alternatehistory.com

1985-

Keith Jones - Historian, Author of 'The Return of Stalin: The Soviet Union under Romanov'

The western intelligence community as well as many Sovietologists were astonished when Gorbachev was passed over for general secretary. The reformist factions had been gathering strength and it was well known that Andrei Gromyko had favored him, but the rest of the politburo didn't. Romanov in a surprise move voiced his opposition and swayed the conservative factions, Gorbachev was crushed and Gromyko as well as Viktor Grishin were demoted and forced out of the politburo. Romanov was one of the youngest members and western intelligence had very little understanding. There was nothing that could have prepared us for the rise of the one of the most destructive, oppressive and dangerous tyrants the world has ever seen.

Johann Beausacu - Professor of International Relations, Author of 'The Escalation of the Cold War'

Andropov was the original person that began taking an interest in Romanov, and had essentially placed him in charge of the Soviet Union's military industrial complex. He represented a new generation of Soviet leadership, that was reinvigorated yet still committed to their Marxist Leninist ideas. Andropov demonstrated himself to be a realist geopolitically, as well shrewd in his domestic politics. Romanov was no stranger to the nature of power struggles, and attempts by his subordinates to manipulate him due to his perceived naivete failed almost absolutely. Several major soviet organizations had their leadership replaced or had their manpower shook up. Romanov believed in strict adherence to the Marxist Leninist principles that (in his mind) his nation was built upon. He demonstrated his realist approach geopolitically as he drew down the presence in Afghanistan to an advisory capacity, leaving much of the countryside to the Mujahideen while also killing scores of them holding defensive strong points or urban areas. He had also solidified his relations with Soviet Allies in the middle east, and pushed for reconciliation between Syria and Iraq in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war.

Keith Jones - Historian, Author of 'The Return of Stalin: The Soviet Union under Romanov'

Romanov consolidated his power quickly, effectively and brutally. He demonstrated the totalitarian tendencies of his Czarist namesakes as he reorganized the KGB. Instead of maintaining the principals of collective leadership, championed by Khrushchev, Romanov had proceeded in the opposite direction and had made the KGB answer to the General Secretary directly. Romanov had justified these measures as a continuation of Andropov and Chernenko's anti corruption campaign; but it wholeheartedly represented a massive regression towards totalitarianism that would dominate the Romanov period. This move had created dissent in the politburo, but Romanov showed no quarter and both politically and literally assassinated his opponents. The KGB jumped at the chance to operate without oversight and regarded Romanov as a worthy successor of the KGB's Andropov.


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