عنوان

The Baltic revolution :

0300055528

9780300055528

bnb

b411480

The Baltic revolution :

[Book]

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the path to independence /

Anatol Lieven

xxv, 454 pages :

illustrations, maps ;

24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 385-420) and index

1. The Shape of the Land. Marsh and Forest. The Man-Made Landscape. The Baltic Cities. Peasant Peoples -- 2. Surviving the Centuries. The Ancient Baltic Peoples. The Christian Conquest. The Lithuanian Empire and the Union with Poland. The Baltic Provinces under the Russian Empire -- 3. Independence Won and Lost, 1918-40. The First Struggle for Independence. Economic and Social Consolidation. The Failure of Parliamentary Democracy, 1920-34. The Roots of Authoritarianism. Orphans of Versailles: Baltic Diplomacy, 1918-40 -- 4. The Troglodyte International: The Soviet Impact on the Baltic. Conquest and 'Revolution'. The German Occupation. Resistance: The 'Forest Brothers'. Stalinism, Normalization, Stagnation. The Soviet Establishment: Past, Present and Future? The Dissidents -- 5. Imagined Nations: Cycles of Cultural Rebirth. Folklore and Nationalism. The Creation of Language. Myth is History and History as Myth. Cultural Politics in the Reborn States -- 6. Lost Atlantises: The Half-Forgotten Nationalities of the Baltic. An Area of Mixed Settlement. The Baltic Germans. The Jerusalem of Lithuania. The Frontier of Poland -- 7. The Baltic Russians. A Question of Identity. The Baltic Russians through History. The List Stand of the Soviet Union. Defending the Legacy of Peter: The Soviet and Russian Military Presence. Kaliningrad and the Kaliningrad Question -- 8. The Independence Movements and their Successors, 1987-92. A Confusion of Terms. Rise of the National Movements, 1987-90. 'Be Realistic: Ask the Impossible': The Declarations of Independence, 1990. The 'Bloody Events': January to August 1991. The Fragmentation of Politics and the Difficulties of Government: Lithuania. Ethnic Estonian Politics, 1990-92. Ethnic Latvian Politics, 1990-92. The Baltic Independence Movements and the Baltic Russians -- 9. Building on Ruins: The Recreation of the New States. The Baltic, Year Zero. Achieving Military Control. Industry and Energy. Privatization and Corruption. In the Scissors: Baltic Agriculture. The New Currencies. Banking on Chaos. The Church. Peoples Divided -- Conclusion: The West and the Baltic States -- Appendix 1: Historical Chronology, 3500 BC-1985 AD -- Appendix 2: Contemporary Chronology 1985-92 -- Appendix 3: Baltic Demography and Geography -- Appendix 4: The Soviet Baltic Economies on the Eve of the National Revolutions (1989-90) -- Appendix 5: Biographical Guide to Political Figures 1988-92

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Concealed behind the Iron Curtain, and dominated by Soviet Russia for half a century, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have now emerged to the attention of the world as free and independent nations. As the new republics fight for political and economic viability, Anatol Lieven, the only western journalist permanently based in the Baltic during the struggle for independence, presents an intimate and engaging portrait of their history and culture, from their ancient origins to the present day. He explores the characteristics and personalities of the Baltic peoples, their religious and national differences, their relations with Russia and with the West, and their prospects for the future. The book opens with two highly entertaining chapters on the early history of the Baltic peoples, their conquest by the Christians, the evolution of the Lithuanian empire, the union with Poland, and the experience of the Baltic provinces under the Russian Empire. It then looks at the countries' first struggle for independence in 1918, the failure of democracy and the establishment of authoritarian regimes, and the Soviet annexation of the Baltic in 1940. Lieven draws a revealing portrait of the class structure of the Baltic states and the ethnic tensions that existed between the Germans, Jews, Poles and Russians who have lived there. Drawing on a wide range of sources in several languages, including interviews, newspaper accounts and his own observation, he describes and analyses the reawakening of cultural self-awareness during the late 1980s. The final section of the book examines the tumultuous years of nationalist struggle (1987-92), the constitutions of the new republics, and the results of their first free elections - in autumn 1992. Lieven comments provocatively on the fragile new order, the demolition of the Soviet economies, and the possibilities for democracy and Westernization, or for ethnic conflict and nationalist dictatorship. His sensitive, passionate and involved account provides a frank and searching exploration of the Baltic peoples and their destiny

Baltic States, History

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Lieven, Anatol

20160712055603.0

[Book]

Y