Ali’s Reviews > Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 > Status Update
Ali
is on page 633 of 933
“No other territorial empire in recorded history ever abandoned its dominions so rapidly, with such good grace and so little bloodshed. Gorbachev cannot take direct credit for what happened in 1989—he did not plan it and only hazily grasped its long-term import. But he was
the permissive and precipitating cause. It was Mr Gorbachev's revolution.”
— Jan 06, 2026 01:04PM
the permissive and precipitating cause. It was Mr Gorbachev's revolution.”
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Ali’s Previous Updates
Ali
is on page 250 of 933
“Writing from Belgrade...at the end of the 1940s, Lawrence Durrell had this to say of the country: 'Conditions are rather gloomy here—almost mid-war conditions, overcrowding, poverty. As for Communism...a short visit here is enough to make one decide that Capitalism is worth fighting for. Black as it may be, with all its bloodstains, it is less gloomy and arid and hopeless than this inert and ghastly police state.'”
— Nov 16, 2025 02:50PM
Ali
is on page 117 of 933
This distrust of short-term memory, the search for serviceable myths of anti-Fascism—for a Germany of anti-Nazis, a France of Resisters or a Poland of victims—was the most important invisible legacy of World War Two in Europe.
— Nov 06, 2025 03:43AM
