The Dirty War

Book Description

"My notes are written for the future. They are the testimon of the innocent victims of the new Chechen war, which is why I record all the detail I can" ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA

The Chechen War was supposed to be over in i996 after the first Yeltsin campaign, but in the summer of iggg the new Putin government decided to "do the job properly". Before all the bodies of those killed in the first campaign had been located or identified, thousands more would be slaughtered in another round of fighting.

The first account to be written by a Russian woman, A Dirty War is an edgy and intense study of a conflict that shows no signs of being resolved. Exasperated by the Russian governments attempt to manipulate media coverage of the war, journalist Anna Politkovskaya undertook to go to Chechnya, to make regular reports and keep events in the public eye.

In a series of despatches from July 1999 to January 2001 she vividly describes the atrocities and abuses of the war, whether it be the corruption endemic in post-Communist Russia, in particular the government and the military, or the spurious arguments and abominable behaviour of the Chechen authorities. In these courageous reports, Politkovskaya excoriates male stupidity and brutality on both sides of the conflict and interviews the civilians whose homes and communities have been laid waste, leaving them nowhere to live and nothing and no one to believe in.

Customer Reviews:

Russian Muckraking.......2006-06-23

This is a hard book to judge. In the first place, it's a collection of articles for what the author refers to as a newspaper, though the "New Gazette" appears to publish biweekly. This leads to some jarring articles next to one another: the first article denounces officials involved in the identification of the corpses of Russian soldiers killed in the first Chechen War 1994-6, and the second article, immediately following, denounces the first one as biased and reverses all of its statements. It's a bit strange.

There's also the issue of bias. Strangely, here in the States, most political conservatives disliked Putin's war in Chechnya, and Yeltsin's before him. In Russia, however, support for the war lies among Russia's conservative political community, while liberals oppose it. The war itself is run as you would expect a Russian war to be run: the soldiers sell their weapons and ammunition to the rebels, who shoot it back at the same soldiers. The soldiers are rarely, if ever paid, and are regularly charged with everything from rape to murder to the relatively mild drug posession. Civilians trapped in the middle are starving, lacking clean water, medical supplies, housing, jobs, pretty much everything. The Russian government makes a lot of promises and then doesn't fulfill any of them. The Chechens steal everything that isn't nailed down (and what is, they pry up and *then* steal), hold old people hostage, set oil wells on fire if they can't own them themselves, and set mines in their neighbors' apartments in order to encourage them to leave. Everyone in this book is a vicious, nasty, mean person, except the innocent civilians the author interviews who are caught between the two forces.

I mostly disagree with the accusations of bias on the part of the author. She clearly doesn't like Putin or any of the Russian administration, but she also rips the Chechens regularly. One reason for her concentration on the negative aspects of the Russian army is that they're not so violent that she can't interview them, while the Chechen fighters, especially their leaders, are dangerous enough that she either didn't try, or failed. Either way, there's more material here on the Russians (most of it negative) than there is on the Chechens. She does show some sympathy for the soldiers at the front: she outlines everything from how underpaid they are to the lousy food (it comes to the front rotting in the cans it's packaged in) to the indifferent officers and the horrible conditions at the front. The whole book, frankly, is full of negative, depressing things. This isn't a book you read to cheer yourself up.

I really thought this book informative, though given its anecdotal nature and content there's very little material on the course of the war itself. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.

Good overview.......2004-12-15

I have to disagree to some degree with those who say this is a *completely* biased piece. I also have suspicions that those who trash this work have not read it in it's entirety, if at all. Anna is certainly an advocate for the Chechen people, but she also attempts to show, albeit in small bits, the human side of Russian troops. Her writing is vivid, impassioned, but sometimes choppy. It can be difficult to read sometimes, but that may be the translation. I'm not sure how the September 11th attacks should obscure any opinions in favor of Chechen independence. Those views expressed appear to be shallow, with a blind, "follow the leader" approach. This shouldn't be an issue where you chant, "go team!"--Why not consider both sides? If you go to www.hrw.org there are plenty accounts of Russian abuse of Chechens, to be fair there is also abuse from Chechen fighters on civilians. This is a dirty war because it is corrupt on all sides. You can also find numerous other articles, not just from Politkovskaya, that echo the same problems with corruption, human rights abuses, etc. Steven Lee Myers of the New York Times is also a good source. Why is it so unfathomable that soldiers might commit abuses, be xenophobic, rape, etc. What about Elza Kungayeva's rapist? He was a high ranking colonel. Even though her rape was ommitted from her autopsy report and he was never actually convicted of rape, he still murdered her. Is that okay? Is that fair or right? Is that not terrorism at it's finest? To form a solid opinion you really need to consider all sides; you need to look at the root problems, it isn't a simple issue.---And it's obvious that it cannot be resolved through military measures alone. There really has to be some considerate discussion. (Putin has blasted that idea so I don't think it will happen.) And you cannot put blinders up and think that abuse is impossible, or even okay. It's too easy to reduce the Chechens to a nation of terrorists.

