Defence and Security

Abstract

When Mikhail Gorbachev first canvassed the Soviet policy agenda, full of economic, social and political problems, he must have found the military sphere heartwarming. Sixty-eight years after its birth, the Soviet Union possessed one of the two most powerful military establishments in human history. It is ironic that the Bolsheviks’ successors would find themselves in this position. A large and terrifyingly powerful standing army was certainly not in the ideological forecast. Economic might and social progress were to have been the Soviets’ ticket to leadership of world revolution and unparalleled influence. History, though, took a different turn and Soviet military power far outstrips any other instrument of influence in the international system. The most solid gains of Soviet-style socialism are a direct result of military assistance and, in the case of Eastern Europe, the victories of the Soviet armed forces. The Soviet claim to superpower status is, for the most part, based on its military prowess and attainment of military parity with the USA. The military instrument is well prepared to protect the Soviet Union, its allies and to extend cautiously Soviet power in the world.