Stalin's Folly - The Tragic First Ten Days of WWII on the Eastern Front

Stalin's cunning and ruthlessness brought him to supreme power in the Soviet Union. Yet in the summer of 1941 he appeared to lose his touch. With unparalleled access to the Soviet archives, this text reveals why the dictator behaved as he did.

About the author

Russian-born Constantine Pleshakov is the author of The Tsar's Last Armada The Flight of the Romanovs, and Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War. He is a visiting prefessor of history at Mount Holyoke College.

Summary

On June 22, 1941, radios all over the Soviet Union crackled with the announcement that the country had been attacked by Nazi Germany. But the voice on the airwaves was not the familiar one of Joseph Stalin; it was the voice of his deputy, Molotov. Paralyzed by Hitler's unexpected move, Stalin disappeared completely from public view for the crucial ten days of war on the Eastern Front. In this taut, hour-by-hour account, Constantine Pleshakov draws on a wealth of information from newly opened archives to elucidate the complex causes of the Soviet leader's reaction, revealing the feared despot's unrealized military stratagems as well as his personal vulnerabilities, while also offering a new and deeper understanding of Russian history.

Product details

• Authors: Constantine Pleshakov
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 12.12.2006
• EAN: 9780618773619
• ISBN: 978-0-618-77361-9
• No. of pages: 326
• Weight: 346 g
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Historical, HISTORY: Military / World War II, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Political, HISTORY: Europe / Germany, HISTORY: Military / Strategy, HISTORY: Europe / Russia & the Former Soviet Union, HISTORY: Military / Nuclear Warfare, HISTORY: Wars & Conflicts / World War II / Eastern Front, HISTORY: Military / Pictorial