Download or read book Between Giants written by Prit Buttar and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-05-20 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From an expert on the Eastern Front of World War II, this book chronicles the cataclysmic experience of the region that includes modern-day Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic States suffered more than almost any other territory during World War II, caught on the front-line of some of the war's most vicious battles and squeezed between the vast military might of the German Wehrmacht and the Soviet Red Army. Combining new archival research and numerous first-hand accounts, this is a magisterial description of conquest and exploitation, of death and deportation and the fight for survival both by countries and individuals.
Download or read book The Baltic and the Outbreak of the Second World War written by John Hiden and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-01-30 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first to highlight the importance of the Baltic region in the approach to war in 1939. Amid the welter of publications on the origins of the Second World War none has sought hitherto to focus on the Baltic region, where peace finally and irrevocably broke down. Central strategic and international issues of the interwar years are thus illuminated from a fresh perspective by a distinguished team of specialists that includes a number of native Baltic historians. The themes discussed by the contributors acquired renewed relevance, as the Baltic republics asserted their rejection of incorporation within the Soviet Union following the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939. The Baltic and the outbreak of the Second World War makes an important contribution to the perennial debate on the immediate causes of the conflict, and should interest specialists in a variety of fields within international relations, modern European and diplomatic history.
Download or read book The Naval War in the Baltic 1939 1945 written by Poul Grooss and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2017-04-30 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A military historian and naval warfare expert delivers a revealing history of the Baltic Sea Campaigns and their significance throughout WWII. From the Battle of Westerplatte on the Polish coast in 1939 to the thousands of German refugees lost at sea in 1945, the Baltic witnessed continuous fighting throughout the Second World War. This chronicle of naval warfare in the region merges such major events as the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet campaign against Sweden, the three wars in Finland, the Soviet liberation of the Baltic states, the German evacuation of two million people from the East, and the Soviet race westwards in 1945. Naval historian Poul Grooss explains the political and military backgrounds of the war in this theatre while also detailing the ships, radar, artillery, mines and aircraft employed there. He also offers fascinating insights into Swedish cooperation with Nazi Germany, the Germans’ use of the Baltic as a training ground for the Battle of the Atlantic, the secret weapons trials in the remote area of Peenemunde, and the Royal Air Force mining campaign that reduced the threat of German submarine technology. A major contribution to the naval history of this era, Naval War in the Baltic demonstrates the extent to which the Baltic Sea Campaigns shaped the Second World War
Download or read book The Second World War and the Baltic States written by James S. Corum and published by Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume focuses on the history of the Baltic states in the Second World War. It discusses the nature of diplomacy, strategy, military operations, intelligence, occupation policies and propaganda, expanding and strengthening understanding of the Second World War as a pivotal event in the history of Europe in the 20th century.
Download or read book Latvia in World War II written by Valdis O. Lumans and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Valdis Lumans provides an authoritative, balanced, and comprehensive account of one of the most complex, and conflicted, arenas of the Second World War. Struggling against both Germany and the Soviet Union, Latvia emerged as an independent nation state after the First World War. In 1940, the Soviets occupied neutral Latvia, deporting or executing more than 30,000 Latvians before the Nazis invaded in 1941 and installed a puppet regime. The Red Army expelled the Germans in 1944 and reincorporated Latvia as a Soviet Republic. By the end of the war, an estimated 180,000 Latvians fled to the West. The Soviets would deport at least another 100,000. Drawing on a wide range of sources--many brought together here for the first time--Lumans synthesizes political, military, social, economic, diplomatic, and cultural history. He moves carefully through traditional sources, many of them partisan, to scholarship emerging since the end of the Cold War, to confront such issues as political loyalties, military collaboration, resistance, capitulation, the Soviet occupation, anti-Semitism, and the Latvian role in the Holocaust.
Download or read book Death in the Baltic written by Cathryn J. Prince and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2013-04-09 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The worst maritime disaster ever occurred during World War II, when more than 9,000 German civilians drowned. It went unreported. January 1945: The outcome of World War II has been determined. The Third Reich is in free fall as the Russians close in from the east. Berlin plans an eleventh-hour exodus for the German civilians trapped in the Red Army's way. More than 10,000 women, children, sick, and elderly pack aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a former cruise ship. Soon after the ship leaves port and the passengers sigh in relief, three Soviet torpedoes strike it, inflicting catastrophic damage and throwing passengers into the frozen waters of the Baltic. More than 9,400 perished in the night—six times the number lost on the Titanic. Yet as the Cold War started no one wanted to acknowledge the sinking. Drawing on interviews with survivors, as well as the letters and diaries of those who perished, award-wining author Cathryn J. Prince reconstructs this forgotten moment in history with Death in the Baltic. She weaves these personal narratives into a broader story, finally giving this WWII tragedy its rightful remembrance.
