1st Edition

Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the Early Cold War Reconciliation, comradeship, confrontation, 1953-1957

By Svetozar Rajak Copyright 2011
    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    286 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book provides a comprehensive insight into one of the key episodes of the Cold War – the process of reconciliation between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

    At the time, this process had shocked the World as much as the violent break-up of their relations did in 1948. This book provides an explanation for the collapse of the process of normalization of Yugoslav-Soviet that occurred at the end of 1956 and the renewal of their ideological confrontation. It also explain the motives that guided the two main protagonists, Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia and the Soviet leader Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev.

    Based on Yugoslav and Soviet archival documents, this book establishes several innovative theories about this period. Firstly, that the significance of the Yugoslav-Soviet reconciliation went beyond their bilateral relationship. It had ramifications for relations in the Eastern Bloc, the global Communist movement, and on the dynamics of the Cold War world at its crucial juncture. Secondly, that the Yugoslav-Soviet reconciliation brought forward the process of de-Stalinization in the USSR and in the Peoples’ Democracies. Thirdly, it enabled Khrushchev to win the post-Stalin leadership contest. Lastly, the book argues that the process of Yugoslav-Soviet reconciliation permitted Tito to embark, together with Nehru of India and Nasser of Egypt upon creating the new entity in the bi-polar Cold War world – the Non-aligned movement.

    This book will be of interest to students of Cold War History, diplomatic history, European history and International Relations in general.

    Svetozar Rajak is a lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the Managing Director of the LSE Cold War Studies Centre and is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Cold War History.

    Introduction  1. Overtures  2. Normalisation  3. Comradeship  4. Contention  5. Confrontation  Conclusion

    Biography

    Svetozar Rajak is the Associate Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the Academic Director of the LSE IDEAS Centre for International Affairs, Diplomacy and Strategy at the LSE and is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Cold War History.

    ‘This book by Svetozar Rajak is an extremely valuable contribution to that somewhat under-researched scholarship on relations between Yugoslavia and the USSR in the early Cold War period. [...] Rajak has written a potent, nuanced and diligently researched volume that stands out as an important contribution to the study of the Cold War. Being rather innovative in its approach, placing emphasis on primary sources and arguing a strong case in a well-substantiated manner, the volume is full of strengths in covering its topic.’ - Vladimir Dordevic, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, Political Studies Review, Vol 10:3, Sept. 2012