The Enigma of 1989: The USSR and the Liberation of Eastern Europe

by Jacques Lévesque, Keith Martin (Translator)

The Soviet external empire fell in 1989 virtually without bloodshed. The domino-like collapse of the communist regimes of Eastern Europe was not anticipated by political experts in either the East or the West. Most surprising of all was the Soviet Union's permissive reactions to the secession. For the first time in modern history, such an epochal upheaval could take place not only without war but also without major international tensions.

This book is the first comprehensive scholarly attempt to elucidate Soviet behavior toward Eastern Europe in 1989. Jacques Lévesque thoroughly analyses the policies of the USSR toward Eastern Europe during the Gorbachev era and clarifies the goals that underpinned these policies.

Based on interviews with political leaders and exhaustive research in Russia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and the other ex-Warsaw Pact countries, this book traces the nuances of each country's case as a set of continually changing, mutually reinforcing causes and effects.

275 pages, Hardcover

First published August 29, 1997

About the author

Jacques Lévesque est un politologue et professeur québécois né en 1940 à Saint-Félicien. C'est le premier expert de l'Union soviétique au Québec. Il enseigne toujours en politique à l'UQAM.