Realpolitik Books - V

The Last Empire

The Final Days of the Soviet Union

December 26, 1991, a day to be remembered in world history. The mighty USSR ceased to exist on that day as a result of the declaration 142-H of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The erstwhile Soviet Republics were declared as independent and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was formed. On December 25th, the Soviet premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and the last premier of USSR, had resigned, declared his office as extinct and handed over powers to Boris Yeltsin, the President of Russia. That day at 7.32 PM, the flag of USSR was lowered from Kremlin.

The dissolution was in the offing from August that year. Between August and December, all soviet republics including Russia, had seceded from the union. The Last Empire, is a gripping documentation of that four month period. Although the broad perspective of that period is known to many, the behind the scenes games, the dialogues between the top leaders of USSR and USA are revealed in this book. The tense uncertainties  of the situation, the maneuvers of Gorbachev for retaining power, the counter maneuvers of Yeltsin, the real international fears of power vacuum, violence, loss of safeguards protecting the Soviet nuclear arsenal are revealed by the author. USA, , in all its wisdom, did not want USSR, its arch cold war rival, to dissolve. The President of USA, George Bush records in his tape recorder his apprehensions: : I find myself on this Monday night, worrying about military action.... Can this get out of hand? Will Gorbachev resign? Will he try to fight back? Will Yeltsin have thought this out properly? It's tough - a very tough situation". The book is full of such behind the scene nuggets which takes the book out of the category of history books and makes it a must read book.

President Bush, in an address in Kiev, had spoken against the pro-independence movement in Ukraine, which had displeased the Ukrainian leaders no end. President Bush had to do a complete U turn on his stand at a later date. Yeltsin, considered by many as a buffoon, liked his vodka too often. But he showed rare courage and shrewdness in judging the next moves. He went to the mass and acted. Gorbachev had no connection with the mass and appeared to be petulant and pathetic. 

USA can rightly claim lot of credit for ensuring that such a huge geopolitical upheaval occurred without violence and bloodbath.

Serhii Plokhii, or Plokhy is a historian and author specializing in the history of Ukraine, Eastern Europe and Cold War studies. At the time of writing the book, he was the Mykhailo Hrushevsky professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard University, where he also was serving as the director of the Ukrainian Research Institute.

Namaste

Prabir