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Review of: Behind the Iron Curtain. Soviet Estonia in the Era of the Cold War. Hrsg. von Tõnu Tannberg. (Tartu Historical Studies, Bd. 5.) Peter Lang Edition. Frankfurt am Main 2015. 429 S. ISBN 978-3-631-66849-8. (€ 76,95.) Reviewed by Bradley Woodworth.
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The NATO-Russia confrontation as one of New Cold War’s manifestations has direct implications for the independence, sovereignty and national security of Belarus. There is a risk Russia will manage to transform Belarus into its outpost in the New Cold War in order to generate conventional and hybrid threats to NATO states and Ukraine. Kremlin may also destabilize the political and military situation in Belarus if it is decided that President Lukashenko is overcrossing imposed red lines or Moscow is losing control to influence political processes (for example, transit of power).
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Sports boycott is one of the most important dimension of sport colliding with politics. The subject of the article is the boycott of the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984, one of the most spectacular boycotts, which was conducted by communist countries.It is widely recognized, that Los Angeles Olympics were boycotted as a result of a similar action by Western countries towards Moscow Olympics in 1980. However, evidence proves that there was no decision concerning communist boycott of Los Angeles Olympics until a few months before the Games. Preparations to the Olympics were on their way, but unexpected change of Soviet leader resulted in the boycott.Safety reasons were the declared reason for the boycott of the Soviet Union and 13 other communist countries. Nevertheless, it is evident that the real reasons were connected with the political game of USSR. The probable actual aims were the desire to hit the first ever privately financed Olympic Games and to make it harder for American president Ronald Raegan to be reelected. Naturally, at least partly it was also a matter of revenge for boycotting the Moscow Games.
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Public Letter of a German correspondent working in Franco's Spain
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Despite occasional disagreements, relations between Yugoslavia and Great Britain since the end of the Second World War remained relatively good. In the post-war period, Great Britain was rapidly losing its global influence, with the Suez Crisis representing the final blow. Yugoslav criticisms of British moves in connection with the Baghdad Pact and, somewhat later, of the Israeli-Anglo-French intervention in Egypt have been seriously accepted in Foreign Office, although the risk that these frictions could turn into a major crisis in relations between the two countries actually never existed. Yugoslavia did not have direct interest in these events and criticism served Yugoslav politics to show the consistency of its non-aligned policy. Namely, since the early 1950s, Yugoslavia has acquired a special status in strategic deliberations of Western diplomats due to opposition attitude that it took toward the Soviet Union and anti-Soviet influence it exerted on Eastern bloc countries. Strong and independent Yugoslavia remained a priority for the West even after Stalin’s death in 1953, and after normalization of Soviet- Yugoslav relations in 1955. From the military point of view, Yugoslavia was a buffer which protected Italy and partly Austria on the North and Greece on the South from direct Soviet threat and, although outside military blocs, it could expect NATO support in case of a Soviet attack. From the political point of view, Yugoslavia with its specific road to socialism, served excellently to the West in Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia’s influence on Eastern bloc satellite states was not as big as Tito used to stress. However, the fact that the West supported the maintenance of an independent communist Yugoslavia speaks in favour of the fact that Yugoslavia’s influence on events in Poland, Hungary and later in Czechoslovakia nevertheless existed. With its policy that could be described as balancing on the edge, Yugoslavia developed strong international activity during the 1950s. However, it was caused more by Tito’s attempt to protect his independence in relation to the Soviets and also to justify cooperation with the West, then by declared consistency in avoiding alignment in Cold-War blocs. Non-alignment was a good way to reconcile these two contradictions, and although Tito was certainly aware of its shortcomings and relatively small influence on global political events, there remains the fact that he has excellently used the opportunity presented by the situation he faced in 1948 and given Yugoslavia’s modest geopolitical possibilities turned it into a significant international factor, particularly among Third World countries, which it remained until its break-up in the early 1990s.
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ORIGINAL SOURCE: » The Times «, London, August 16, 1957 / ORIGINAL TITLE: » dr Jagan's Chance. Jagan's P.P.P. (Progressive People's Party) won 9 out of 14 mandates in the elections on August 12, 1957 with 47.4 percent of the votes cast.