An Interesting Story yet Too Biased for Comfort.......2004-10-18

This book was somewhat of a disapointment. This is largely due to it's obviously biased viewpoints. However, what really bothered me was its lack of real information. The story was basically a compilation of dramatic stories all stressing how inhumane or heartless the Russian soldiers were and how ignorant westerners are, which would have been okay had that not been the only thing Politkovskaya said throughout the book.

Nonetheless, their was some good content in this story. It does in the end have some interesting stories which will help you understand the region slightly better and one must respect Politkovskaya for her courage in writing such a story. Ultimately, If you are not interested in the political complexities surrounding Chechnya or already know and want first hand stories about the region this book is for you if not, save your money.

Real lies ..........2004-10-15

I completely agree with one of the reviewers : a "democratic trash" financied by terrorists ....

biased.......2004-07-03

Politkovskaia is Russia's Jane Fonda, if you liked Hanoi Jane you'll love Grozny Anna. Why read her biased liberal sympathy for Chechnya, go straight to the source and read the kavkaz websites. Read the wahhabi rebels own propaganda and see some nice videos of wahhabi mujahadeen beheading Russian soldiers and Chechen sufis. Or read Osama bin Laden's praise for Chechen Islamist jihadists. Politkovskaia was called in for the Nord Ost terrorist raid to try to negotiate with the smertniki (suicide attackers)since she is known to be a sympathiser. Afterwards she wrote an article for a Russian liberal gazette about how the Russian theater hostages "got what they deserved because Chechen rebels are suffering too." You get the idea, reading her books, she does not relate Chechen rebels with al-Qaeda and Taliban supporting Wahhabi terrorists. Politkovskaia, Fonda.

Armored Units of the Russian Civil War: Red Army (New Vanguard)

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Armored Units of the Russian Civil War: Red Army (New Vanguard)
David Bullock
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
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Armored Units of the Russian Civil War: White and Allied (New Vanguard)
German Panzers 1914 - 18 (New Vanguard)
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Finland at War 1939 - 45 (Elite)
The Mexican Revolution 1910-20 (Elite)

ASIN: 1841765457
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Book Description

By 1920 the Red Army fielded an overwhelming array of armored cars and armored trains, while tank detachments had begun forming in earnest. These armored units played an important part in consolidating the newly won Bolshevik empire in the early 1920s; as a consequence of the fact that railways were the strategic arteries that essentially controlled Russia, armored trains have never played such a significant role in military history as they did in the Russian Civil War. This title details their management, construction and repair, personnel and training and combat on all fronts, as well as discussing Trotsky's armored train, in which he conducted 36 tours.

Russian Sideshow: America's Undeclared War, 1918-1920

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America's Intervention in the Russian Civil War....
Excellent factual report
This book should be read!

Russian Sideshow: America's Undeclared War, 1918-1920
Robert L. Willett
Manufacturer: Potomac Books Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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INTERVENTION IN RUSSIA 1918-1920: A Cautionary Tale
The Decision to Intervene: Soviet-American Relations 1917-1920, Vol. 2
Soviet-American Relations, 1917-1920. Volume I
When Hell Froze Over
Fighting the Bolsheviks: The Russian War Memoir of Private First Class Donald E. Carey, U.S. Army, 1918-1 919

ASIN: 1574884298

Book Description

In July 1918, as the carnage of World War I continued, President Woodrow Wilson deployed U.S. troops to join other Allied forces in civil war-ravaged Russia. Ostensibly a mission to guard czarist military supplies and the Trans-Siberian Railroad, the true purpose of the Allied intervention was to help topple the nascent Bolshevik government.

