with roots in ‘Western Armenia’ in Turkey and the larger Middle East, and organized by diaspora parties. Fragility of statehood in Armenia and Karabakh, and recurrent violence and authoritarianism in the Middle East continued to create push factors for Armenians to emigrate across the globe and for the diaspora to mobilize. The highest priority in the diaspora, especially in Europe, remained the recognition of the Armenian genocide, while Karabakh’s recognition and supporting Armenia took a back seat. The chapter presents data on migration in the Armenian field, in the Caucasus, the Middle East and globally, and specifies the individual profiles of Armenian diaspora entrepreneurs.

14. Détente in Decline, 1977–9

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Young ◽  
John Kent
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Peace Treaty ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Jimmy Carter ◽  
Richard Nixon ◽  
The Soviet Union

This chapter examines the decline of détente during the period 1977–1979. Détente suffered in part from being identified with Richard Nixon. After 1973, conservatives increasingly questioned détente, felt that the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) benefited the Soviet Union most, and were disturbed by an apparent pattern of communist adventurism abroad, in the 1973 Middle East War, Angola, and South-East Asia. The chapter first considers détente and policy-making during the time of Jimmy Carter before discussing the conflict in the Middle East, in particular the Lebanon Civil War, and the Camp David summit of 1978 that resulted in an Egyptian–Israel peace treaty. It then analyses the Ogaden conflict of 1977–1978), the ‘normalization’ of Sino-American relations, and the Sino–Vietnamese War. It concludes with an assessment of the SALT II treaty.

Germany Fails to Realign Turkey, 1941

2021 ◽  
pp. 157-175
Author(s):  
Timothy W. Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
East Berlin ◽  
Vichy France ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Pass Through

This chapter studies Germany's failure to induce Turkey to defect from the British alliance and join the Axis in 1941. If Berlin were to convince Ankara to break its alliance with Britain and become a German ally, it had to deliver a handsome and credible package of rewards that advanced Turkey's most important revisionist aims in the region — namely, the (re)acquisition of territory in Bulgaria, the Dodecanese Islands, Syria, and Iraq. In seeking to divorce Turkey from Britain — and to use it as a pass-through for moving men and arms against British forces in the Middle East — Berlin intimated that such rewards were obtainable and initiated secret negotiations to find a bargain. But the negotiations ran into a wall. Ankara's price for realignment would require Germany to make promises that challenged important interests of its key allies at that time — Italy, Vichy France, and Japan. About to start a war against the Soviet Union, Berlin would not risk alienating those partners, so it abandoned the attempt. Its decision to retreat was made easier because German leaders did not then perceive Turkey to have high strategic weight.

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