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 85
... Peace: Stalin and the Origins of the Cold War 11 Generalissimo at Home: The Domestic Context of Stalin's Postwar Foreign Policy 12 Cold War Confrontations: Stalin Embattled 13 Conclusion: Stalin in the Court of History Notes Select ...
... Peace Conference USSR demands joint control of the Black Sea Straits with Turkey Zhdanovshchina begins CFM meeting in New York Signing of peace treaties with Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Italy and Romania CFM meeting in Moscow 12 March 5 ...
... Peace talks begin in Korea 'Stalin note' on the terms for a peace treaty with Germany Second 'Stalin note' on the German question 19th Congress of the Soviet communist party Stalin's last public statement welcomes the idea of ...
... peace, but the 'father of the peoples'.3 He was, the slogan went, the 'Lenin of today', and, fittingly, Stalin's body was laid alongside that of the founder of the Soviet state in his mausoleum on Red Square. But Stalin's reputation ...
... peace. Under the terms of the peace treaty signed in March 1940 Finland conceded the Soviet territorial demands but retained its independence as a state. The only state to back the Soviet Union diplomatically during the war with Finland ...
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 |