Eastern Europe

Abstract

The blissful state of being presented with the memoirs of one’s protagonists is seldom afforded the Sovietologist. Viewed from this angle Soviet-East European relations in the period after Stalin’s death constitute an outlandish topic. The researcher benefits from the reminiscences of Imre Nagy (1957), from the (grantedly distorted, but none the less genuine) perspectives of Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev (1971 and 1974) and is even graced by Enver Hoxha’s remembrances (1980). In addition the published memoirs of Mićunović (1980), one of those East European officials who could observe Soviet policy-making at arm’s length, are an invaluable primary source. And as if this were not sufficient, there is a plethora of biographies (Pálóczi-Horváth, 1960; Crankshaw, 1966; Frankland, 1966; Medvedev and Medvedev, 1976; Medvedev, 1982), supplemented by numerous studies, some of which are expressly devoted to Eastern Europe (Brown, 1966; Brzezinski, 1967). Indeed the period’s facets are in fact so well known that this chapter takes for granted the reader’s familiarity with historical detail. Nevertheless, two decades and more after Khrushchev was sent into oblivion by his colleagues, the task of producing definite judgements concerning the impact of his role on Eastern Europe is still complex.KeywordsSocialist CountryMilitary InterventionEmphasis MineSoviet LeaderWarsaw PactThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.