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 78
... invasion of Poland Britain and France declare war on Germany Red Army invades eastern Poland Soviet Union declares its neutrality in the European war Soviet–German Boundary and Friendship Treaty Soviet–Estonian Treaty of Mutual ...
... invasion of Italy Smolensk recaptured by the Red Army Italy declares war on Germany Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers Kiev recaptured by the Red Army Tehran Conference Soviet–Czechoslovak Treaty of Friendship, Mutual Aid and ...
... invasion of June 1941 and its victorious march to Berlin by May 1945 was the greatest feat of arms the world had ever seen. The Soviet victory in the war led to the spread of communism to Eastern Europe and to other parts of the globe ...
... invaded Poland in September 1939 he did so secure in the knowledge that while he might face war with Britain and France in the west, his eastern flank was safeguarded by Soviet neutrality in the form of a non-aggression pact agreed with ...
... invasion of the Soviet Union. On the other side are those who argue that the USSR was not ready for war with Germany in 1939 and that Stalin as well as Hitler made a number of strategic gains from the pact which, crucially, bought the ...
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 |