Central Europe Since 1945

Central Europe - here Poland the German Democratic Republic Czechoslovakia and Hungary - is at the centre of international attention since the Soviet collapse. An understanding of its postwar history is critical to an appreciation of the challenges facing its present rulers. This is an engrossing account of the installation development operation and eventual downfall of its (very different) communist regimes and the transition to the freedoms and uncertainties of the post-Soviet world. The book covers political economic social and cultural change emphasising the crucial relationships with the USSR throughout.