Dispatched to some of the most remote regions of the Russian wilderness-from the frigid port city of Archangel to Lake Baikal to Vladivostok-the U.S. troops encountered fierce resistance from Red Army units, partisans, and peasants. Using previously classified official records and the letters and diaries of Americans who served there, Robert L. Willett describes the suffering of the hundreds of American soldiers who fought and died in subzero conditions, both in combat and from disease. Expertly researched and provocatively written, this book is the first to describe in detail the experiences of the American doughboys who fought in this little-known campaign-a tragically misguided military action that established a legacy of distrust that defined U.S.-Soviet relations for the next seven decades.

Customer Reviews:

America's Intervention in the Russian Civil War...........2006-11-17

.... is but a footnote in our country's diplomatic and military history. Robert Willett does a masterful job of presenting the arguments used by the British and French to convince President Wilson to commit troops to the Allied Intervention in North Russia and Siberia, as well as describing the chaotic military situation the American troops found themselves thrust into and how they performed. As the grandson of a U.S. Army "Polar Bear" soldier who fought in North Russia, I have a keen interest in this subject and have read many of the books that have been written on this subject. Of all those I have read, I believe that "Russian Sideshow" does the best job of covering all facets of this military intervention and does it in a style that is accessible to the average reader.

Excellent factual report.......2006-11-16

Willett is a Joe Friday type writer.."Just the facts....." He has done a tremendous amount of research on a narrow area; reporting facts with diligent reference work. He always separates the facts from the opinions and impressions of the participants of the campaign. As he states in the beginning of the book, it was not his purpose to delve into the geopolital issues heavily, but to document what really happened. He acomplished his goal of describing the campaign accurately. "Russian Sideshow" is an excellent study in the issues that military forces face when they receive "fuzzy" orders. An excellent read for anyone interested in "small wars" or, for senior military officers interested in what happens when they get those "fuzzy" orders.

This book should be read!.......2006-05-20

As a graduate student of history I am always trying to find subjects which are not taught even at the university level. This book is a prime example of history the average american should know about. Mr. Willett does a fantastic job with this little known military mistake by the United States and in the process, gives honor to those who fought and died. At every opprotunity, Willett gives the reader the names of those americans who died, thus honoring their forgotten sacrifice. If you love military history and want to know where the Cold War trully began, read this book!

The Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War: (Greenwood Press Guides to Historic Events of the Twentieth Century)

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The Bolshevik Revolution and Russian Civil War: (Greenwood Press Guides to Historic Events of the Twentieth Century)
Rex A. Wade
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0313299749

Book Description

The Bolshevik Revolution remains one of the most important events of modern history. It reshaped the political, social, and economic structure of one of the world's "great powers" and had enormous international impact. This work brings together a rich, readable account that will help students to understand the event and its significance, as well as ready-reference materials for student research. Six topical essays, a timeline of events, 13 lengthy biographical profiles of key players, and the text of 32 key documents provide a wealth of information on this seminal event in world history. The essays are all based on the most recent historical scholarship. An overview of the Bolshevik Revolution puts the event into historical perspective. Topical essays consider the aspirations of the Russian people, the nature of the Revolution, the civil wars, the issue of ethnicity and nationality, and the legacy of the Bolshevik Revolution. Biographical profiles cover fully the lives and contributions of the key players in the Revolution. A wealth of documents, with explanatory introductions, provides an excellent source of primary materials. An annotated bibliography guides the reader to appropriate works for further research. This work is an excellent introduction to the Bolshevik Revolution for the student and interested reader.

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Dont buy this book
Intelligent but Dated
A Chechen Stocking Stuffer
Simply essential reading
Comprehensive but does assume some background

Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power
Anatol Lieven
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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Russia Confronts Chechnya: Roots of a Separatist Conflict
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Allah's Mountains: The Battle for Chechnya, New Edition

ASIN: 0300078811

Amazon.com

A correspondent for the Financial Times, Anatol Lieven spent much time in Chechnya, the postage-stamp-sized Caucasus republic whose break from Russia in 1994 precipitated a major war (one that Russia lost). Lieven looks into the long, troubled history of Russian-Chechen relations, noting that each side despised the other for largely cultural reasons (the Chechens have long been involved in organized crime in major Russian cities, whereas Russians have long tried to strip Chechnya of its resources). He notes that Chechen society has historically been militarized (one Armenian said to Lieven, "The men are always fighting and the women are cooking for them, nursing their wounds, and bringing up their children"), making the mountain people a formidable foe. In the meanwhile, writes Lieven, the Russian military suffered from low morale and from corruption of various kinds: Russian field soldiers sold their guns to Chechen guerrillas for vodka and currency, while Russian officers stole their soldiers' pay and Russian politicians skimmed off the top. This is an extraordinary look at a little-known conflict. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

