Download or read book Molotov Remembers written by V. M. Molotov and published by Ivan R. Dee. This book was released on 2007-09-25 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In conversations with the poet-biographer Felix Chuev, Molotov offers an incomparable view of the politics of Soviet society and the nature of Kremlin leadership under communism. Filled with startling insights and indelible portraits, the book is an historical source of the first order. A mesmerizing and chilling chronicle. —Kirkus Reviews

Download or read book Molotov written by Geoffrey Roberts and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a top Soviet bureaucrat

Download or read book Stalin s Letters to Molotov written by Josef Stalin and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1995-01-01 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1925 and 1936, Josef Stalin wrote frequently to his trusted friend and political colleague Viacheslav Molotov. The more than 85 letters collected in this volume constitute a unique historical record of Stalin's thinking--both personal and political--and throw valuable light on the way he controlled the government, plotted the overthrow of his enemies, and imagined the future. Illustrations.

Download or read book The Devils Alliance written by Roger Moorhouse and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History remembers the Soviets and the Nazis as bitter enemies and ideological rivals, the two mammoth and opposing totalitarian regimes of World War II whose conflict would be the defining and deciding clash of the war. Yet for nearly a third of the conflict's entire timespan, Hitler and Stalin stood side by side as partners. The Pact that they agreed had a profound -- and bloody -- impact on Europe, and is fundamental to understanding the development and denouement of the war. In The Devils' Alliance, acclaimed historian Roger Moorhouse explores the causes and implications of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, an unholy covenant whose creation and dissolution were crucial turning points in World War II. Forged by the German foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and his Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov, the nonaggression treaty briefly united the two powers in a brutally efficient collaboration. Together, the Germans and Soviets quickly conquered and divided central and eastern Europe -- Poland, the Baltic States, Finland, and Bessarabia -- and the human cost was staggering: during the two years of the pact hundreds of thousands of people in central and eastern Europe caught between Hitler and Stalin were expropriated, deported, or killed. Fortunately for the Allies, the partnership ultimately soured, resulting in the surprise June 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union. Ironically, however, the powers' exchange of materiel, blueprints, and technological expertise during the period of the Pact made possible a far more bloody and protracted war than would have otherwise been conceivable. Combining comprehensive research with a gripping narrative, The Devils' Alliance is the authoritative history of the Nazi-Soviet Pact -- and a portrait of the people whose lives were irrevocably altered by Hitler and Stalin's nefarious collaboration.

Download or read book Khrushchev Remembers written by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Stalin A Biography in Facts written by Schnehen, Gerhard and published by Algora Publishing. This book was released on 2020-05-01 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stalin is commonly considered the quintessential "vicious dictator," an iconic figure of tyranny. But almost none of his many biographers has drawn on primary sources, eye witness accounts, Stalin’s own writings and speeches, or what those people who met him had to say about him. This assiduously researched book is an attempt to get a little closer to the truth. It is based on first-hand observations from every stage of his life, and it evaluates numerous shocking tropes that were circulated by Stalin's rivals and made into our received view of his rule.

Download or read book Iron Lazar written by E. A. Rees and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2013-10-15 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first English-language biography of Lazar Kaganovich, one of Stalin’s leading deputies, ‘Iron Lazar’ investigates the life of a man of key importance to the shaping of the Stalinist state. With its insight into the political and personal relations of the Stalin group, as well as its examination of this aspiring politician’s policy-making role during the Stalinist regime, ‘Iron Lazar’ investigates the previously undocumented life of Lazar Kaganovich, the last surviving member of the Stalin government and one-time heir apparent to the Soviet Union.

Download or read book Prestige Manipulation and Coercion written by Joseph Torigian and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2022-05-10 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How succession in authoritarian regimes was less a competition of visions for the future and more a settling of scores “Joseph Torigian’s stellar research and personal interviews have produced a brilliant, meticulous study. It fundamentally undermines what political scientists have presumed to be the way Chinese Communist and Soviet politics operate.”—Dorothy J. Solinger, University of California, Irvine The political successions in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao, respectively, are often explained as triumphs of inner‑party democracy, leading to a victory of “reformers” over “conservatives” or “radicals.” In traditional thinking, Leninist institutions provide competitors a mechanism for debating policy and making promises, stipulate rules for leadership selection, and prevent the military and secret police from playing a coercive role. Here, Joseph Torigian argues that the post-cult of personality power struggles in history’s two greatest Leninist regimes were instead shaped by the politics of personal prestige, historical antagonisms, backhanded political maneuvering, and violence. Mining newly discovered material from Russia and China, Torigian challenges the established historiography and suggests a new way of thinking about the nature of power in authoritarian regimes.

