This is a study of Soviet military doctrine and capabilities, and their relation to Soviet foreign policy objectives and East-West relations during the Gorbachev period. The role of military power in Gorbachev's foreign policy and the dismantling of the military confrontation in Europe is examined.

In this text, a United States Army officer and scholar traces the rise and fall of the Soviet military, arguing that it had a far greater impact on Soviet politics and economic development than was perceived in the West. The author asserts that Gorbachev saw that shrinking the military and the military-industrial sector of the economy was essential for fully implementing perestroika and that his efforts to do this led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Odom enhances his account with interviews with key factors in the Soviet Union before, during and after the collapse. He describes the condition of the Soviet military during the mid-1980s and explains how it became what it was - its organizational structures, manpower policies, and military-industrial arrangements. He then moves to the events that led to its destruction, taking us to the most secret circles of Soviet policy making, as well as describing the public debates, factional struggles in the new parliament, and street combat as army units tried to repress the political forces unleashed by glasnost.

In June 1944, in Belarus on the Eastern Front, the Red Army launched Operation Bagration, the massive offensive that crushed Hitler’s Army Group Centre. German soldiers who weren’t encircled and captured had to fight their way back towards their own lines across hundreds of miles of enemy territory. This is the story of one of them, Claus Neuber, a young artillery officer who describes in graphic detail his experiences during that great retreat. His gripping account carries the reader through the desperate defensive battles and rearguard actions fought to stem the relentless Soviet advance and to breakout from the cauldrons between Minsk and the Beresina river. After almost seventy days as a fugitive, living in the open, depending on the kindness of villagers, enduring extremes of cold, wet and hunger, and living each day with the ever-present threat of betrayal and imprisonment, he found his way back to the German lines. This unforgettable personal narrative, translated for the first time from the original German, gives a dramatic insight into the impact of the Soviet offensive and the disintegration of an entire German army. It is also compelling reading because it records in day-to-day detail what such a bitter defeat was like and shows how individual soldiers somehow survived through their bravery, ingenuity and endurance – and the companionship of a few loyal comrades.

Following his great trilogy of biographies of the giants who dominated the history of the Soviet Union - Stalin (1991), Lenin (1994) and Trotsky (1996) - Dmitri Volkogonov delves deeper into the Soviet archives to produce new character evaluations and political assessments of the seven leaders who ruled the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991. A former general in the Soviet Army's propaganda department, Director of the Institute for Military History, and Defence Adviser to President Yeltsin from 1991 to his death from cancer in December 1995, Dmitri Volkogonov had unrivalled access to Soviet military archives, Communist Party documents and secret presidential files. Basing his new book on these inside sources, he has continued his pioneering work of revealing the truth behind the activities of the world's most secretive political leaders. He throws new light on: Lenin's paranoia about foreigners in Russia; his creation of a privileged system for top Party members; Stalin's repression of the nationalities and his singular conduct of foreign policy; the origins and conduct of the Korean War; Khrushchev's relationship with the odious secret service chief Beria; Brezhnev's vanity and stupidity; the Afghan War; Poland and Solidarity; Soviet bureaucracy; Gorbachev's Leninism and role in history.

This 2002 study examines the process of the disintegration of the Soviet state.

The Military History of the Soviet Union and The Military History of Tsarist Russia treat Russian military history from the rise of the Muscovite state to the present, even peeking briefly into the future. The two volumes will cover Russia's land forces extensively, but will also cover the development of the Russian Navy, and the creation and development of the Russian Air Force, parts of the Russian military machine which are frequently neglected in general writings. The historical analysis will address the development and function of the Russian military whether in peace or in war, as well as the impact of war and changes in the military upon Russian society and politics.

Has the Russian state managed to lay the institutional groundwork for long-term stability and democratic governance? In Building the Russian State , Valerie Sperling assemblies a group of cutting-edge scholars to critically assess the crises in Russia's transitional institutions. Part I of the book shows that Russia's political elites are less focused on serving public interests than on enriching themselves, and examines how these elites are ruling Russia. Part II focuses on the growth of organized crime, the decay of the military, the precariousness of the Russian Federation, the weakness of the labor movement, the corruption of the courts, the challenges facing international reformers, and the authoritarianism of the super-presidential political system. By focusing on the challenges, failures, and occasional successes of the Russian political system, this volume offers upper-level undergraduates and other scholars valuable insight into post-Soviet politics, state-building, and transitions to democracy.