The humiliation of Russia by separatist rebels in the Chechen War marked a key moment in Russian-and perhaps world-history. In this major new work, distinguished writer and political commentator Anatol Lieven offers a riveting eyewitness account of the war, the first in-depth portrait of the Chechen people in English, and a sophisticated and multifaceted explanation for the Russian defeat and the present weakness of the Russian state and nation.

Customer Reviews:

Dont buy this book.......2007-07-26

I am an avid fan of war memoirs and did not enjoy this book. It was a way too complex read of a war that most people have little knowledge of. First book I ever returned to Amazon.

Intelligent but Dated.......2006-07-13

This 1998 book examining the war between Russia and its breakaway republic Chechnya is a product of great expertise and tremendous thoroughness. The war is examined from all angles in great detail. Furthermore, author Anatol Lieven has an affecting writing style when he relates his personal experiences among the Chechens. But things are still unsettled in the former Soviet Union, and events have overtaken this book. New wars have broken out in ways and in places that call Lieven's theories (which were based on the best information available at the time) into question.

For the person who needs to know the current zeitgeist in the former Soviet republics, this book is too dated to be of much use; while for those who are interested in the Russia/Chechnya war as a historical subject are going to have to wait until the region settles before a definitive account can be written. This is a good book from a thoughtful, talented, and well-informed author; but the lapse of time has rendered it unfit for its purpose.

A Chechen Stocking Stuffer.......2003-11-04

This book is an example of how embarrassing it can be for an author to go out on a limb with his prognostications. Lieven declared in this book that after the Russians were driven from Chechnya (the first Chechen War) they wouldn't be back for many years. Well, they're back - and with a vengeance.

Lieven does point out some interesting things along the way, of course. It's amazing to read that central Grozny - destroyed by the Russian Army and Air Force - was primarily inhabited by Russians, especially older, retired Russians, not Chechens. Subsequent events in Moscow's Dubrovka Theatre - where the security services killed all the Chechen kidnappers and most of their Russian hostages - show just how little the Russian government values the lives of its citizens. In any event, each tidbit of useful information is offset by either an error or an unsubstantiated opinion. For example, Lieven wonders why Russian TU-22 or Tu-26 bombers were not used to destroy rebel sanctuaries. Well, for one thing, TU-22 (Blinder) bombers have been out of the Russian active inventory for many years. As for the TU-26, it doesn't even exist. Lieven should know that the bomber he wanted to refer to is the TU-22M (Backfire.) Apparently what Mr. Lieven lacks in knowledge he's more than willing to make up for in speculation.

Perhaps the most egregious shortcoming of the book, though, is the total lack of maps and diagrams. The author makes dozens of references to locations throughout Chechnya, but provides not map one. For all the reader knows, Chechnya could be somewhere in Central Asia, and where the locations are inside Chechnya is anybody's guess. Nevertheless, it's obvious from reading the reviews on these pages that some readers got a lot out of the book. For that reason alone I think that this book would make a good stocking stuffer for a history/politics buff at Christmas. A nice token, but not something to be taken too seriously.

Simply essential reading.......2002-07-30

This book is one of the most important works for those who read, write and think about any of the following:

Capitalism;
RMA Issues;
Nation-States;
Revolutions;
Post-Soviet Society;
Islam;
Tribal Society;
East-West Divisions;
The Rule of Law;
War;
and Human Rights.

There is very little that this book does not at some point find a way to address. That is my only real problem with the text: Like its author, it has a way of involving many different ideas that may, or may not, actually hold together to make a compelling argument. However, unlike other authors' attempts to weave this kind of tapestry, this book succeeds more often that it confounds.

I think it is the first book I have read that accurately captured just what was going on in Chechnya in terms of what had happened in Moscow. This is more than a typical piece of modern war-correspondent work. This is an author who understands both sides of the conflict, and not only in terms of the tactical and strategic pictures. More than a blow-by-blow account of Russian brutality (which it contains as well), it moves beyond the normal, facile explanations of Russian behavior in the Caucasus.

