The Superpowers: A short history

[Pages:208]The Superpowers

The Superpowers: a short history is a highly original and important book surveying the development of the USA and Russia (in its tsarist, Soviet and post-Soviet phases) from the pre-twentieth century world of imperial powers to the present. It places the Cold War, from inception to ending, into the wider cultural, economic and political context.

The Superpowers: a short history traces the intertwining history of the two powers chronologically. In a fascinating and innovative approach, the book adopts the metaphor of a lifespan to explore this evolutionary relationship. Commencing with the inheritance of the two countries up to 1898, the book continues by looking at their conception to 1921, including the effects of the First World War, gestation to 1945 with their period as allies during the Second World War and their youth examining the onset of the Cold War to 1968. The maturity phase explores the Cold War in the context of the Third World to 1991 and finally the book concludes by discussing the legacy the superpowers have left for the twentyfirst century.

The Superpowers: a short history is the first history of the two major participants of the Cold War and their relationship throughout the twentieth century and before.

Paul Dukes is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen. His many books include A History of Russia (Macmillan, 3rd edition, 1997) and World Order in History (Routledge, 1996).

To Daniel and Ruth

The Superpowers

A short history Paul Dukes

London and NewYork

First published 2001 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29West 35th Street, NewYork, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of theTaylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.

? 2001 Paul Dukes

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Dukes, Paul, 1934? The superpowers : a short history / Paul Dukes. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. United States?History. 2. Russia?History. 3. Soviet Union?History. 4. United States?Foreign relations. 5. Russia?Foreign relations. 6. Soviet Union?Foreign relations. 7. Imperialism?History. 8. ColdWar. I.Title. E178 .D864 2000 973?dc21

00-055340 ISBN 0-415-23041-1 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-23042-x (pbk) ISBN 0-203-13093-6 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-17997-8 (Glassbook Format)

Contents

Preface

vii

1 Inheritance: nations and empires, before 1898

1

Geography and history (before 1492) 2

Early modern colonisation (1492?1776) 7

Democratic revolution (1776?1815) 11

`Two great nations' (1815?56) 15

Two great empires (1856?98) 21

2 Conception: the First World War and revolution,

1898?1921

30

Imperial showdown (1898?1914) 30

The First World War and proletarian revolution (1914?21) 35

Imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism? 40

The spread of liberalism 44

Challenges to liberalism 51

3 Gestation: new world orders and the SecondWorldWar,

1921?45

57

New world orders (1921?33) 57

New showdown (1933?9) 63

The Second World War (1939?45) 67

Capitalism and socialism in one country 72

From universal revolution to new realism 77

vi Contents

4 Youth: ColdWar and decolonisation, 1945?68

85

From BigThree to SuperTwo (1945) 85

From Berlin and Hiroshima (1945?) 90

To Czechoslovakia andVietnam (?1968) 95

The dollar versus the ruble 102

The war of words 107

5 Maturity: ColdWar and theThirdWorld, 1968?91

116

The `Revolution' of 1968 116

Vietnam and d?tente (?1979) 120

Afghanistan and collapse (?1991) 125

Overstretch and breakdown 130

The war of images 135

6 The legacy: death or rebirth? 1991?

143

The end of the Cold War? 143

World process or civilisations? 149

The end of the millennium 154

From the past: summary 160

Towards the future: conclusion 166

Notes

169

Bibliography

185

Index

187

Preface

While there have been many books about the Cold War, there has not yet been one about the relationship of the major participants throughout the twentieth century. Aimed at filling such a gap, this book defines a superpower as able to conduct a global strategy including the possibility of destroying the world; to command vast economic potential and influence; and to present a universal ideology. It adopts the metaphor of a lifespan in an examination of the manner in which the USA on the one hand and the USSR (preceded and succeeded by Russia) on the other have constituted superpowers, as follows. Chapter 1, `The Inheritance' argues that the subjects cannot be understood without some understanding of their earlier antecedents. The treatment, as throughout the work, is thematic as well as chronological, with attention given to economic and cultural as well as political aspects of the subject. Chapter 2, `Conception', places a strengthening USA and a weakening Tsarist Russia in the context of imperialism before going on to discuss the impact of the First World War and the Russian Revolution, which led to the formation of the respective ideologies both challenging traditional liberalism, Wilsonism and Leninism. Chapter 3, `Gestation', describes the manner in which both USA and USSR strove for their world orders along with older and newer rivals before the Second World War brought them closer together as their rivals were defeated or declined.

Chapter 4, `Youth', examines the onset of the Cold War along with the process of decolonisation. It does not seek to attribute responsibility, but rather to set out the conflicting aims and comparative strengths of the two sides. Chapter 5, `Maturity', takes the Cold War from the US involvement in Vietnam to the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan as principal examples of superpower engagement in the Third World, where an emerging rival to both of them was the People's Republic of China. It also analyses the Soviet collapse. Chapter 6,`The Legacy', poses such questions as, is the Cold War over, and how has it been assessed? How have American and Russian analysts placed the superpowers in the context of `world process' or `civilisations' and how should they be placed in the context of the end of the millennium? A summary follows as part of an

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