Download or read book Joining Hitler s Crusade written by David Stahel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A ground-breaking study that looks at why European nations sent troops to take part in Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union.
Download or read book Walking Since Daybreak written by Modris Eksteins and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2000-09-14 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of one family’s displacement and the tragic history of twentieth-century Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia: “Deeply moving.” —Los Angeles Times Winner of the Pearson Prize for Nonfiction The immense cataclysm of World War II devastated the Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, sending many of their inhabitants to the ends of the earth. Part history, part autobiography, Walking Since Daybreak tells the tragic story of the Baltic nations before, during, and after the war. Personal stories of the survival or destruction of Modris Eksteins’s family members lend an intimate dimension to this vast narrative of those who have surged back and forth across the lowlands bordering the Baltic Sea. In the tradition of books that redefine our historical understanding, such as Huizinga’s The Waning of the Middle Ages and Burckhardt’s The Renaissance in Italy, Eksteins’s narrative is a haunting portrait of national loss and the struggle of a displaced family caught in the maw of history. “An authoritative and moving mélange . . . of historical analysis, family legend, and memoir.” —The Boston Globe “Eksteins has astutely and thrillingly braided together the tortured history of modern Latvia, his own personal story of being born there in 1943 . . . and the fate of his family as they (and countless millions) made their way to and through the refugee camps of postwar Europe.” —The Washington Post Book World “This unconventional account of the fate of the Baltic nations is also an important reassessment of WWII and its outcome . . . the pivotal character is Eksteins’s maternal great-grandmother Grieta. The tale of this Latvian chambermaid, made pregnant and then rejected by her Baltic-German baron, serves as a mirror of Latvian-German relations over the centuries. In addition, the family history opens up the subject of displacement . . . and the struggle and hope of the immigrant experience.” —Kirkus Reviews
Download or read book Roosevelt Churchill and the Baltic Question written by K. Piirimäe and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-09-11 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1940, the USSR occupied and annexed Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, leading to calls by many that the Soviets had violated international law. This book examines British, US, and Soviet policies toward the Baltic states, placing the true significance of the Baltic question in its proper geopolitical context.
Download or read book The Baltic States in Peace and War 1917 1945 written by Vytas Stanley Vardys and published by Penn State University Press. This book was released on 1978 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nation building--a striking phenomenon of modern times--was given a significant albeit unsuccessful trial in the Baltic area. Rising to independence from Russian rule and German occupation during World War I, the Baltic states--Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania--were annexed by the Soviet Union during World War II. The rise and fall of these nations reflects the great historical developments of the 20th century including the transformation of Wilsonian idealism into today's harsh realism. Following a historical introduction to the political developments of the Baltic states, this book examines the internal and external aspects of Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian nationhood. Part I depicts the triumph of independence movements. Part II compares the new nations' domestic policies, notably treatment of ethnic minorities and authoritarian responses to economic problems. Part III analyzes the Baltic states' relations with Germany, Great Britain, and the USSR, as well as efforts among some Balts to form a Baltic Union. Part IV examines the events surrounding Soviet annexation of the Baltic nations in 1944, together with the Soviet interpretation of this annexation. Sources for the book are Finnish, German, British, American, and especially Soviet (both Russian and Lithuanian) archives including some hitherto unpublished documents. Many of the book's ideas stem from conferences in the United States and Sweden co-sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, which also helped support this publication.
Download or read book 20th Century in Latvia written by Source Wikipedia and published by University-Press.org. This book was released on 2013-09 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 57. Chapters: Latvia in World War II, Military history of Latvia during World War II, Singing Revolution, Occupation of the Baltic states, Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, The Holocaust in Latvia, Baltic Way, The Barricades, Reichskommissariat Ostland, On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia, January Events, Occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union 1944-1945, Latvian Legion, Destruction battalions, Courland Pocket, Occupation of the Baltic republics by Nazi Germany, Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, Baltic Entente, Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany, Latvian partisans, 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, Swedish extradition of Baltic soldiers, The Singing Revolution, 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, Estonian Sovereignty Declaration, Maslenki, Latvian resistance movement, Latvian fleet that fought for the Allies in World War II, Latvian Central Council. Excerpt: The occupation of the Baltic states refers to the military occupation of the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union under the auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on 14 June 1940 followed by their forcible illegal incorporation into the USSR as constituent republics. On 22 June 1941 Nazi Germany attacked the USSR and within weeks occupied a significant part of it including the Baltic republics. In July 1941 the Baltic territory was incorporated into the Reichskommissariat Ostland of the Third Reich. As a result of the Baltic Offensive of 1944, Soviet Union recaptured most of the Baltic states and trapped remaining German forces in Courland pocket until their formal surrender in May 1945. The Soviet "annexation occupation" (Annexionsbesetzung or occupation sui generis) of the Baltic states lasted until August 1991 when the Baltic states regained independence. The...