Would the normal view of an expansionist Russian still account for the ways in which the first Chechen campaign was conducted? Only partly, and it would be wholly unsatisfying to stop there. To answer this question requires a deeper understanding of modern Russia than you would get from the traditional explanations coming from Conquest et. al.

What Lieven has done here is to capture more than the status on the ground. He has achieved the first real and complex portrait of the Russia of Boris Yeltsin, the Russian army in its post-Soviet incarnation, and one of the best examples of the kind of analysis that needs to be done on modern armies who must confront ancient societies.

Comprehensive but does assume some background.......2002-01-31

Undoubtedly a fine work. Comprehensive, Incisive and written with great passion. However it does assume at least a passing aquaintance with the actors, thus for the beginner it would be probably be advantageous to supplement with additional material.

Nichivo: Tales from the Russian Front 1941-43

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Good Book

Nichivo: Tales from the Russian Front 1941-43
Giorgio Geddes
Manufacturer: Cassell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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800 Days on the Eastern Front: A Russian Soldier Remembers World War II (Modern War Studies)
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ASIN: 0304359262

Book Description

Here is the true, poetic, and passionately told story of the civilians caught between the Soviet and German armies in World War II. Though many histories convey the experiences of the soldiers who fought on the Russian Front, this focuses on the ordinary people, harried by bandits and local warlords; routinely robbed of food and fuel by the invaders; living under the constant threat of deportation to Germany; and fearing their own troops as much as the enemy.

Customer Reviews:

Good Book.......2006-03-03

Human side of the German occupation of USSR from 1942-1943 told by an Italian officer. Fairly well written but could use a little polish.

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Best short history of Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War
Evan Mawdsley
Manufacturer: Pegasus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War
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Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy
Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941-1945

ASIN: 1933648155

Book Description

"The best book ever written on the Russian civil war. A first-rate work of scholarly synthesis."-Robert McNeal

Petrograd, October 25, 1917: The Bolshevik Party stormed the capital city and seized the power of Russia's provisional government, which had been operating ineffectually since the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II eight months before. In that October revolution began the Russian Civil War, and the next three long, bloody years would cost the largest country in Europe more than seven million lives. It was an apocalyptic struggle, replete with war and strife, famine and pestilence, but out of it would rise a new social order. The Soviet Union would be born.

Noted historian Evan Mawdsley here offers a lucid, superbly detailed account of the men and events that shaped twentieth-century Communist Russia. From what Lenin called the Triumphal March of Soviet Power to the final, dramatic victories of the Red Army over their enemies, Mawdsley traces the destiny of a utopian dream that promised workers power, peace, and land reform.

Drawing upon a wide range of sources, The Russian Civil War chronicles the hardship to a country and its people, for victory and the reconstruction of Russian power under the Soviet regime come at a painfully high economic and human price.

Customer Reviews:

Best short history of Russian Civil War.......1999-12-30

Among the innumerable books and essays on the Russian Civil War, this is by far the best book to start with. It's reasonably short, very readable, has helpful maps, and an excellent bibliography. It's one of the few books to present a coherent, unified account of an extremely complex and messy historical episode. Best of all, Mawdsley, who is (or at least was until recently) a professional historian at the University of Glasgow, writes his book without basing it on any particular political viewpoint, whereas the great majority of books on the Russian Civil War have an axe to grind. In order to keep the book readable and reasonably short, Mawdsley omits a great deal of important information; for the reader who wants to delve further, Volume Two of William Henry Chamberlin's `The Russian Revolution, 1917 - 1921' originally published in 1934, is still the book to read next after Mawdsley.

Unfortunately, Mawdsley's book is out of print and seems to be hard to come by. However, a determined book search can locate a copy, or of course your local library can get a copy on interlibrary loan. I wish it was back in print.

Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War
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The big picture

Excellent book about a difficult topic

Very engaging history on a very complex subject

would give it two and a half but...

