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
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... Soviet Union.1 At Stalin's state funeral, party leaders queued up to eulogise their dead boss in reverential tones ... Soviet people and of all progressive humanity,' claimed Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet foreign minister. 'The fame of ...
... Soviet people. During the war 70,000 Soviet cities, towns and villages were ... Union? Khrushchev's critique of Stalin's war record focused, in particular ... Soviet non-aggression pact of 1939–1941. The Nazi–Soviet Pact When Hitler ...
... Soviet Union, according to Stalin, was the target of imperialist intrigue because it was a threatening, alternative social system to capitalism that had to be subverted by espionage, sabotage and murderous conspiracies directed against ...
... Soviet cultural tradition.75 Among the many reasons for this 'Russian turn ... Union, particularly its Russian population, in a patriotic war of national ... Soviet power, but perhaps they will fight for Russia'.77 In a war as closely ...
... Soviet patriotic pride and prestige inflicted by his erstwhile allies ... Union, the Red Army and Stalin's leadership had received exemplary and ... Soviet campaign in the western media. The Soviets believed this campaign was linked to ...
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 |