Download or read book Flawed Succession written by Uri Ra'anan and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This authoritative volume analyzes the state of Russia's power transfer crises throughout time, taking aim at Russia's unpredictable leadership changes and the consequent crises that result from the absence of a mechanism for legitimate succession. Leading scholars analyze this problem from the power struggles in the Kremlin immediately following Stalin's death to the rise of Putin. Shedding new light on Russia's systemic flaws and resulting instability, this work is essential for practitioners and students of policy, especially as the country reemerges as an international power with a leader who shows disconcerting tendencies to revert to authoritarian and imperial habits.

Download or read book Stalin s Wars written by Geoffrey Roberts and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 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.

Download or read book The Encyclopedia of the Cold War 5 volumes 5 volumes written by Spencer C. Tucker and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2007-09-12 with total page 2229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive five-volume reference on the defining conflict of the second half of the 20th century, covering all aspects of the Cold War as it influenced events around the world. The conflict that dominated world events for nearly five decades is now captured in a multivolume work of unprecedented magnitude—from a publisher widely acclaimed for its authoritative military and historical references. Under the direction of internationally known military historian Spencer Tucker, ABC-CLIO's The Encyclopedia of the Cold War: A Political, Social, and Military History offers the most current and comprehensive treatment ever published of the ideological conflict that not so long ago enveloped the globe. From the Second World War to the collapse of the Soviet Union, The Encyclopedia of the Cold War provides authoritative information on all military conflicts, battlefield and surveillance technologies, diplomatic initiatives, important individuals and organizations, national histories, economic developments, societal and cultural events, and more. The nearly 1,300 entries, plus topical essays and an extraordinarily rich documents volume, draw heavily on recently opened Russian, Eastern European, and Chinese archives. The work is a definitive cornerstone reference on one of the most important historical topics of our time.

Download or read book Final Solutions written by Benjamin A. Valentino and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2013-01-19 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benjamin A. Valentino finds that ethnic hatreds or discrimination, undemocratic systems of government, and dysfunctions in society play a much smaller role in mass killing and genocide than is commonly assumed. He shows that the impetus for mass killing usually originates from a relatively small group of powerful leaders and is often carried out without the active support of broader society. Mass killing, in his view, is a brutal political or military strategy designed to accomplish leaders' most important objectives, counter threats to their power, and solve their most difficult problems. In order to capture the full scope of mass killing during the twentieth century, Valentino does not limit his analysis to violence directed against ethnic groups, or to the attempt to destroy victim groups as such, as do most previous studies of genocide. Rather, he defines mass killing broadly as the intentional killing of a massive number of noncombatants, using the criteria of 50,000 or more deaths within five years as a quantitative standard. Final Solutions focuses on three types of mass killing: communist mass killings like the ones carried out in the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia; ethnic genocides as in Armenia, Nazi Germany, and Rwanda; and "counter-guerrilla" campaigns including the brutal civil war in Guatemala and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Valentino closes the book by arguing that attempts to prevent mass killing should focus on disarming and removing from power the leaders and small groups responsible for instigating and organizing the killing.

Download or read book The Dictators Hitler s Germany Stalin s Russia written by Richard Overy and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2006-01-17 with total page 1084 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A book of great importance; it surpasses all others in breadth and depth."--Commentary If the past century will be remembered for its tragic pairing of civilized achievement and organized destruction, at the heart of darkness may be found Hitler, Stalin, and the systems of domination they forged. Their lethal regimes murdered millions and fought a massive, deadly war. Yet their dictatorships took shape within formal constitutional structures and drew the support of the German and Russian people. In the first major historical work to analyze the two dictatorships together in depth, Richard Overy gives us an absorbing study of Hitler and Stalin, ranging from their private and public selves, their ascents to power and consolidation of absolute rule, to their waging of massive war and creation of far-flung empires of camps and prisons. The Nazi extermination camps and the vast Soviet Gulag represent the two dictatorships in their most inhuman form. Overy shows us the human and historical roots of these evils.

