An interesting but sometimes controversial history of Stalin | Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of...

A good but not flawless account of those first ten days | Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of World War Two on the Eastern Front | Constantine Pleshakov

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	• Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of World War Two on the Eastern Front Constantine Pleshakov Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 24 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

You will surely love it

If your looking at this book you probably already have an interest in WWII, Russia, Stalin, or the Eastern Front. If you can answer yes to any of these things, you will love this book. Of course, it is written predominately from the Russian point of view, otherwise it would just be called The Tragic First Ten Days Of World War II On The Eastern Front. But since this book is about "Stalin's Folly" it is natural to assume this is about Russia.

This book is genuinely entertaining. It turns the historical information into a truly human drama. The figures are brought to life in a way that it easily identifiable. The book sometimes digresses from the matter at hand to individual stories, of heroism, despair, and suffering. I found this greatly entertaining and these individual stories of the common person acted as a kind of "intermission" a way to gather your thoughts and soak up the information.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in World WarII on the Eastern Front, or anyone genuinely interested in entertaining historical drama.

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An interesting but sometimes controversial history of Stalin

The author begins his book by assuring readers that his information is based on the latest Russian archival information available and also points out that Putin had shut down the pipeline to the west and that any new or confirming information will probably take years before becoming public.

The author delivers a deliberate presentation of prewar history of Stalin, the start of Communism and the people of Russia. Lenin's influence on the peasants to rise up and overturn the present nobility class and intelligentisia and his plans to spread Communism throughout the world is discussed. Its also significant that Lenin just before his death tries to exclude Stalin from taking over, knowing his heavy handed ways would be bad for the spread of Communism. Lenin fails and Stalin career is then presented, showing his bloody rise to power. Once in power, further restrictions are placed on the public, collectivization of farms is inaugurated, increased arms production and mobilization of troops begins as well. The purges will follow that will kill or imprison thousands more. Stalin wanted to be invincible from within and without and he put his whole country on a loose war footing.

So far the author's account is conventional history with nothing to argue about but his next claim is controversial. Mr Pleshakov brings forth the theory that Stalin was planning a preemptive strike on Eastern Europe that would capture the land from Greece to Poland and that the attack would probably occur in 1941 or possible 1942. That's the reason behind Stalin's appeasement of Hitler. He didn't want Hitler to suspect a possible attack was coming and strike first.
This introduction is almost 100 pages and it gives the reader a solid foundation for the coverage of the coming war. Starting with June 22, 1941 and for the next ten days, the author provides a daily account of the events of the war along the entire front which includes Stalin's participation, influence and reactions to said events. Stalin thought he knew more than his generals and wouldn't listen to their advice, always insisting on attacking the enemy regardless if his armies were ready for those offensives. Stalin also thought he knew Hitler and could handle him. When Hitler attacked, Stalin was shocked, losing temproary confidence in his abilities and was worried he would be thrown out of power.
Its clearly shown in all three sectors in those early weeks, that unlike the Russian response to Napoleon's invasion, Pavlov, Boldon, Kirponos, Kuznetsov and others were constantly being ordered to attack unprepared which would cost the Red Army 100,000s of men without making any gains.

Much of this book is conventional history that can be read in many other books but there are small nuggets of information of meetings held, orders given, people's reactions to those events that aren't in older books and for this reason alone is worth the read. The author also has a concise easy to understand style that also favors reading this book over others.
In addition to these little items, the author is convinced that Stalin was planning his own attack westward and builds a good case for it. Viktor Suvorov and couple others have also promoted this offensive position. On the other hand, David Glantz in his book, "Stumbling Colossus" believes quite firmly that since the Red Army wasn't adequately prepared, would never have attacked. With Stalin's proven lack of military expertise (he couldn't read maps correctly or understand the advantage of choosing terrain properly or concentration of power etc) but with his war doctrine of always being on the offensive it would not be surprising to have seen him attack preemptively in 1941 or maybe 1942 if Hitler hadn't attacked first.

