Stalin's Plans for Capturing Germany.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Musial, Bogdan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Diplomatic history.

World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Eastern Front.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (466 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Havertown : Pen & Sword Books Limited, 2023.

Summary:

Drawing on a host of internal Soviet Politburo discussions, memoranda and speeches, this book shows that the Soviet Union was a heavily militarized state that incessantly planned to unleash a great, ideologically motivated war. While the myth of Soviet benevolence has now largely been discredited, the idea that Stalin's Soviet Union was a peaceful power that sought to prevent the war through all kinds of means - including an ill-fated non-aggression treaty with Hitler - remains popular to this day. Indeed, this narrative is not only promoted by Putin's propaganda but also by a host of Western intellectuals and even historians who take public declarations at face value. Drawing on a host of internal Soviet Politburo discussions, memoranda and speeches, this book shows that the Soviet Union was a heavily militarized state that incessantly planned to unleash a great, ideologically motivated war against the rest of the world. In fact, its entire political life revolved around the question of war, especially following the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, which convinced Soviet leaders of the imminent collapse of the capitalist system abroad. Thus, both the collectivization as well as the terror that followed in its wake were done with the coming war in mind - even though there was no tangible danger of war. Slowed down by countless devastating setbacks, Stalin was nevertheless able to amass a gigantic army by the late 1930s. When Hitler approached Stalin in 1939 asking for Soviet neutrality in his planned invasion of Poland, Stalin sensed a golden opportunity: by supporting Hitler, he could turn the European powers against each another, allowing him to intervene once they were sufficiently weakened. However, Stalin miscalculated: Hitler beat both Poland and France in less than a year and then turned against Moscow in 1941, long before Stalin was ready for his own attack.

Contents:

Cover

Book Title

Copyright

Table of Contents

Introduction

Maps

Part I: Great Hopes and Great Setbacks

Chapter 1 The October Revolution in Russia: The Beginning of the Bolshevik World Revolution

Chapter 2 The Polish-Soviet War of 1920 - The Breakthrough into Europe Fails

Chapter 3 The Imperative of Economic Recovery

Chapter 4 Anti-Communist Resistance in the First Years after the Russian Civil War

Chapter 5 The Stabilization of Soviet Rul e

Chapter 6 The Red Army After 1920

Chapter 7 The German Red October of 1923 and the Bolsheviks

Chapter 8 Poland - The Testing Ground of Revolutionary Irredentism

Chapter 9 The Social, Economic and Ethnic Crisis of the Soviet Union in the Mid-1920s

Chapter 10 "Socialism in One Country" - The New Path to World Revolution

Chapter 11 Preparing for the Revolutionary War: The Committee for Defense

Chapter 12 Strengthening the Hinterland: The Hunt for Wreckers, Saboteurs, Spies and Counterrevolutionary Elements

Chapter 13 The "Pacification" of the Village and Financing War Preparations

Plate

Part II: Stalin Prepares for Total War

Chapter 14 The Great Depression and Its Consequences

Chapter 15 The Creation of a Modern Soviet Armaments Industry and the Reorganization of the Red Army, 1930-1941

Chapter 16 The Great Purge - The Hunt for Scapegoats

Chapter 17 Europe in the 1930s and Stalin's War Preparations

Chapter 18 1938/39 - The Turning Point

Chapter 19 The Hitler-Stalin Pact

Chapter 20 Stalin Triumphant

Chapter 21 The Attack on Finland - The Moment of Truth

Chapter 22 The Ideology of the Revolutionary War

Chapter 23 Hitler's Victory in the West - Stalin's Dilemma

Chapter 24 Preparing for the Attack on Germany

Chapter 25 A Pre-Emptive War?

Final Remarks

Appendix

Abbreviations

Notes

Archival Sources.

Selected Bibliography

Index

Backcover.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781399068178

1399068172

9781399068154

1399068156

OCLC:

1406413013