This essential new volume reviews the threat perceptions, military doctrines, and war plans of both the NATO alliance and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War, as well as the position of the neutrals, from the post-Cold War perspective.

Based on previously unknown archival evidence from both East and West, the twelve essays in the book focus on the potential European battlefield rather than the strategic competition between the superpowers. They present conclusions about the nature of the Soviet threat that could previously only be speculated about and analyze the interaction between...

This volume brings together a series of recent analyses spanning the whole period of Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. The essays - by Western, Russian, and East European experts - present a wide and varied picture of the period. The authors use newly available materials to investigate different aspects of Soviet-East European relations - party affairs, military and political coordination, cultural and mass media policies, as well as the crises and conflicts emerging from the relationship itself.