Crimea, Global Rivalry, and the Vengeance of History

Gardner examines the causes and consequences of Russia's annexation of Crimea. By analyzing alliance formations and the consequences of other annexations in world history, the book urges an alternative US-NATO-European-Japanese strategy toward both Russia and China in the effort to prevent a renewed arms race, if not global war.

Crimea, Global Rivalry, and the Vengeance of History critically examines the causes and consequences of Russia''s annexation of Crimea and reviews differing annexations in history from the Seven Years War to today. It develops a unique comparative historical approach designed to compare and contrast alliance formations after Soviet collapse with alliance formations in previous eras. It argues that contemporary Russia-Ukraine conflict is more reminiscent of conflict during the Bolshevik revolution than Hitler''s annexation of the Sudetenland, but that a nascent Russian-Chinese alliance can be compared to that between Weimar Germany and Soviet Russia. And although the US-NATO-European-Japanese reaction is not that of ''appeasement,'' it is reminiscent of French reaction to Prussian annexation of Alsace before World War I, or European reaction to Russian annexations before the Crimean War. Based on these historical analogies and others, the book urges an alternative global strategy toward both Russia and China in the effort to prevent a renewed arms race, if not global war.