Download or read book An Impeccable Spy written by Owen Matthews and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-03-21 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SHORTLISTED FOR THE PUSHKIN HOUSE PRIZE 'The most formidable spy in history' IAN FLEMING 'His work was impeccable' KIM PHILBY 'The spy to end spies' JOHN LE CARRÉ Born of a German father and a Russian mother, Richard Sorge moved in a world of shifting alliances and infinite possibility. In the years leading up to and during the Second World War, he became a fanatical communist – and the Soviet Union's most formidable spy. Combining charm with ruthless manipulation, he infiltrated and influenced the highest echelons of German, Chinese and Japanese society. His intelligence proved pivotal to the Soviet counter-offensive in the Battle of Moscow, which in turn determined the outcome of the war itself. Drawing on a wealth of declassified Soviet archives, this is a major biography of one of the greatest spies who ever lived.

Download or read book Containing History written by Stephen P. Friot and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2023-06-22 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with U.S.-Russia relations approaching a breaking point, this book provides a key to understanding how we got here. Specifically, Stephen P. Friot asks, how do Russians and Americans think about each other, and why do they see the world so differently? The answers, Friot suggests, lie in the historical events surrounding the Cold War and their divergent influence on politics and popular consciousness. Cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural in its scope, Containing History employs the tools and insights of history, political science, and international relations to explain how twenty-first-century public attitudes in Russia are the product of a thousand years of history, including searing experiences in the twentieth century that have no counterparts in U.S. history. At the same time, Friot explores how—in ways incomprehensible to Russians—U.S. politics are driven by American society’s ethnic and religious diversity and by the robust political competition that often, for better or worse, puts international issues to work in the service of domestic political gain. Looking at history, culture, and politics in both the United States and Russia, Friot shows how the forty-five years of the Cold War and the seventy years of the Soviet era have shaped both the Russia we know in the twenty-first century and American attitudes toward Russia—in ways that drive social and political behavior, with profound consequences for the post–Cold War world. Amid the wreckage of the high hopes that accompanied the end of the Cold War, and as faith in a rules-based international order wanes, Friot’s work provides a historical, cultural, and political framework for understanding the geopolitics of the moment and, arguably, for navigating a way forward.

Download or read book Young Stalin written by Simon Sebag Montefiore and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2009-12-09 with total page 636 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Romanovs—and one of our pre-eminent historians—comes “a meticulously researched, authoritative biography” (The New York Times), the companion volume to the prize-winning Stalin, and essential reading for anyone interested in Russian history. This revelatory account unveils how Stalin became Stalin, examining his shadowy journey from obscurity to power—from master historian Simon Sebag Montefiore. Based on ten years of research, Young Stalin is a brilliant prehistory of the USSR, a chronicle of the Revolution, and an intimate biography. Montefiore tells the story of a charismatic, darkly turbulent boy born into poverty, scarred by his upbringing but possessed of unusual talents. Admired as a romantic poet and trained as a priest, he found his true mission as a murderous revolutionary. Here is the dramatic story of his friendships and hatreds, his many love affairs, his complicated relationship with the Tsarist secret police, and how he became the merciless politician who shaped the Soviet Empire in his own brutal image.

Download or read book The Concise Encyclopedia of World War II 2 volumes written by Cathal J. Nolan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-04-22 with total page 1476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive and integrated military, political, and strategic history of World War II, ranging from the daily life of conscripts and civilians to operational and strategic decision making at the highest levels. Filled with up-to-date scholarship yet supremely manageable and accessible, The Concise Encyclopedia of World War II offers the opportunity to explore a conflict that remains a source of fascination for scholars, students, and general readers alike. From the battlefields to the corridors of power, from the barracks to the home front, The Concise Encyclopedia of World War II provides a complete portrait of the war. Entries not only address major battles and campaigns, but political, economic, and cultural issues as well, plus brief portraits of the conflict's commanding personalities. Its global perspective notably corrects the usual Western focus of World War II studies, incorporating a wealth of information on often underreported topics such as the Eastern Front and the Sino-Japanese War.