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Łukasiewicz, Sławomir: Third Europe: Polish Federalist Thought in the United States 1940–1971. Saint Helena (Cal.): Helena History Press, 2016, 478 pp., ISBN 978-1-943596058. According to the reviewer, the publication, initially published in Polish under the title "Trzecia Europa: Polska myśl federalistyczna w Stanach Zjednoczonych, 1940–1971" (Warszawa – Lublin, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej 2010), is one of the first works providing a thorough analysis of how the Polish exile community in the West reacted to unfavourable international developments during WW2 and after the divisionof Europe by the Iron Curtain and how its members imagined Europe’s new ideal arrangement. However, the author does not only deal with theoretical concepts of selected personalities, but also provides an insight into the complex situation of the Polish exile community, clearly explains causes of conflicts and disputes between its various groups and fractions, and, in particular, presents a broad range of its activities. The book is a fascinating chronicle of the life and thoughts of people engaged in an exhaustive struggle for their distant motherland which they, due to circumstances, had been forced to abandon and which many of them did not see again, and for their own nation which the Communist propaganda had made believe they were traitors and enemies.
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The paper traces the dynamics of the sharp shifts in the relations between Bulgaria and DPRK during the Cold War period within the context of the dramatic clash in the world communist movement caused by the Sino-Soviet split at the beginning of the 60s. Through the exam of the relations between Bulgaria from one side, known as the most faithful ally of the Soviet Union during the Cold war period, and the DPRK from the other side which was one of the very tender spots within the bipolar global rivalry between the superpowers, the authors put under analyzes and verify the rationalities of the position and actions of the North Korean state within the Sino-Soviet split as well as the position of the Soviet Union toward DPRK during the dramatic change of the whole paradigm of the Cold war in East Asia from the end of 60s and the beginning of the 70s. The relations between Bulgaria and PDRK during that phase of the Cold War period clearly show how two small countries who were very much dependent on the big Communist powers as Soviet Union and PRC could have their own place and to play their particular role within the geopolitical and ideological changes and clashes in the International communist movement during the 60s. The documents show how in the bilateral relations those countries are trying to defend their own interests too as well as to play the role of a significant part in their allied policy sometimes related with the task of keeping a very delicate and difficult balance. At the same time it shows how no matter of some sharp ideological clashes and disagreements as well as some unfavorable diplomatic incidents like the one with the four North Korean students in Bulgaria, leading to a heavy diplomatic crises and unpleasant consequences, both countries took the advantage of the new change in the general geopolitical situation in the East-West relations during the Cold war at the end of the 60s and the beginning of 70s that offered them a new possibilities and opportunities for more favorable shift in the relations between Bulgaria and North Korea.
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The tripartite Balkan pact between Greece, Turkey, and Yugoslavia, established with the treaties of Ankara of 28 February 1953, and of Bled of 9 August 1954, was discussed quite scanty in the contemporary historiography. It was described as a rather curious example of an „unthinkable treaty” between states with opposite political systems or a „virtually moribund” alliance since the beginning. The paper aims to reveal the Bulgarian official reaction and comments on the establishment of the Balkan Pact and the consequent joint military and political activities of the three Balkan states. The research is based mainly on a large number of newly available Bulgarian political, diplomatic, security, and military records; in particular, the reports and cipher correspondence from Bulgarian diplomatic missions in Ankara, Belgrade, and Athens.
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The paper is based on archival collections related to the political and diplomatic history of the Korean Peninsula kept at the Central State Archives in Sofia. Most of the used documents are from the records of the BCP Central Committee and Politburo, the funds of the National Assembly (parliament), the Council of Ministers (government), other ministries and state agencies, as well as the official records of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Another important source for archival information used for the analyses are the documents from the State Military Historical Archive in Veliko Tarnovo. Documents from the Bulgarian archives outline two key issues related to the Korean War and Bulgarian position on this conflict and the engagement of the country in it. First of all, this is the topic of the moral support for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). This is done through a number of regular official positions of the Bulgarian government as well as of various socio-political and civil society organizations which expressed their position of Bulgarian “solidarity with the Korean people in their struggle for unity and national independence”. Many of these positions at different levels are directed at a number of international organizations and their forums raising voice in support of the position of DPRK. The second big issue is related to the humanitarian aid that Bulgaria has given to the DPRK in the course of the war. This theme has three main dimensions that deserve attention. First of all, this is the issue of organizing mass campaigns among the Bulgarian population and institutions for voluntary donation and material assistance for the population of the DPRK. Secondly, a part of the humanitarian aid that Bulgaria is providing to the DPRK is the decision of the Bulgarian government to send no medical missions to Korea and to organize a hospital to help the military and civilian victims of military action. Thirdly the issue about one of the largest humanitarian campaigns that the Eastern Bloc countries organized, the acceptation for raising and care of children who have remained orphans as a consequence of the war. The study of the documents related to the Korean War provides an extremely interesting insight into the War, through the prism of social history, the effect of the war on ordinary people, the lives of the Korean population in these heaviest years of its historical development after the World War II.