Download or read book The Baltic States and Weimar Ostpolitik written by John Hiden and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-05-02 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of German economic influence in the Baltic states after World War I.
Download or read book Between Giants written by Prit Buttar and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-05-20 with total page 617 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From an expert on the Eastern Front of World War II, this book chronicles the cataclysmic experience of the region that includes modern-day Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic States suffered more than almost any other territory during World War II, caught on the front-line of some of the war's most vicious battles and squeezed between the vast military might of the German Wehrmacht and the Soviet Red Army. Combining new archival research and numerous first-hand accounts, this is a magisterial description of conquest and exploitation, of death and deportation and the fight for survival both by countries and individuals.
Download or read book Nordic Narratives of the Second World War written by Mirja Österberg and published by Nordic Academic Press. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How have the dramatic events of the Second World War been viewed in the Nordic countries? In this book leading Nordic historians analyse post-war memory and historiography. They explore the relationship between scholarly and public understandings of the war. How have national interpretations been shaped by official security-policy doctrines? And in what way has the end of the Cold War affected the Nordic narratives? The authors not only present the overarching themes that set the Nordic experience of the Second World War apart from other European narratives, but also describe the distinctive post-war characteristics of Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden. Key concepts such as national identity, memory culture, and the moral turn are placed in their Nordic context. Bringing new nuance to the post-war history of Europe, this is the first work to focus on Nordic narratives of the war, and is valuable reading for students, academics, and all who have an interest in the historiography of the Second World War or modern European history.
Download or read book A History of the Baltic States written by Andres Kasekamp and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-10-26 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this key textbook, Andres Kasekamp masterfully traces the development of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, from the northern crusades against Europe's last pagans and Lithuania's rise to become one of medieval Europe's largest states, to their incorporation into the Russian Empire and the creation of their modern national identities. Employing a comparative approach, a particular emphasis is placed upon the last one hundred years, during which the Baltic states achieved independence, endured occupation by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and transformed themselves into members of the European Union. This is an essential textbook for undergraduate students taking modules on Eastern or Central European History, Communism and Post-Communism, the Soviet Union, or Baltic Culture and Politics. Engaging and accessible, this is also an ideal introduction to the Baltic States for general readers.
Download or read book Blood in the Forest written by Vincent Hunt and published by Helion and Company. This book was released on 2017-05-04 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With original research and interviews with survivors, a journalist reveals the brutal yet forgotten battles in Latvia during the final months of WWII. While the eyes of the world were on Hitler’s bunker, more than half a million men fought six cataclysmic battles in the fields and forests of Western Latvia known as the Courland Pocket. Just an hour from the capital Riga, German forces bolstered by Latvian Legionnaires were trapped with their backs to the Baltic. Forced into uniform by Nazi and Soviet occupiers, Latvian fought Latvian – sometimes brother against brother. Hundreds of thousands of men died for little territorial gain in unimaginable slaughter. When the Germans capitulated, thousands of Latvians continued a war against Soviet rule from the forests for years afterwards. An award-winning documentary journalist, Vincent Hunt travels through the modern landscape gathering eye-witness accounts, piecing together the stories of those who survived. He meets veterans who fought in the Latvian Legion, former partisans and a refugee who fled the Soviet advance to later become President, Vaira Vike-Freiberga. A survivor of the little-known concentration camp at Popervale details his escape from a death march and subsequent survival in the forests with a Soviet partisan group - and a German deserter. With detailed maps and expert contributions alongside rare newspaper archives, photographs from private collections and extracts from diaries translated from Latvian, German and Russian, Hunt assembles a ghastly picture of death and desperation in a nation both gripped by war and at war with itself.
Download or read book World War II A Very Short Introduction written by Gerhard L. Weinberg and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2014-11-13 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The enormous loss of life and physical destruction caused by the First World War led people to hope that there would never be another such catastrophe. How then did it come about that there was a Second World War causing twice the 30 million deaths and many times more destruction as had been caused in the previous conflict? In this Very Short Introduction, Gerhard L. Weinberg provides an introduction to the origins, course, and impact of the war on those who fought and the ordinary citizens who lived through it. Starting by looking at the inter-war years and the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, he examines how the war progressed by examining a number of key events, including the war in the West in 1940, Barbarossa, The German Invasion of the Soviet Union, the expansion of Japan's war with China, developments on the home front, and the Allied victory from 1944-45. Exploring the costs and effects of the war, Weinberg concludes by considering the long-lasting mark World War II has left on society today. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
