General Information

Author/Creator

Harrison, Hope Millard, 1963-

Language

English.

Published

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 2003.

Physical Description

xx, 345 p. ; 25 cm.

Series

Princeton studies in international history and politics

Contents/Summary

Summary

The Berlin Wall was the symbol of the Cold War. For the first time, this path-breaking book tells the behind-the-scenes story of the communists' decision to build the Wall in 1961. Hope Harrison's use of archival sources from the former East German and Soviet regimes is unrivalled, and from these sources she builds a highly original and provocative argument: the East Germans pushed the reluctant Soviets into building the Berlin Wall. This fascinating work portrays the different approaches favored by the East Germans and the Soviets to stop the exodus of refugees to West Germany. In the wake of Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviets refused the East German request to close their border to West Berlin. The Kremlin rulers told the hard-line East German leaders to solve their refugee problem not by closing the border, but by alleviating their domestic and foreign problems. The book describes how, over the next seven years, the East German regime managed to resist Soviet pressures for liberalization and instead pressured the Soviets into allowing them to build the Berlin Wall. Driving the Soviets Up the Wall forces us to view this critical juncture in the Cold War in a different light. Harrison's work makes us rethink the nature of relations between countries of the Soviet bloc even at the height of the Cold War, while also contributing to ongoing debates over the capacity of weaker states to influence their stronger allies.

Subjects

Subject

Germany (East) > Relations > Soviet Union.

Soviet Union > Relations > Germany (East)

Bibliographic Information

Responsibility

Hope M. Harrison.

Content

Introduction: The Dynamics of Soviet-East German Relations in the Early Cold War -- 1. 1953: Soviet-East German Relations and Power Struggles in Moscow and Berlin -- 2. 1956-1958: Soviet and East German Policy Debates in the Wake of the Twentieth Party Congress -- 3. 1958-1960: Khrushchev Takes on the West in the Berlin Crisis -- 4. 1960-1961: Ulbricht, Khrushchev, and the Berlin Wall -- Conclusion.

ISBN

0691096783

Holdings

Item Type	Current Location	Collection	Call Number	Volume Info	Shelving Location	Public Note
Book	OSA Archivum Library	General collection	327.43/1047/09045 HAR		OSA Repository	Donation of Márk László-Herbert.

Browse related items