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Stalin's War

Tragedy and Triumph, 1941-1945

Edwin P Hoyt author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cooper Square Publishers Inc.,U.S.

Published:13th Mar '03

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Stalin's War cover

The battlefields of the USSR witnessed the most devastating confrontations of World War II. In every one of those battles, Communist dictator Josef Stalin exercised his influence, meddling with (and executing) his generals, hurling unprepared armies into pure chaos, and meeting with his Western allies to divide the world up into zones of influence that would soon be embroiled in a new war. World War II scholar Hoyt describes the war from Stalin's vantage point and shows how his decisions, especially his early refusal to go to war with Germany even after they attacked, led to the historic battles for Leningrad, Stalingrad, and Moscow. Hoyt also explains how Stalin's bloody purges before the war left a military bereft of leadership, yet opened the doors for Zhukov, Chuikov, Rokossovsky, and other crucial commanders to spearhead a Soviet victory. Stalin's War also examines Stalin's use of propaganda to vilify the German army and blame Soviet war crimes and human rights violations on the Nazis.

The Eastern Front was chaos, blood, and destruction on an unimaginable scale. Yet, one man dominated it—Stalin. Edwin Hoyt brings the reader into this maelstrom from the web center of the great tyrant whose paranoia set the Soviet Union up for near destruction but who yet transformed himself into the able warlord who beat the Wehrmacht to death. -- Peter G. Tsouras, Author of Panzers on the Eastern Front and The Great Patriotic War
The story of the Soviet Union's struggle to victory in World War II is a gripping one and Hoyt retells it with the observant eye of an historian and the narrative drive of a novelist. By the end of Stalin's War it is chillingly clear that the Soviet dictator was as much at war with his own people as he was with the Nazis. -- Steven Otfinoski, Author of Joseph Stalin: Russia's Last Czar
Fast paced and informative, Stalin's War sustains the author's track record. It is one of Hoyt's best. -- Earl Ziemke, Author of Moscow to Stalingrad and Stalingrad to Berlin
This is a powerful horror story about the chaotic, wasteful, war-waging by a dictator who was every bit as murderous as Adolf Hitler. Hoyt's insights into Stalin's mind and into his extravagantly ruthless methods, which caused the quite unnecessary deaths of millions of his own people (let alone his enemies and allies), provides a vivid and unusual contribution to the history of World War II on the enormous Russian Front. -- Kenneth Macksey, Author of Rommel: Battles and Campaigns and Guderian: Panzer Leader
As usual Hoyt can be relied upon to give an exciting, anecdotal account of difficult military and naval subjects. In Stalin's War he excels himself. An excellent read, heartily recommended. -- Charles Whiting, Author of Hunters from the Sky, Siegfried, and '44

ISBN: 9780815410324

Dimensions: 236mm x 163mm x 23mm

Weight: 544g

320 pages