Review: [untitled]Author(s): Dov B. LunguReviewed work(s):

Military Occupation and Diplomacy: Soviet Troops in Romania, 1944-1958 by Sergiu Verona; J. F. Brown

Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 98, No. 3 (Jun., 1993), p. 907Published by: American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2167654Accessed: 01/06/2009 05:53

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Modern Europe 907

unfold rapidly. Of considerable value, too, is Schmidt's analysis of Rakovski's writings on the na- tional emancipation of the Balkan peoples in condi- tions of economic backwardness and dependence on the great powers, which, he suggests, placed Rak- ovski's thought alongside that of leading Marxist theoreticians of imperialism.

This book is not an easy read because the author expects his audience to have had a grounding in the history and doctrines of socialism and populism. But it is well worth a read because his approach to controversial theoretical problems and his insights into the vicissitudes of Romanian socialism contribute substantially to our understanding of both Romanian Social Democracy and the Romanian debate on de- velopment.

KEITH HITCHINS

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

SERGIU VERONA. Military Occupation and Diplomacy: Soviet Troops in Romania, 1944-1958. Foreword by J. F. BROWN. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. 1992. Pp. xii, 211. $34.95.

In the summer of 1958, the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Romania, where they had been stationed since 1944. The 30,000 Soviet soldiers there had not been needed for securing the communication lines with Austria, as maintained by Moscow; the shortest route from the Soviet Union to Austria did not pass through Romania. Despite Moscow's claims to the contrary, the real reason for their presence was to ensure Soviet political domination of Romania. Not surprisingly, their withdrawal was also politically mo- tivated: the goals were to enhance the acceptance of the Soviet Union as a legitimate power and to obtain a similar reduction in the number of U.S. troops in Western Europe.

American and British diplomats paid little atten- tion at the time to the Soviet move, considering it inconsequential for the balance of power between the forces of the Warsaw Pact and NATO. In this book, Sergiu Verona argues, in contrast, that this withdraw- al-the first from any of the East European countries that were occupied by the Soviet Union at the end of World War 11-was important both as a precedent and as a case illustrating the interplay between mili- tary and diplomatic actions. In appearance a military measure, the withdrawal was in fact one of several Soviet diplomatic moves that signaled the beginning of a policy of seeking accommodation with the West.

Inaugurated by Nikita Khrushchev and undergo- ing fluctuations after his demise, the policy of accom- modation received a new impetus under Mikhail Gorbachev. That is, in addition to the similarities between the domestic policies pursued by the two leaders, there are also parallels between their policies on national security and arms control. Writing imme-

diately after the August 1991 coup against Gor- bachev, Verona maintains that the Soviet leader's failure to bring Khrushchev's legacy to its logical conclusion-that is, a Soviet withdrawal from Eastern Europe while maintaining political influence in that region-was due to severe internal problems and the wave of change that his domestic policies had stirred throughout Eastern Europe.

As far as Romania itself is concerned, the author shows that the Soviet withdrawal was first suggested to the Soviets, albeit timidly, by the Romanians in 1955. It took Moscow another three years to arrive at the conclusion that such a move would not be detri- mental to Soviet security, because of Romania's geo- graphical position well inside the Eastern bloc, and that in fact it might create an atmosphere conducive to real concessions from the West. Furthermore, the Soviets considered Romania so docile that they thought it would be safe to turn it into a showcase of an allegedly remodeled Eastern Europe by allowing it some latitude in the sphere of foreign policy.

Later on the Romanians took their role seriously, and tensions between Bucharest and Moscow in- creased. This plausible explanation for the origins of Romania's independent stand from the early 1960s onward has the advantage of reconciling two contra- dictory schools of thought, one maintaining that communist Romania's independence was a sham staged by Moscow and the other arguing that it represented a genuine attempt by Romanian commu- nists to distance themselves from their Russian men- tors so as to gain legitimacy in their own country.

The book also contains incursions into many other issues such as Romanian internal politics, Romania's relations with its other neighbors, and American and British policies toward Eastern Europe. These are all pertinent issues, but their treatment is often laden with unwarranted details that obscure the focus of the study. Generally, Verona offers us too many specula- tions and too few answers. He demonstrates impres- sive investigative skills and subtle judgment but, not unexpectedly, the meticulous examination of the American and British archival material can hardly compensate for the lack of access to the Romanian and Soviet primary sources.

Dov B. LUNGU

University of Toronto

SABRINA P. RAMET. Nationalism and Federalism in Yugo- slavia, 1962-1991. 2d ed. Bloomington: Indiana Uni- versity Press. 1992. Pp. xviii, 346. Cloth $39.95, paper $17.95.

Many "experts," official and academic, were surprised at the rapid disappearance of Yugoslavia from the map of Europe amid the fires of a cruel civil war. They should not have been. Sabrina P. Ramet's study of the politics of that unfortunate country clearly shows how the centrifugal forces of narrow national-

AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW JUNE 1993