Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939-1953This breakthrough book provides a detailed reconstruction of Stalin's leadership from the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 to his death in 1953. Making use of a wealth of new material from Russian archives, Geoffrey Roberts challenges a long list of standard perceptions of Stalin: his qualities as a leader; his relationships with his own generals and with other great world leaders; his foreign policy; and his role in instigating the Cold War. While frankly exploring the full extent of Stalin's brutalities and their impact on the Soviet people, Roberts also uncovers evidence leading to the stunning conclusion that Stalin was both the greatest military leader of the twentieth century and a remarkable politician who sought to avoid the Cold War and establish a long-term detente with the capitalist world. By means of an integrated military, political, and diplomatic narrative, the author draws a sustained and compelling personal portrait of the Soviet leader. The resulting picture is fascinating and contradictory, and it will inevitably change the way we understand Stalin and his place in history. Roberts depicts a despot who helped save the world for democracy, a personal charmer who disciplined mercilessly, a utopian ideologue who could be a practical realist, and a warlord who undertook the role of architect of post-war peace. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 74
... Polish POWs Soviet–Finnish peace treaty signed Germany invades Demark and Norway Italy enters the European war France surrenders to Germany USSR proposes spheres of influence agreement in the Balkans Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina ...
... Polish government in exile in London Publication of resolution proposing the dissolution of the Comintern Battle of Kursk Mussolini falls from power Allied invasion of Italy Smolensk recaptured by the Red Army Italy declares war on ...
... Polish counter-offensive that resulted in the Soviet loss to the newly created Polish state of Western Belorussia and Western Ukraine.46 These experiences of severe setback should be borne in mind when considering Stalin's extraordinary ...
... Polish POWs – victims of the infamous 'Katyn massacre' of April–May 1940.66 The Red Army's occupation of the Baltic States in summer 1940 led to the deportation of several hundred thousand Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians. After the ...
... Polish-Lithuanian lords. She was beaten by the Anglo-French capitalists. She was beaten by the Japanese barons. Everyone gave her a beating for her backwardness. For military backwardness, for cultural backwardness, for state ...
Contents
Stalin and his Generals | |
Stalin Churchill and Roosevelt | |
Stalins Year of Victories | |
Stalins Aims in Germany and Eastern Europe | |
Stalin Truman and the End of the Second World | |
Stalin and the Origins of the Cold | |
The Domestic Context of Stalins Postwar Foreign Policy | |
Stalin Embattled | |
Stalin in the Court of History | |
Select Bibliography | 1957 |
Index | 1975 |