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 92
... Hitler (1989), The Soviet Union and the Origins of the Second World War (1995) and Victory at Stalingrad: The Battle that Changed History (2002). Also by Geoffrey Roberts The Unholy Alliance: Stalin's Pact with Front Cover.
... Victory at Stalingrad and Kursk: Stalin and his Generals 6 The Politics of War: Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt 7 Triumph and Tragedy: Stalin's Year of Victories 8 Liberation, Conquest, Revolution: Stalin's Aims in Germany and Eastern ...
... victory parade in Red Square, 24 June 1945. AKG Images. Stalin and President Harry Truman at the Potsdam conference, July 1945. AKG Images. Atomic bomb damage in Hiroshima, Japan, following the explosion on 6 August 1945. Corbis. Berlin ...
... victory over Nazi Germany. Second, that Stalin worked hard to make the Grand Alliance a success and wanted to see it continue after the war. While his policies and actions undoubtedly contributed to the outbreak of the cold war, his ...
... victory was to be secured. Equally, Stalin's ambitions were limited; he was a realist and a pragmatist as well as an ideologue, a leader prepared to compromise, adapt and change, as long as it did not threaten the Soviet system or his ...
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 |