In a timely re-examination of the origins of the system which fell apart so dramatically in 1991, this book deals with the policies of the Soviets towards the non-Russian nationalities of the former Russian Empire. Making extensive use of previously unavailable material from the Soviet archives, Jeremy Smith explores the attempts of the Bolsheviks to promote the development of minority nationalities in the Soviet context, through a combination of political, cultural and educational measures, and looks at the disputes surrounding the creation of the Soviet Union.

In the interwar period, Red Army commanders headed by Tukhachevskii developed a new raw doctrine of mobile warfare and "deep operations." The military requirements of armaments and industrial production in the event of war was a central parameter in Stalinist industrialization. Based on recently opened Russian archives, this book analyzes military dimensions of Soviet long-term economic and military reconstruction plans from the mid-1920s until 1941. It presents a new framework for estimating the Soviet war-economic preparedness, drastically underestimated by contemporaries.

Of all of Soviet cultural myths, none was more resilient than the belief that the USSR had the world's greatest readers. This book explains how the 'Russian reading myth' took hold in the 1920s and 1930s, how it was supported by a monopolistic and homogenizing system of book production and distribution, and how it was challenged in the post-Stalin era; first, by the latent expansion and differentiation of the reading public, and then, more dramatically, by the economic and cultural changes of the 1990s.

The selected period of Polish literature is undoubtedly focal in the development of modern nationalism in Poland, as it contains the years of struggle for survival under foreign rule. Romantic poetry and its idea of national messianism is at the core of this study (Mickiewicz, Slowacki, and Krasinski). It considers the role played by the notion of great, pre-partitioned Poland (it had included Lithuania, Belorus, and Ukraine) in the development of the idea of "Polishness" in the course of the nineteenth century.

The Return to Europe examines the ability of the Central and South-east European economies to withstand competitive pressures on entry to the EU. These economies are still experiencing major structural problems inherited from communism. A major gap still exists between the income levels and economic structures of the accession states and the existing members of the EU. Trade relations largely involve the exchange of labour-intensive goods produced in Eastern Europe for technology-intensive goods produced in the EU. The export structures of some Central European economies which have attracted...

Ivan IV, the sixteenth-century Russian tsar notorious for his reign of terror, became an unlikely national hero in the Soviet Union during the 1940s. This book traces the development of Ivan's positive image, placing it in the context of Stalin's campaign for patriotism. In addition to historians' images of Ivan, the author examines literary and artistic representations, including Sergei Eisenstein's famous film, banned for its depiction of the tsar which was interpreted as an allegorical criticism of Stalin.

The end of communism has revived the historical debate about Russia's relations with both the West and the East. Some commentators viewed the Russian-Chechen war as a clash of civilizations, which would shape the future relationships between the new Russia and its Muslim periphery and perhaps lead to its disintegration. But the reality has challenged this scenario. This book surveys the public and private relations between Russia and Islam and concludes these are more complex than is usually recognized.

This collection presents views on key aspects of Russian/Soviet history such as the non-Slavic sources of Russian statehood; tsarist penal systems; the pre-evolutionary technological level; the famine of 1931-3; patronage practices in Stalin's Russia; and the fall of the Soviet Union.

A History of Central European Women's Writing offers a unique survey of literature from the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. It illustrates the development of women's writing in the region from the middle ages to the present day, placing individual writers in their social and political context and showing how processes shaping their lives are reflected in their works.

This book offers rare insights into the cultural traditions that have shaped the Balkan region - from pagan times, through folk culture, the medieval Christian churches, the encounter between Christianity and Islam, up to the religious and national mythologies that have proved so destructive in the present day. With the Balkans a central focus of European concern at the beginning of the twenty-first century, this volume is a timely reminder of the complex cultural processes that continue to affect the modern world.