The socioeconomic situation in the Caucasus in the 1930s as a subject of political analysis in the United States
https://doi.org/10.31143/2542-212X-2025-4-176-185
EDN: HVPEPE
Abstract
The article is devoted to analyzing the perception of the Caucasus in the American political and expert discourse of the 1930s. Based on materials from the U.S. National Archives (NARA), it examines the formation of an American analytical approach to the Caucasian region as a strategically important part of the USSR, possessing significant resource potential and a complex ethnopolitical structure. Special attention is paid to the issues of modernization, protest movements, and socio-economic processes reflected in diplomatic reports, memoranda, and expert notes of the U.S. Department of State. The publication traces the evolution of U.S. interest in the Caucasus – from economic cooperation and concession projects of the 1920s to the systematic collection of intelligence and political information about the situation in the region. The study shows that American analysts viewed Soviet modernization in the Caucasus as facing persistent resistance and believed that ethno-religious contradictions amplified the USSR’s internal instability. The reports combined statistical and qualitative analysis, focusing on the oil industry, agrarian reforms, and national policy. It is concluded that American assessments of the Caucasus in the 1930s largely reflected the ideological context of the era and the perception of the Soviet Union as a “colossus with feet of clay,” while simultaneously laying the foundation for future strategic studies of the region.
About the Author
Azamat A. Tatarov
Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of General History
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Review
For citations:
Tatarov A.A. The socioeconomic situation in the Caucasus in the 1930s as a subject of political analysis in the United States. Kavkazologiya. 2025;(4):176-185. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31143/2542-212X-2025-4-176-185. EDN: HVPEPE
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