The Superpowers: A Short History

by Dukes; Paul

• ISBN13: 9780415230421
• ISBN10: 041523042X
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2001-01-29
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The author's broad learning and long historical perspective make this thoughtful book a welcome corrective to the shallow triumphalism that has marred much recent writing on the subject. This is a perceptive and provocative book -- David S. Painter, Georgetown University The Superpowerstraces the development of the USA and Russia from 1898 through to 2000, placing the Cold War, from inception to ending, into the wider social, economic and political context. The Superpowersexplores the intertwining history of the two powers chronologically and includes discussion of: *the inheritance of the two great powers and their imperial background * World War One and the Russian Revolution *Capitalism and Socialism * World War Two and its impact * the conflicts in Berlin, Czechoslovakia, Vietnam and Afghanistan *Perestroika and the end of the USSR * the significance of the events of 1991 and their legacy. This is the first history of the two majorparticipants and their relationship throughout the twentieth century. Paul Dukesis Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen. His many books includeA History of RussiaandRussia, 1613-1801.

Author Biography

Paul Dukes is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Inheritance: nations and empires, before 1898	1	(29)
Geography and history (before 1492)	2	(5)
Early modern colonisation (1492--1776)	7	(4)
Democratic revolution (1776--1815)	11	(4)
`Two great nations' (1815--56)	15	(6)
Two great empires (1856--98)	21	(9)
Conception: the First World War and revolution, 1898---1921	30	(27)
Imperial showdown (1898--1914)	30	(5)
The First World War and proletarian revolution (1914---21)	35	(5)
Imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism?	40	(4)
The spread of liberalism	44	(7)
Challenges to liberalism	51	(6)
Gestation: new world orders and the Second World War, 1921--45	57	(28)
New world orders (1921--33)	57	(6)
New showdown (1933--9)	63	(4)
The Second World War (1939--45)	67	(5)
Capitalism and socialism in one country	72	(5)
From universal revolution to new realism	77	(8)
Youth: Cold War and decolonisation, 1945--68	85	(31)
From Big Three to Super Two (1945)	85	(5)
From Berlin and Hiroshima (1945--)	90	(5)
To Czechoslovskia and Vietnam (--1968)	95	(7)
The dollar versus the ruble	102	(5)
The war of words	107	(9)
Maturity: Cold War and the Third World, 1968--91	116	(27)
The `Revolution' of 1968	116	(4)
Vietnam and detente (--1979)	120	(5)
Afghanistan and collapse (--1991	125	(5)
Overstretch and breakdown	130	(5)
The war of images	135	(8)
The legacy: death or rebirth? 1991--	143	(26)
The end of the Cold War?	143	(6)
World process or civilisations?	149	(5)
The end of the millennium	154	(6)
From the past: summary	160	(6)
Towards the future: conclusion	166	(3)
Notes	169	(16)
Bibliography	185	(2)
Index	187