False Dawn

Lasting over seven decades, during all of which it maintained its power chiefly by fear, the Soviet state passed out of existence, without significant violence, in two or three years. The sudden collapse of a regime that seemed unshakeable should have been taken as a warning that stability was not a realistic prospect in the years that would follow, and far from ushering in an era of peace the fall of communism was the prelude to an age of revolution. (Location 72)