Good History

Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War
W. Bruce Lincoln
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Russian Civil War

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Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime

ASIN: 0306809095

Customer Reviews:

The big picture.......2006-12-27

"No nation has ever set side the principles that triumphed in its civil war," writes historian Bruce Lincoln, in words that perhaps were being outpaced by events when this book was published in 1990. On the other hand, the revolution of the Soviet empire may require a civil war as much as the revolution of the tsarist empire did. (2006 update: jury still out on that one)
Civil war was a surprise to the idealists who turned their backs on the stupid carnage of the war with Germany and the stupid tsar. They recalled 1917 as a year of soaring hope.
At least in Moscow and Petrograd; life was grim enough in the countryside, as always.
The civil war did not have to be fought as a class war, perhaps. That was a conscious decision of the Bolsheviks. For the common people, that decision was disastrous. "As the Reds and Whites fought their first battles in the spring of 1918, neither thought simply of victory or defeat. Each planned the other's annihilation," writes Lincoln, who has written seven other books about Russia.
Annihilation was the fate of ordinary Russians and the subject peoples of the empire. "The tsar had been overthrown and the Civil War won," Lincoln writes, "but the Bolsheviks' domestic security forces continued to be larger than any their imperial predecessors had ever possessed. So did their bureaucracy. In town and country, the living standard of Russia's masses remained far below what it had been in 1917. The general death rate had doubled, and that grim statistic did not take into account some seven million men, women and children who had died from malnutrition and epidemics since the Bolsheviks had taken power."
The nearly incredible scope of the Revolution and the Civil War has seldom been presented to Americans in a solid, popular history, so "Red Victory" was timely as the Second Revolution was under way in 1990. Lincoln's style has much in common with that of Page Smith in his "People's History of the United States."

Excellent book about a difficult topic .......2005-08-31

This is an immensely informative and enjoyable book. Lincoln is among the better narrative historians although he does interject some analyses as well. The book Red Victory is not only about the Russian Civil War but about the almost insurmountable obstacles...political, economic, and military...faced by Lenin and the Bolsheviks after their seizure of power. The Russian Civil War was a confusing chaotic affair with numerous factions and personalities but Lincoln does a commendable job sorting out the details in a comprehensible manner. As he implies in his text, there are few geunuine heroes in this conflict as each side practiced attrocities as brutal as any in modern day civil wars. The one weakness is more detail should have been provided concerning the military aspects of the actual battles. Otherwise highly recommended.

Very engaging history on a very complex subject.......2003-04-06

Lincoln very engagingly takes the reader into the private memoirs of hundreds of principal characters, into the thinking of Lenin and Trotsky and Stalin, and into the changing and complex fabric of Russian life during its Civil War. Every page breathes the idea "revolution" as the cure-all in the Reds' minds for every ill in Russian society, while the Whites seem more bent on democracy or a dictatorship (like the tsarist days), so long as there was some kind of order, during a period when "corruption" was their own festering and ultimately destructive cancer. Politics, the maker of strange bedfellows, and a background as broad and as varied as Russia itself, make for key components in this fascinating examination of political theory and efforts at self-government on the heels of the First World War.

would give it two and a half but..........2002-11-19

this book just doesnt cut it as professional history. It is aimed too much toward general laymen interest of the public. A topic as horrific as the Russian Civil War cannot be dealt with in such a conventional manner. Lincoln tells us what happened as opposed to why. The Whites get almost no attention and most of the work focuses on the Reds. This book is divided into sections 1918, 1919, 1920 ect... but there is almost no chronological order to the work and Lincoln jumps from the October Revolution to Cheka atrocities with no sense of transition. The White administration of territories and the White military unitis along with their regimental level commanders receive not attention at all. This book gives the impression that all Whites were nothing but a motley collection of disgrunteled front commanders from the German war, muderous rascists, and drug addicted psychotics. They were no saints but Trotsky and Lenin were just as bad...if not worse. The book is over long and actually gives more importance Stalin's terror in the late 30s then it does on the apocolyptic war at the front in 1919. The section on the Kronstad uprising should have been cut out altogeather and more focus should have been given to the Tambov peasant rising. Stick with Mawdsley's more academic and convincing work on this terrible tragedy.

Good History.......2000-03-30

This is a great look at a bloody moment in Russian history. Fascinating, exciting, and well written, this is how hisotry should be written.

