History Commons^™

Bridging The Gap: Analyzing The History Of U.S.-Russian Relations Throughout History And The Actions That Would Improve Them, Coleman Anderson

Senior Honors Theses

After the onset of communism in Russia, relations between the United States and Russia have been tense up to the modern day. Even the fall of the Soviet Union could not usher in a permanent peace between the two countries, with mistrust pouring over from both parties. Utilizing both primary sources and commentary from subject matter experts, this paper argues that in order to achieve a legitimate and sustainable policy of peace between the United States and Russia, policymakers need to first understand the history and culture of the people they are reaching out to. Using this knowledge, policymakers can …

The Soviet And American Wars In Afghanistan: Applying Clausewitzian Concepts To Modern Military Failure, Artur Kalandarov

Honors Projects

This paper evaluates the validity of three concepts from Carl von Clausewitz’s On War as they relate to contemporary military conflict. Utilizing the Soviet and American Wars in Afghanistan as case studies, the paper also offers a model for comparative conflict analysis by expanding upon Clausewitz’s culminating point concept. It argues that – despite limitations to Clausewitz’s theory of war – his concepts of culminating points in military operations, mass and concentration, and changing war aims provide useful insights into counterinsurgency military failures. Chapter One identifies the Soviet and American culminating points. Concluding that the concept of a culminating point …

A Roundtable For Victoria M. Grieve, Little Cold Warriors: American Childhood In The 1950s, Thomas Field Jr., Julia L. Mickenberg, Lori Clune, Mary Brennan, Donna Alvah, Victoria M. Grieve

Publications

Dr. Thomas Field introduces a roundtable discussion of Victoria M. Grieve's Little Cold Warriors: American Childhood in the 1950s, providing a synopsis of reviewer critiques before the reviewers expand on their views and the author responds.

Remembering An Invasion: The Panama Intervention In America’S Political Memory, Dave Nagaji

Senior Theses

In December of 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, a military invasion of the country of Panama, capturing Manuel Noriega and overthrowing his government. This research project examines how Colin Powell, Richard Cheney, James Baker, and George H.W. Bush presented Operation Just Cause in their memoirs. It attempts to determine how these senior leaders’ depictions of this invasion incorporated it into the Bush administration’s overall foreign-policy strategy. The research finds that their general approach was to present the Panama intervention as an isolated incident which had no intentional link to other major events at the time, was not …

Katja, Ketevahi 'Katje', Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Ketevahi “Katja” is from Georgia. She’s in her late 40’s. She grew up on a farm in the country and became the financial support for her family after her mother died and her father became “emaciated.” When Putin came to power, diplomatic ties deteriorated between Georgia and Russia, which eventually led to war. She fled her country using forged documents and first worked in Turkey but has now lived in Naples for nine years and regularly sends money home to her brother, who cares for their father.

Katja expresses her feelings about war, government, liberty, and what it means to …

The Nixon Administration And American Foreign Relations, Luke A. Nichter

Presidential Studies Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Assessments of President Richard Nixon’s foreign policy continue to evolve as scholars tap new possibilities for research. Due to the long wait before national security records are declassified by the National Archives and made available to researchers and the public, only in recent decades has the excavation of the Nixon administration’s engagement with the world started to become well documented. As more records are released by the National Archives (including potentially 700 hours of Nixon’s secret White House tapes that remain closed), scholarly understanding of the Nixon presidency is likely to continue changing. Thus far, historians have pointed to four …

Kim Was Korea And Korea Was Kim: The Formation Of Juche Ideology And Personality Cult In North Korea, Bianca Trifoi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Juche ideology, created by founder Kim Il-Sung, governs all aspects of North Korean society. This thesis attempts to answer the questions of why and how Juche ideology and the cult of personality surrounding Kim Il-Sung were successfully implemented in North Korea. It is a historical analysis of the formation of the North Korean state that considers developments from the late 19th century to the late 20th century, with particular attention paid to the 1950s-1970s and to Kim’s own writings and speeches. The thesis argues that Juche was successfully implemented and institutionalized in North Korea due to several factors, including the …

One Man's Reaction To Nato Expansion, Jamie M. Putnam

International Relations Honors Papers

Using the policy of NATO expansion and the events of the Ukraine crisis, this paper examines President Vladimir Putin’s impact on Russian foreign policy and analyzes the extent to which his personality and personal interests have shaped Russia’s actions. In doing so, it seems that Russia as an actor on the international stage cannot be understood without considering Putin’s role in creating what Russia is today.

