Războiul Nervilor. Dispute Ceauşescu-Brejnev. 1965-1971

Fights between unequal camps do not always have a predictable result. After 1965, the courage of a young and sometimes imprudent political leader, combined with the wisdom and moderation of some old comrades with a lot of experience led to an international outstanding position that Romania had not known before. From the anonymous and obedient satellite it had been during the Stalinist years, which no one cared to notice, Romania managed to capture the whole world’s attention, by means of an original external policy, which pursued national goals explained using ideological arguments. This book highlights the shady side of this fight, the dangerous game and the combination of risks and benefits that the Romanian Communist Party’s leadership had undertaken against the Soviet giant at that time.

„Războiul nervilor” (The Nerves’ War) is a premiere among the Romanian historical publications, being a synthesis of external politics that largely relies on unedited documents. This work highlights as well another largely debated aspect that the Romanian public opinion tried to uncover after 1989, namely the personal role of Nicolae Ceauşescu in the affirmation of Romania’s anti-Soviet dissident politics, and also the internal consolidation of his own position as he continued to obtain more and more successes in the direction of the external politics. This book answers the objective need of dissociating between myth and reality as far as the appreciation of Ceauşescu’s regime is concerned, and of evaluating its successes and failures in an impartial way, using instruments specific to science, and leaving aside the emotional appreciations that characterized both the public opinion in Romania and the scientific environment. The publication of this book does not try especially to provide answers, but rather to ask questions; it aims to fill in the knowledge domain with new information and evaluations, based on the objective study of the existing historical sources, neither in order to end the polemics, nor in order to accentuate them, but to move them into the scientific world, that of the historians, where the debate leads to useful lessons and conclusions.  

From the summary:

Cap. I Full stop and new paragraph 

1.1. The succession of Gheorghiu-Dej, 1.2. The courage of a new beginning, 1.3. The Romanian way, between theory and practice, 1.4. Foreground politics, 

Cap. II David and Goliath, 2.1. Bridge to the remote Vietnam, 2.2. The way to London, 2.3. The way to Bonn, 2.4. The diplomacy of refusal, 2.5. The six-day war

Cap. III Sovereignty limits, 3.1. Variations on an old theme, 3.2. Center and outskirts, 3.3.On the other face of socialism, 3.4. Storm in Prague

Cap. IV Second round, 4.1. Brejnev’s doctrine’s challenges, 4.2. Hurdle race, 4.3. Fragile balance between principles and hegemony, 4.4. Alternative options

Cap. V The other side of the medal, 5.1. End of chapter?, 5.2. Conclusions, 

Bibliography,  Index, Abbreviations, Chronology