Armored Units of the Russian Civil War: White and Allied (New Vanguard)

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Armored Units of the Russian Civil War: White and Allied (New Vanguard)
David Bullock
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1841765449
Release Date: 2003-12-17

Product Description

One of the most important conflicts of the 20th century, the Russian Civil War was the struggle that led to the formation of the Soviet Union. Following the overthrow of the Russian Provisional Government on 7 November 1917, the All-Russian Congress of Soviets met and handed over power to the Soviet Council of People's Commissars. Immediately forces began to assemble in opposition to the Bolshevik regime, and these became known as the Whites. This title examines the armour that they had at their disposal throughout the course of the war. It was a varied collection including British and French vehicles and, perhaps most famously, the armoured trains that enabled the Whites to dominate much of Siberia.

Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War (Annals of Communism Series)

Average customer rating:

valuable documents on Communist role in Spain
RIPS AWAY THE ROTTING SCAB OF STALINISM
Important documentary evidence of Stalin's criminality
A poor work
The bitter taste of Soviet bureaucracy

Spain Betrayed: The Soviet Union in the Spanish Civil War (Annals of Communism Series)

Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Spanish Civil War, The Soviet Union, and Communism
The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939
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ASIN: 0300089813

Book Description

The Spanish Civil War has long been the stuff of legend. Thousands of brave young men from all over the Western world, most of them organized by their local Communist parties, rushed to Spain to support the democratic Republic against right- wing forces led by rebellious generals in the Spanish officer corps. Although the Republic was eventually defeated, some observers believed that the effort to defend it was a selfless undertaking of the international Communist movement and the Soviet Union—a noble crusade against Hitler, Mussolini, and their Spanish puppet Franco.

This book presents a very different view of the role of the Soviet Union in this war. Based on previously unavailable Moscow archives, it provides the first full documentation of that country's duplicitous and self-serving activities. Documents in the book reveal that the Soviet Union not only swindled the Spanish Republic out of millions of dollars through arms deals but also sought to take over and run the Spanish economy, government, and armed forces in order to make Spain a Soviet possession, thereby effectively destroying the foundations of authentic Spanish antifascism. The documents also shed light on many other disputed episodes of the war: the timing of the Republican request for assistance from the Soviet Union; the rise and fall of the International Brigades; the internal workings of the Comintern and its influence on Spain; and much more.

Authoritative and startling in the new information it offers, the book is essential reading for anyone interested in Soviet foreign policy or the Spanish Civil War.

Customer Reviews:

valuable documents on Communist role in Spain.......2005-02-05

Don't let Ron Radosh's move to the political right discredit the
value of this book from a leftwing point of view. The documents
are of value in themselves. To over-simplify a bit, there were
really three sides to the Spanish Civil War. It wasn't just
a civil war but a working class revolution. Spain in the '30s
had a vast revolutionary labor movement. The industrialists,
land-owning oligarchy, Church leaders and generals backed a
violent "final solution" aiming at the extermination of this
movement. But the Communists had very little support within the
Spanish working class. The main social force was an anarchist-
inspired union movement, together with socialist unions
mostly outside the control of the Communist Party.
An interesting aspect of this book are the documents that
give the assessment of the non-Communist left from
the point of view of Stalin's agents. From the point of view of
the workers who built the first labor militias to fight the
fascist army, the war was a class war, a revolutionary war.
Radosh's book shows clearly that the Communists aimed to create
a one-party totalitarian state in Spain, if Franco had been
defeated. To do this they had to crush the authentic Spanish
working class left. It's strategy was to use the leverage it got
from the Soviet Union's arms shipments to Spain to first create
a conventional hierarchical army to replace the initial labor
militias and then eventually capture control of the state by
gaining control of the army officer corps. The documents in this
book, from the Soviet archives, provide evidence to support this
hypothesis.

RIPS AWAY THE ROTTING SCAB OF STALINISM.......2005-01-15

Ron Radosh, whose own uncle, Irving Keith died in fighting the Fascists in Spain, has written a gripping, if ponderous, terrifying if also mundane account of the Stalinist grip on the Republic of Spain.

In a series of documents, culled from the former Soviet archives, Radosh spins a thoroughly believeable tale of cunning, avarice, deceit and betrayal not only of the Spanish Republic, but of the thousands of idealistic young men - the vast majority of them Communists - who flocked to Spain believing that MOTHER RUSSIA was the great white hope of stopping Hitlerism in its tracks. And thousands died, never knowing of the deals that pockmarked scum toady was making with Herr Hitler.