Since this summary doesn't include tactical coverage there aren't a lot of maps and those present are general purpose maps of the entire front. There are a few photos to inspect as well. There is an impressive Notes section and Bibliography if further study is desire. The book closes with an Index.
This small book is concisely written and packs a surprising amount of useful information. New and casual readers will learn a lot from it and even experienced students can pick up those small nuggets of unusual information as well. Even if you initially don't agree with Stalin's preemptive strike theory, I think, you'll still appreciate reading about it.

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A good but not flawless account of those first ten days

Pleshakov has written a very detailed and lively account of those tragic first ten days, and the events leading up to them. His style is easy to enjoy, while his knowledge of the topic is extensive.

I only have two complaints:

(1) I think the endnotes should have been flagged by numbers so that it would have been easier to follow them.

(2) His theory that Stalin wanted to attack Germany by early July 1941 is not widely accepted, and there is no hard evidence whatsoever supporting it. It is just one possible explanation of Stalin's actions (or the lack of them) before Barbarossa, and (in my point of view) not even the most likely. Still Pleshakov regards it to be fact, and although he admits the lack of evidence, some readers may believe that what they're reading is the only (or at least by far the most likely) explanation of the known facts. Well, it is not.

Still, I recommend this book for anyone who's interested in the history (and the Soviet side) of the German Eastern Front.

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Often reads more like a novel than a historical recounting

"Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of WWII on the Eastern Front" focuses on what happened to the Soviet Union during the first ten days of the German invasion in WWII by looking closely at the people and personalities in key positions, particularly Stalin and the handful of his inner circle and military leaders who had survived his repeated purges. Because the author Constantine Pleshakov delves into the psychology and motivation of the military and political leaders, this book reads, at times, more like a novel than a historical recounting of the events during and leading up to the initial days of the German invasion.

The horrifying scale of human lose and suffering in Russia, much of it attributed to the inept and indifferent leadership of Stalin and his cronies, staggers the imagination, and Pleshakov uses anecdotes and stories from survivors and victims liberally.

Others have recapped the book much better than I could, and I will not attempt to add to their efforts. I would note that this book is not without its problems. First, one is left to wonder how much is speculation and how much is history, given, as the author notes, the difficulties in accessing Soviet historical documents and the added problem of figuring which of the multiple viewpoints found in those documents are accurate. Next, I would have appreciated more supplemental materials, notably more maps, additional photos (some of the choices here seemed odd to me), and an in-depth annotated list of the major figures named in the book. I struggled to keep up with the "where" and "who" at times.

No doubt there is much more to this story, and I understand why some scholars of Russian history have picked apart Pleshakov's approach, but I found his narrative hard to put down.

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On June 22, 1941, Hitler launched a massive three-pronged attack on the Soviet Union, and in days his troops were within reach of Moscow. The attack was stunning, but Stalin?s response was even more astonishing. During the invasion, the mighty Soviet military stood in place while its soldiers were slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands.

Drawing on a wealth of newly available documents, from classified Politburo papers and diaries of key generals to diplomatic cables and secret police memos, the Russian historian Constantine Pleshakov paints a startling portrait of Stalin, one of history?s most feared despots, as a vulnerable and paralyzed leader. Refusing to believe that the Germans would strike first, despite repeated warnings, he continued to supply them with war materials in the days before the attack, then tied his generals? hands in the crucial first hours of the invasion. For more than a week, while Hitler rolled over Soviet territory, Stalin cowered in his dacha, leaving the country rudderless and — as Pleshakov reveals here — nearly losing power. The Red Army?s effort to regain the territory lost in those first ten days cost more than 10 million Soviet lives.

Stalin?s Folly is a dramatic hour-by-hour account that sheds light on an enigmatic and ruthless figure while providing a new and far deeper understanding of Russian history.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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