To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power

by Sergey Radchenko

Overview

What would it feel like To Run the World? The Soviet rulers spent the Cold War trying desperately to find out. In this panoramic new history of the conflict that defined the postwar era, Sergey Radchenko provides an unprecedented deep dive into the psychology of the Kremlin's decision-making. He reveals how the Soviet struggle with the United States and China reflected its irreconcilable ambitions as a self-proclaimed superpower and the leader of global revolution. This tension drove Soviet policies from Stalin's postwar scramble for territory to Khrushchev's reckless overseas adventurism and nuclear brinksmanship, Brezhnev's jockeying for influence in the third world, and Gorbachev's failed attempts to reinvent Moscow's claims to greatness. Perennial insecurities, delusions of grandeur, and desire for recognition propelled Moscow on a headlong quest for global power, with dire consequences and painful legacies that continue to shape our world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108848107
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/30/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	295,238
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Sergey Radchenko is the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is a historian of the Cold War, and an expert on Russian and Chinese foreign and security policies. Previous publications include Two Suns in the Heavens: the Sino-Soviet Struggle for Supremacy and Unwanted Visionaries: the Soviet Failure in Asia.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. Ambition: 1. The Postwar; 2. The parting of ways; 3. Stalin in Europe; 4. Stalin in Asia; Part II. Hubris: 5. Love Us As We Are; 6. The Golden Hoop; 7. The Twin Crises; 8. Killing Flies; 9. Camp David; 10. Berlin; 11. Cuba; Part III. Decline: 12. Vietnam; 13. Detente; 14. Yom Kippur; 15. Decline; 16. Tensions Mount; 17. The Final Nail; Part IV. Collapse: 18. Fear; 19. Hope; 20. Collapse; Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

‘The historiography of the Cold War was once too narrowly focused on two superpowers. More recently, it has become blurred by overemphasis on minor players. Sergey Radchenko’s To Run the World brilliantly reconciles the two literatures. Using hitherto unavailable Russian and Chinese sources, he shows that the Cold War was from the outset a ‘three-body problem,’ with the Soviets seeking an unattainable parity with the United States, while China alternately attracted and repelled the other two. American policymakers in the 1960s and 1970s sought ‘détente’ with the Soviets, believing there could be ‘linkage’ to other issues of mutual interest. This was to underestimate the Soviet imperative to retain leadership of revolutionary forces around the world in a bitter competition with Beijing. This is a model of historical writing: scrupulously researched and elegantly presented, To Run the World shows how a volatile interplay of ideological, geopolitical, and psychological forces drove the Cold War on its erratic path.’ Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, and author of Kissinger: 1923–1968: The Idealist

‘A tour de force. Based on a plethora of previously unmined Soviet (and Chinese) sources, To Run the World is thought-provoking, comprehensive narrative of the Soviet Union’s place and aspirations in the global Cold War.’ Kristina Spohr, author of Post Wall, Post Square: Rebuilding the World after 1989

‘If we are entering a new cold war with China, then we should study the lessons from the last Cold War. Radchenko’s To Run the World is the place to start. Drawing on new archival material, insightful analysis, and brilliant writing, Radchenko’s book will instantly become the go-to source for understanding Soviet behavior during the Cold War. This book sets such a high standard that I wonder if any more books on this subject will ever be written.’ Michael McFaul, author of From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin's Russia

‘Sergey Radchenko has produced what can only be described as an invaluable and ‘magisterial’ book - the fitting culmination of a ten-year odyssey to plumb the archival depths for new insight into the bases of the Soviet Union’s power and global ambitions during the Cold War. Radchenko’s incisive analysis, crisp prose, and vivid descriptions make for pleasurable and rewarding reading. His final observations on the USSR’s craving for ‘greatness before history’ and its leaders’ assertions of the ‘right to exceptionalism,’ help explain why Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine and confront the West in 2022. Putin has the same drivers and motivations as his Soviet forebears.’ Fiona Hill, author of There is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century

‘Enthralling and masterful, To Run the World is a tour de force of riveting narrative, fascinating new archival research, fresh analysis and acute portraits of global potentates, that reassesses the big questions of the Cold War from Stalin and Mao to Reagan, Deng, Gorbachev, and on to Putin, and illuminates not only the superpowers but also the global players from Vietnam to Cuba and Angola: magisterial world history at its finest.’ Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World: A Family History of Humanity

From the Publisher

★ 04/19/2024

Historian Radchenko (global affairs, Johns Hopkins Sch. of Advanced International Studies; Unwanted Visionaries) provides a fresh and deeply researched history of Soviet foreign policy. His engaging and narrative, sometimes presented with a dose of irony, begins in 1945. It features a massive trove of recently available material, mostly official sources from the former Soviet Union, China, and the United States. The author says these powers shaped Soviet policy through more derivative actors, such as Willy Brandt and Ho Chi Minh. Personal relationships among Soviet leaders, with their allies and adversaries, such as Mao Zedong and Kim Il-Sung, revealed little known episodes, such as the impact of destalinization. From Stalin through Gorbachev, the book shows remarkably similar strategic objectives, such as power and international status. Radchenko gives less attention to some areas, including the Balkans. He makes the case that it was Gorbachev's "new thinking," driven by the restructuring of economic and political systems, that ended the Cold War. VERDICT A remarkably balanced, brilliant, ambitious, durable work of scholarship, combining histories of the Cold War with Soviet foreign policy. A good read-alike is Adam Ulam's Expansion and Coexistence: The History of Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917–67.—Zachary Irwin

Library Journal