Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921

Great history book detailed research and some new facts for me- there is always a political bias with all history writing but this is very factual, fascinating and straightforward

A detailed account of the civil war following the revolution. I feel it is written, like most books about Russia, with an anti Russian bias. Eg. the civil war could not have happened without foreign intervention, particularly from the Tsarist support of Britain & particularly that of the persistent liar to our Parliament of the war minister W. Churchill. 12M people died. Leningrad was under siege from foreign powers when Stalin was in charge of its defence & untold 1000s died of starvation & cold. The author does not say how many. But later events explain Stalins attitude to Finland, Poland etc. & the people who denied them grain.I feel an emphasis is laid at the atrocities of the Reds but not as much for the Whites who were also brutal.Nevertheless a good account worth reading but should be carefully analysed as it explains the forming of attitudes resulting in later events.The conclusion does not analyse the wests involvement adiquately which is a great omission.

This door-stopper of a book is, first of all, a work of military history. Beevor doesn’t have much to say about the social, political or economic history of that tumultuous period in Russia. But he has a lot to say about the various generals, the forces they commanded, their tactics and strategy. His greatest interest seems to be in the White generals, and we get to know Admiral Kolchak, General Denikin and Baron Wrangel as each individually makes their bid to overthrow the Bolsheviks, but then suffers defeat at the hands of the Red Army, commanded by Trotsky. I think that there is far too much detail about all this, which is why I would advise only those interested in military history to pick up this book. The other thing the book is filled with, and I caution readers with a weak stomach, is horror. The stories of torture, sadism and brutality are graphic and shocking beyond belief. As Beevor makes clear, both sides in the Russian Civil War committed terrible crimes, though as he summarises at the very end, the Bolsheviks may have been somewhat worse. Even things like the notorious pogroms conducted against defenceless Jewish communities were committed by both sides, and not only the openly anti-Semitic Whites. Beevor sees some of the inspiration for Nazi atrocities during the Second World War in the brutality committed during this one, such as the genocide of whole peoples. I think that may be a bit of a stretch — the Germans didn’t need inspiration from the Russians for the horrors they inflicted on the world. One minor gripe about the book concerns Georgia. While Beevor correctly points out that Georgia, then an independent country under Social Democratic rule, stayed neutral in the war, he ends the book before Georgia is invaded by the Red Army and forced against its will into the Soviet Union.

This appears to be a comprehensive guide to this period in history however it makes heavy going with all the personalities mentioned in the text.

This book covers the many complexities of the Russian Civil War in sometimes painstaking detail, but at the end we do at least get to understand a bit better why the people who controlled most of the land mass of the Russian Empire and who were being aided by the four greatest military powers (as well as by the Germans) lost.But it's also flawed in that it tells us so little about Bolshevik choices and motivations. After all, they won and because they never ceded control of the Russian heartland also governed the most populated areas throughout this time - just repeating various statements of their evil nature feels telelogical.This is not to defend the Bolsheviks - when he sticks to narrative Beevor ably shows their addiction to violence and rejection of democracy. But millions did back them and their coup and then tens of thousands fought for them.The catastrophe of the Great War was, of course, at the heart of the Bolshevik appeal - they promised to end it immediately (and although they failed in that they did not fight the Germans) - but as so often in British historiography it feels like questioning a war which Britain "won" is a step too far.

You wonder whether AB can top his last book - and this comes along and sure enough he does just that.A brilliant analysis - the Russian bear never sleeps and is always potentially so dangerous. Yet its people are amongst the most cultured and intelligent I have every meet and had the pleasure to worked with.

Hard to find anyone who comes close to Antony Beevor when it comes to this sort of factual history. His books are always filled with little, nuanced stories within stories which make the reader really 'feel' the history they are reading.