Stalin and Beneš at the End of September 1938: New Evidence from the Prague Archives

Slavic Review ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Lukes
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
World War ◽  
The West ◽  
Red Army ◽  
Occupy Central ◽  
New Evidence

At the height of World War II, General Wfadyslaw Sikorski visited Dr. Edvard Beneš at his London residence. The Polish prime minister warned the Czechoslovak president that if the Red Army were to occupy central Europe it would impose communist governments there. Beneš conceded that this was so but he added that there was nothing they could do about it. Sikorski continued pressing Beneš: "Why are you so friendly with the Soviets?" he demanded. He then invited the president to harmonize his foreign policy with that of the democracies. Beneš replied that he was unable to share Sikorski's confidence in the west for the simple reason that he had experienced the horror of Munich. "What partitions of Poland mean for the Poles, that is what Munich is for us," said Beneš forcefully.

Prokofiev, Soviet Influence, and the Music World in Stalinist Central Europe

2020 ◽  
pp. 405-422
Author(s):  
David G. Tompkins
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sergei Prokofiev ◽  
The West ◽  
Central European ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Red Army ◽  
Definition Of

In the aftermath of World War II, the Red Army as a symbol of power was supported in many other arenas so as to counteract the rival influence of the United States on Central Europe. The Soviet Union brought new urgency to these efforts from 1948, with music—and culture more broadly—providing a case for Russia’s attractiveness and superiority with respect to the West. This chapter discusses the nature and scope of Soviet influence in the Central European music world through the examples of East Germany and Poland, and through the prism of the music and persona of Sergei Prokofiev. After his return to the USSR in 1936, Prokofiev, along with Shostakovich, became associated with the very definition of what made music Soviet and thus worthy of emulation. And even more than Shostakovich, Prokofiev and his music functioned as powerful but malleable symbols that could be appropriated by all Soviet actors for their own ends.

The Historical Alternation of Moods in American Foreign Policy

1952 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank L. Klingberg
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Free World ◽  
World War ◽  
The West

There seems little doubt that the defense and strengthening of the “free world” in our time depends largely upon American leadership. Confidence that America will continue to play this role in world affairs is weakened by the memory of America's political isolation following World War I, and by certain currents of American opinion noted by observers since World War II.1 Barbara Ward warns the peoples of the West that “we shall certainly fail unless our effort is at once sustained, calm and supremely positive.”

scholarly journals Michal Kolmaš: National Identity and Japanese Revisionism

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-114
Author(s):  
Jakub Harašta
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
World War ◽  
Self Perception ◽  
Institutional Forces ◽  
Radical Shift

Over the course of the twentieth century, Japan has experienced a radical shift in its self-perception. After World War II, Japan embraced a peaceful and anti-militarist identity, which was based on its war-prohibiting Constitution and the foreign policy of the Yoshida doctrine. For most of the twentieth century, this identity was unusually stable. In the last couple of decades, however, Japan’s self-perception and foreign policy seem to have changed. Tokyo has conducted a number of foreign policy actions as well as symbolic internal gestures that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago and that symbolize a new and more confident Japan. Japanese politicians – including Prime Minister Abe Shinzō – have adopted a new discourse depicting pacifism as a hindrance, rather than asset, to Japan’s foreign policy. Does that mean that “Japan is back”? In order to better understand the dynamics of contemporary Japan, Kolmaš joins up the dots between national identity theory and Japanese revisionism. The book shows that while political elites and a portion of the Japanese public call for re-articulation of Japan’s peaceful identity, there are still societal and institutional forces that prevent this change from entirely materializing.

scholarly journals The principles of liberal internationalism in diplomatic reality of Lester B. Pearson

2020 ◽  
pp. 104-112
Author(s):  
Daria Mikhailovna Pokrovskaia
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
World War ◽  
Liberal Internationalism ◽  
Institutional Approach ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject

The subject of this research is the practice of liberal internationalistic approach to foreign affairs, which form many decades is a defining factors in studying Canada’s foreign policy. The Canadian liberal internationalism emerged after the World War II, and the concept of its ideology received its development in the 1950’s being inextricably linked to the name of Lester Pearson. The object of this research is the views, ideas and main approaches of Lester Pearson, who held a post of Undersecretary of State and later Prime Minister of Canada, towards the formation of foreign policy of the country. Methodology contains the analysis of personal sources of Lester Pearson and his colleagues, public speeches, official documents of Canadian Department of Foreign Policy, as well as writings of the leading Russian and foreign scholars. The author highlights the key principles of the liberal internationalistic approach towards conducting Canada’s foreign policy, among which is the institutional approach, participation of Canada in world politics as a “medium superpower”, mediation in settlement of international disputes, peacekeeping activity and adherence to the ideas of collective security, etc. A detailed analysis is carried out on the personal views and techniques of conducting diplomacy of Lester Pearson that influences the development of the Canadian liberal internationalism.

Diplomatic Culture in the Canada-U.S. Model of Asymmetrical Relationship

2014 ◽  
pp. 98-106
Author(s):  
E. Komkova
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
World War ◽  
Policy Strategy ◽  
Responsible Behavior ◽  
The World ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Rules Of The Game

The management of the Canada–U.S. asymmetry might be defined as rather successful example. After the World War II Canadian and American officials have developed a set of specific bargaining norms, which can be referred to as the “rules of the game”, and “diplomatic culture”. Their existence leads to predictability of relationships, to empathy, and to expectations of “responsible” behavior. The study of the Canada–U.S. model of civilized asymmetrical relationship lays grounds for further investigation on how it can be applied to the foreign policy strategy of the Russian Federation in its relations with asymmetrical partners from the “near neighbourhood”.

Military Industry Evacuation at the Beginning of World War II and the NKVD

2020 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. 142-151
Author(s):  
Uta G. Lagvilava ◽  
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Technical Equipment ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Industry ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Military Equipment ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Red Army ◽  
Internal Affairs

A few months after the fascist Germany’s attack on the USSR, under harsh wartime conditions, at the end of 1941 military industry of the Soviet Union began to produce such a quantity of military equipment that subsequently was providing not only replenishment of losses, but also improvement of technical equipment of the Red Army forces . Successful production of military equipment during World War II became one of the main factors in the victory over fascism. One of the unlit pages in affairs of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) is displacement and evacuation of a huge number of enterprises and people to the east, beyond the Urals, which were occupied by German troops at the beginning of the war in the summer of 1941. All this was done according to the plans developed with direct participation of NKVD, which united before the beginning and during the war departments now called the Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSB, SVR, the Russian Guard, Ministry of Emergency Situations, FAPSI and several smaller ones. And all these NKVD structures during the war were headed by Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria.

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