The Decision To Invade: Stalin In 1950, Elliot Estebo

Ex-Patt Magazine

Examining the past and recently discovered Soviet-Era documents to determine how Stalin came to the decision to invade.

Yugoslav-Soviet Split, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Describes the political and military split between the Communist countries of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the years after World War II until Yugoslavia's disintegration in the early 1990s.

So We Ran..., Sara R. Bias

Student Publications

This paper tells the true story of a Hungarian refugee who's family fled the communist regime there in 1971. Gabriella Bercze's story reflects on what it was like to live in Hungary under communist rule, and her family's experience in escaping the country, and fleeing to Italy, where they lived in a refugee camp for months before immigrating to the United States in the early 70s.

The Impact Of The American Invasion Of Grenada On Anglo-American Relations And The Deployment Of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces In Britain, Timothy Anglea

All Theses

This thesis studies the impact the American invasion of Grenada in 1983 had on Anglo-American relations and the deployment of cruise missiles in Britain. Anglo-American nuclear relations were dependent on a strong level of trust between the two governments. The deception employed by President Reagan's government in concealing American intentions concerning Grenada from the British government broke that trust. The American invasion also furthered doubts held by the general British population concerning the placement of American owned and operated cruise missiles on British soil. The deployment of Intermediate-Range Nuclear forces in Britain and Western Europe was crucial to Prime Minister …

Totalitarianism: The Case Of Turkmenistan, Hayden Gore

Human Rights & Human Welfare

With the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, Saparmurat Niyazov, the former First Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkmenistan and self-styled “Turkmenbashi” (Father of All Turkmen), became the country’s first president, quickly fashioning Turkmenistan into one of the most repressive regimes in the world. Declared president-for-life after a dubious parliamentary election in which he selected all of the candidates, Niyazov has created a Stalinistic personality cult to glorify his image and to solidify his control over the state. His “reforms” have outlawed political dissent, marginalized ethnic and religious minorities, gutted the public health system, and enforced a campaign …

The Roma: During And After Communism, Florinda Lucero, Jill Collum

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Roma are an interconnected ethnic and cultural group that migrated out of India more than ten centuries ago. In the Czech Republic, they may have been present since the 15th century. Although relations within Czech lands began honorably, they quickly disintegrated into enmity and within a century Czechs could kill the Roma with impunity. Legislation restricting Roma movement came about in 1927 with Law 117: the “Law on Wandering Gypsies,” which stated that the Roma were now required to seek permission to stay overnight in any given location. In the run-up to World War II, parallel restrictions to those …

The Riga Mission: The Reports Of The First American Outpost On The Soviet Border, 1924-1933, Jeffrey Acosta

History Theses & Dissertations

From 1917 to 1933, the United States did not recognize the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In 1920 the United States established conditions for recognition. First, the Soviet Union had to pay all debts owed to the United States government and its citizens by previous Russian and Soviet governments. In addition, all propaganda and subversive activities sponsored by the Soviet Union in the United States had to cease. During this period, the Division of Eastern European Affairs (DEEA) studied and collected data about the Soviet Union from its main "outpost" at the United States Mission in Riga, Latvia. The Russian …

Curtain Of Silence Japanese In Soviet Custody, 1945-1956, William F. Nimmo

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The Soviet Union attacked- and defeated Japanese forces in Northeast Asia in the final days of the Second World War, and 2,100,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians suddenly fell into the hands of the Red Army. This thesis examines the experiences of Japanese in Soviet custody, efforts to obtain their release, and their eventual return to Japan. Repatriation of civilians from Soviet-controlled areas was slow, and military personnel were taken to the USSR for use as forced labor for several years. The Soviets conducted an intensive Marxist-Leninist indoctrination program for prisoners of war, and a professed acceptance of communism was a …

"Soviet Intellectual Dissent In The 1970s", Fruim Yurevich

Special Collections: Oregon Public Speakers

No abstract provided.