Radosh also presents the documents of those International Brigade men who went to Spain fighting for Democracy and Revolution, and when they found out that the revolution and fight against Fascism had been betrayed, they themselves were arrested and many shot. Close to a dozen Americans were shot by the GPU, some on charges of desertion, others like Albert Wallach, Vernon Selby, Marvin Stern and Harry Perchik on political grounds. Even non-Communist Lincoln Brigaders like one-time commander Philip Detro, a self-described Roosevelt Democrat, may have been terminated by a Party that was little tolerant of dissent.

One of the foremost documents Radosh features is one written by "M. Fred" M. Fred was Manfred Stern or Emil Kleber the vaunted General Emilio Kleber who saved Madrid during the November 1936 siege. Kleber writes a critical document, encompassing almost 75 pages, justifying his role in the International Brigades and acknowledging mistakes. What Kleber was really writing here was a plea for his life, because Stalin had already begun the purges of International Brigade commanders (1938) when this document was written.

And little did Kleber know - he was to perish shortly after returning to Moscow - that Stalin had already made up his mind that no matter how many victories the International Brigades would win, the Republic was doomed and just a pawn, a toy to be played with Herr Hitler.

Many, like Bill Herrick in his excellent "Jumping the Line" would learn the bitter truth early on. Others, like Harry Fisher, would parrot the Party Line till the day he died protesting the just war against the Stalin of the Middle East, Saddam Hussein.

This is a five star book that only received four stars because I wish that Radosh would write more of the Lincolns and his uncle. Their idealism, and in many cases a sincere fight against Hitlerism and to support the democratic republic of Spain - instead of the cynical betrayal of it by Joe Stalin.

Important documentary evidence of Stalin's criminality.......2003-11-15

This is another wonderful volume in the very important Annals of Communism series published by Yale University Press. I can't praise this series enough for the service they have provided us in every one of these volumes.

This book provides, in English translation, 81 important documents of the true Soviet actions in its participation in the Spanish Civil War. Historians will have to make the final judgments and assessments of this material. But I am glad to have the myth of the idealistic Soviet exposed for the lie it always was.

Just as an example of what we learn, we now understand Stalin's desire and success at basically stealing the $50,000,000 Spain had in gold reserves. by shipping Spain outdated and non-functioning military junk as arms. We also know that the French, in effect, supported the Nazi's by interdicting other Soviet arms shipments to the Republic.

There is much more valuable information between the covers of this wonderful book. It reads shorter than its five-hundred plus pages because the documents can be read quickly and the commentary on them is completely fascinating.

A poor work.......2003-09-29

This work contains many false statements, poor use of evidence, and just plain incompetence. Far from showing Soviet "betrayal," these 81 documents make the Comintern, the International Brigades, and the massive Soviet aid to Spain appear in an extremely positive light. Reading the documents alone, and ignoring Radosh's "commentary," any objective person will come away with tremendous respect for the communist effort in the Spanish Civil War, not only by the Comintern and the justly famed International Brigades, but of the Soviet Union -- or, as Radosh says it, in his crude demonizing synecdoche, of "Moscow" and "Stalin."

I've written a longer review of this book at

http://eserver.org/clogic/2002/furr.html

In short, the documents are of great interest, but Radosh's commentary is incompetent and dishonest.

The bitter taste of Soviet bureaucracy.......2002-08-06

The facts speak for themselves. But in this case the casual student of history might nod off during the lecture. The numerous translated documents lose their novelty appeal rather quickly. I recommend it only to the hardcore SCW scholar who can use it for citing references or teaching college courses. It really is a huge, valuable piece of the puzzle. However I would not take it as total vindication for the Republic's detractors: the Popular Front had some support from the Comintern, but it is a slippery-slope fallacy to claim that its decline into Stalinism was therefore inevitable. Its decline was greatly helped along by the war, a condition that always tends to centralize authority and rationalize police-state tactics, and by European & American isolationism. France also elected a Popular Front coalition which, like Spain's, had all the left factions from moderate liberal to communist. Despite the fragmentation of this multiparty system, France managed not to have a civil war over it, and was not undermined by Stalinism. Conspiracies can only do so much; if you look at the documents, the Soviets in Spain had their hands full dealing with the chaos. One could just as easily argue that quick intervention by France, the UK & USA could've saved the Republic from Stalin AND Franco. FDR later admitted to US Ambassador Bowers that he had been right on this point all along.

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