The Baltic Revolution / Peter J. Kastor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kastor, Peter J., Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Baltic States--History.

Baltic States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [1991]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

World attention has focused on the newly independent Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, as they struggle to become politically and economically viable. In this timely book, Anatol Lieven presents an intimate and engaging portrait of the history and culture of the Baltic states from their ancient origins to their contemporary status. He explores the culture and personality of the Baltic peoples, their religious and racial differences, their relations with Russia and with the West, and their prospects for the future.Lieven begins by describing the ancient Baltic peoples, their conquest by the Christians, the evolution of the Lithuanian empire and their union with Poland, and the experience of the Baltic provinces under the Russian Empire. He 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 discusses the class structure of the Baltics and the ethnic tensions that have existed between the Germans, Jews, Poles, and Russians who live there. Drawing on a wide range of sources including interviews, newspaper accounts, and his own observations, he describes and analyzes the rise of national movements in each of the three countries after Glastnost. He concludes by discussing the new constitutions and the elections of 1992, the current forces of order, the demolition of the Soviet economies, and the possibilities for democracy and Europeanization or for ethnic conflict and nationalist dictatorship.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Foreword to the Second Edition

Introduction

A Note on Names and Spellings

1 The Shape of the Land

2 Surviving the Centuries

3 Independence Won and Lost, 1918-40

4 The Troglodyte International: The Soviet Impact on the Baltic

5 Imagined Nations: Cycles of Cultural Rebirth

6 Lost Atlantises: The Half-Forgotten Nationalities of the Baltic

7 The Baltic Russians

8 The Independence Movements and their Successors, 1987-92

9 Building on Ruins: The Recreation of the New States

Conclusion: The West and the Baltic States

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780300196740

0300196741

OCLC:

1059284040