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
... foreign policy and international relations. My research in Moscow was supported and facilitated by Professor Alexander Chubar'yan's Institute of General History in the Russian Academy of Sciences, in particular by my dear friends in the ...
... Foreign Ministers Kiev recaptured by the Red Army Tehran Conference Soviet–Czechoslovak Treaty of Friendship, Mutual Aid and Postwar Cooperation Leningrad blockade completely lifted Odessa recaptured by the Red Army Sebastopol ...
... Foreign Ministers (CFM) in London Moscow conference of American, British and Soviet foreign ministers First session of the UN General Assembly Stalin's election speech Elections to Supreme Soviet Churchill's 'Iron Curtain'speech in ...
... Foreign Minister Signing of NATO treaty Establishment of West German state Lifting of Berlin blockade CFM meeting in Paris Soviet atom bomb test Chinese People's Republic proclaimed in Peking Establishment of East German state Sino ...
... foreign minister. 'The fame of his great deeds in the service and happiness of our people and the workers of the whole world will live forever!'2 None of this was particularly surprising. During the last 20 years of his life the cult of ...
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 |