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The paper put under analysis the dynamics of the slow but gradual rapprochement in the relations between Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the USSR and the Soviet Bloc from the second half of 60s and the beginning of the 70s of the XXth century. That change is fully related with the shift of the whole geopolitical paradigm of the Cold War in East Asia that became clearly visible since the end of 60s and the beginning of the 70s which is mostly related with the rapprochement between USA and PRC as a consequence from the Sino-Soviet split. This important geopolitical shift has its important impact on the international relations in the region as well as on the situation on the Korean peninsula. One of the main consequences was the new change of the North Korean position from a Chinese ally within the Sino-Soviet split at the beginning of the 60s to a neutral and rather pro-Soviet position at the end of 60s and the beginning of 70s. It was of a great importance for the Soviet Union to somehow counterbalance the new Chinese policy of the US. From this point of view any possibility to bring back the DPRK along to its side was considered from the USSR as an opportunity to return its influence and positions of power in East Asia. The new geopolitical shift which created also new possibilities for solving the Issue about the Korean unification gave the Soviet Union and its ally countries a new political tool used for the returning DPRK back to the positions of the Soviet bloc against China and USA. This tool was the support (both economic and political) that DPRK desperately needed and the Soviet bloc countries provided to North Korea defending its positions within the International community and mainly in the UN. Through the analyses of various Bulgarian archival materials becomes clear that in that process of rapprochement between DPRK and the Soviet Bloc from in the beginning of the 70s, very important role has been played by Bulgaria itself which turned out to be a kind of mediator between USSR and North Korea. To some extent Bulgarian government played the role of mediator or transmission in the dialog between Moscow and Pyongyang. At the same time it is clearly visible that both countries, Bulgaria and DPRK, took the advantage of the new change in the general geopolitical situation in the East-West relations at the end of the 60s and the beginning of 70s that offered them a new possibilities and opportunities for more intensive and mutually beneficial political and mostly economic relations.
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This article is an attempt to trace the difficult process of modernization of Bulgarian cultural diplomacy in Western Europe during the second half of the 20th century and to point out the main factors that influenced this evolution. The different periods of this modernization and their most important characteristics are discussed and some terminological clarifications are proposed. The focus is on the strong dependence of cultural diplomacy on the international climate and on bilateral relations with Western European countries.
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At the end of 1980s the effects of the Second Cold war and Gorbachev’s “perestroika” force Bulgarian Communist leader Todor Zhivkov to attempt to overcome the economic crisis and to remain in power through quick and large-scale economic reforms. Until the summer of 1987 Zhivkov unsuccessfully seeks Soviet approval of Bulgarian reforms. Without it, he is forced to react quickly. The new model, known as the “July concept”, is approved in July 1987 and charts a way towards limited pluralism in the economic and political spheres. The Bulgarian intelligentsia shakes off its apathy. In 1988 it emerges openly on the political scene, which forces the authorities to pay particular attention to it, alongside economic and ethnic problems. The present paper deals with these reforms and the relations between the regime and the intellectuals until the end of the state socialism.
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The study examines the demythologization and remythologization of the Bulgarian-Russian and Bulgarian-Soviet relations in 1989–2019 in the context of the politics of history pursued in Bulgaria. It reveals the role of myths in politics of history for creating identities by maintaining certain interpretations in view of the new geopolitical orientation of the country after the end of the Cold War. The author analyzes the accumulated Bulgarian historical literature, which includes not only academic but also journalistic and parahistorical works. She points out the public reactions, fuelled by certain interpretations of some key moments of the Bulgarian-Russian and Bulgarian-Soviet relations. These are the character of the Russo- Turkish War of 1877/78, the role of Count Ignatiev and the character of the national holiday March 3, the Bulgarian-Soviet political and economic relations, and in particular – the Stalinist repressions, the occupation regime 1944–1947, the Soviet decisions of the debt crises of the 1960s and 1970s. It is concluded that after 1989 the demythologization of the Bulgarian-Soviet and Bulgarian-Russian relations took place as a moment in the development of the Bulgarian historical science. And to a large extent, the one-sidedness that turns this demythologization into a new remythologization is due to the use of new historical interpretations as an element of memory policy to overcome the communist past and “Sovietophilia”, as well as the politics of history to overcome “Russophilia”.
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