Alien Wars: The Soviet Union's Aggression Against the World, 1919 to 1989 [Hardcover]

Oleg Sarin (Author), Lev Dvoretsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1996

Previously secret archives detail Soviet military follies, right up to final disaster in Afghanistan.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The recent spate of exposes by military and intelligence officers from the former Soviet Union has generated a certain skepticism regarding their motivation and quality. Sarin, a former editor of the Soviet armed forces daily Red Star, and Dvoretsky, a military journalist and historian, rise above the genre authors in this survey of the U.S.S.R.'s military adventurism. Stalin in particular, they show, pursued the goal of world revolution?in Spain and Finland, in Eastern Europe and Korea. After his death, the policy of "neoglobalism" continued. Sarin and Dvoretsky chronicle the significant direct role of U.S.S.R. technicians in Vietnam, the stationing of missile units and ground forces in Cuba and an involvement in Africa so extensive and complex that, on one occasion, Soviet advisers found themselves on both sides of a war between Ethiopia and Somalia. The authors' major contribution is their archivally based demonstration that Soviet policies were primarily motivated by Marxist-Leninist ideology rather than by geopolitical concerns. Read in company with R.C. Roach's pathbreaking Stalin's Drive to the West, 1938-1945, this book leaves no doubt of the U.S.S.R.'s ultimate goal. Sarin and Dvoretsky, however, tend to overstate the actual levels of Soviet commitment to expansionist campaigns. On the whole, Stalin and his successors played for only minor human and material stakes, preferring to let proxies bear the brunt of the risks and losses. This caution stands in sharp contrast to U.S. policies in, for example, Korea and Vietnam?and may help explain why, in its final crisis, the U.S.S.R. stood alone. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Sarin and Dvoretsky, two former Soviet military officers, here offer another version of the military history of the USSR. Their first major attempt, The Afghan Syndrome (Presidio, 1993), had great photographs but a weak text. This effort is little better, delivering some good anecdotes from the formerly secret archives of the Communist Party and the Ministry of Defense. The theme is simple enough?to present "the story of the various military interventions" of the USSR?but the telling is uneven. While there are some startling excerpts from secret files on the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939, and the Kim Il-Sung correspondence with Stalin that led to the Korean War is truly provocative, coverage of the wars in Finland, Vietnam, and the Middle East is a rehash. The authors' simplest revelations, e.g., that some 239,000 Soviet families got pensions because of the death of "soldiers who remain forever in remote foreign lands," are the most profound. For comprehensive collections only.?John Yurechko, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Presidio Press; 1St Edition edition (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0891414215
• ISBN-13: 978-0891414216
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #917,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dry read, but great info, December 12, 2001

By 

ManFromToronto (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alien Wars: The Soviet Union's Aggression Against the World, 1919 to 1989 (Hardcover)

Not a bad book, although at times it was quite tendious to read. It gives a basic overview of Soviet involvement in major world coflicts (Spanish civil War, WW2, Vietanam, Arab-Israeli wars etc). It is quite heavy on militaristic elements, which would be interesting to anyone interested in how wars are fought and funded. The historical backgrounds of the wars are briefly discussed, as fell as the fallout created by conflict. Interesting chapter about Soviet involvement in Afghanistan, which gives a detailed look into the geo-political reasons for the invasion. All in all, not a bad book, but lacking in historical depth.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Journey into Tedium, January 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Alien Wars: The Soviet Union's Aggression Against the World, 1919 to 1989 (Hardcover)

An author would have to work awfully hard to make the history of the USSR and the aggressive aspects of its foreign policy dull. But these two authors manage to pull it off. This snoozer reads like a bad military manual, with authors that seem utterly unable to tell a story, preferring instead to dwell on the incredibly uninteresting minutae of military logistics. Even when it tries to be interesting by giving you insider information on the thought processes of Soviet officialdom, whether through insider information, official correspondence or newly declassified Kremlin documents, it still manages to underwhelm the reader. The writers should have focused on writing this as a history rather than as a textbook for a military academy which is how it reads.

As if the narrative isn't bad enough, the writing style is at best amateurish. This book reads like a rough draft. Thus it is difficult to decide which is worse, the writing of the book or the total lack of editing done by the publisher.

Anyway, I normally keep the books I have read in my book collection. This one will be donated to my local library's used book fundraiser before it can stink up my house any further. Come to think of it, I hate to cause yet another individual to waste their hard-earned money on this coma-inducer. But hey, it's for a good cause!

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I can't believe trees died to create this book!, June 15, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Alien Wars: The Soviet Union's Aggression Against the World, 1919 to 1989 (Hardcover)

This book is awful. Do not buy it under any circumstances. Sarin and Dvoretsky have no understanding of history or strategy. They simply fulminate against the Soviet regime. They claim to have used new documents from the Russian archives, but none of the documents they cite is of any great significance (they are largely anecdotal). There are many better books on the Soviet military and Soviet foreign policy, so don't waste your time with this gibberish