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 91
... Offensive War Against Germany, 1941 4 Operation Barbarossa, June–December 1941 5 German Encirclement of Soviet Troops, 1941 6 The Soviet Counter-Offensive at Moscow, December 1941 7 The Plan for Operation Blau, April 1942 8 The German ...
... offensive by Red Army Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor Hitler declares war on the US Eden trip to Moscow Declaration of the United Nations Hitler directive on Operation Blau Battle of Kharkov Molotov trip to London and Washington British ...
... offensive USSR recognises the Polish Committee of National Liberation as the Provisional Government of Poland Vistula–Oder operation begins Warsaw captured by the Red Army 1944 27 January 4–11 February 13 February 5 April 11 April.
... offensive war against Germany. But the proffered analysis of why Stalin might want to launch an attack on Germany was of a much older vintage. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s anticommunist commentators had highlighted the so-called 'war ...
... offensive action against an enemy that conducted a ferocious and highly skilled retreat all the way back to Germany. As late as April 1945, during the battle of Berlin, the Wehrmacht was still capable of inflicting 80,000 fatalities on ...
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 |