Customer Reviews

August 1914 (Avgust Chetyrnadtsatogo)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

August 1914
Alexander Solzhenitsyn

I remember when my son was little. He would bring me August 1914 and ask me to read it to him. There were no pictures in this book, but he knew that it was a book that I loved. So we would lie on his bed and as I opened the book and read to him about a world he could only discover in a book. Solzhenitsyn is one of my hero?s, a moral voice speaking against the tyranny of Soviet repression. This book about the battle of Tennenberg in August 1914 is not only a brilliant historical novel, but also a critique of the forces that lead to the October Revolution in Russia. Let?s talk about the story, before we continue the review.

The story is about the entrance of Imperial Russia into World War I. War is declared and Russia in its hurry to honor its commitments to France, invades Prussia. Its army under the leadership of General Samsonov is unprepared for war and Russia suffers a humiliating defeat as the army is surrounded and destroyed. The story is told through the eyes of a Colonel Vorotyntsey who alone sees the coming disaster and vainly tries to avert it.

It is a story of an Army that did not understand modern warfare. Samsonov, a cavalry officer, is used to sitting on his horse and viewing the battlefield; this battlefield, however, stretches for hundreds of miles. Communication is non-existent; supplies are scarce. The Germans, however, understood the new technology and were able to listen in on all the Russian communications. Samsonov makes one blunder after another; he is out classed and doesnt know what to do. With his army collapsing around him, he is lost. Lost in a forest, he ends his life with a bullet as he and his staff are attempting to escape the encirclement.

It is a wonderfully written book. One can hear the hoof beats of the charging cavalry, see the sabers glistening in the sun, sense the terror of the soldiers huddle in their trenches as thousands of shells fall around them and smell the cordite as it drifts across the fields. But Solzhenitsyn?s purpose is more than giving us a history of a battle fought long ago, we wants to expose the corruption of a Czarist Russia that lead to an even greater corruption of the Soviet System. This is a novel about truth and the attempt to conceal it. The old Czarist regime and the Soviet one that followed could only survive by the suppression and the corruption of the truth. No wonder that this book was banned in the Soviet Union.

It is a great book; I have read it at least a half dozen times over the years.

For lovers of Russian literature and history buffs, this is a terrific book! If you're not a fan of this genre, however, it's going to be ONE TOUGH READ. Solzhenitsyn throws in characters with machine-gun rapidity as well as hundreds of local historical references that will be lost on many folks simply eager to find out about a bit about one of the greatest writers of the century.

That having been said, this one is a winner. Rich description, lovely prose and Solzhenitsyn's obvious love for his homeland are woven into a terrific work that offers deep insights into the Russian view this tumultuous period in their history. For my money, the portion of the book dealing the desperate Russian army and their misguided leaders is Solzhenitsyn at his finest: brutally accurate and never lacking in a deeper understanding of the flawed human beings that made up the events.

This is a must read, but don't make it your first foray into Russian literature or Solzhenitsyn. Try a shorter, less complex work first and then move to this if you like the genre.

August 1914 is a historical novel examining the causes for the decline of 19th Century aristocratic Russia to a 20th Century Russia of Socialist experimentation. Solzhenitsyn (AS) picks up his 20th Century analysis of Russia where Tolstoy left off his 19th Century point of view. This is a powerful novel displaying history, as it defines its causality. It grapples with the character of the Russian who is about to face revolutionary change which will deliver the country and its people from an agrarian peasant society to an industrialist monstrous social catastrophe. AS examines how and why Russia went socialist. For students of the French Revolution, August 1914 is another manifestation of how that earlier revolution influenced and occurred in Russia. For students interested in the transition of a culture from 19th Century behavior and values to extreme expiramental 20th political practices, this book is mandatory. August 1914 best demonstrates Henry Adams' forecast that the 19th century mode of life would change radically in the 20th century. AS' dynamo is a war, a romantic urge and a people who are ready for change and have the temperment to change as they did. This is truly an absorbing book and an important book to anyone interested in the influence of Russia in the 20th century. It is a must read for anyone who is interested in Russian history. In fact, it is a great place to start for anyone who is beginning a survey of Russia of history.

Though the translation suffers a little, this novel of the last golden days of Imperial Russia and the frenzied destruction of the "old order" by the Bolsheviks remains one of my favorites. Although Solzhenitsyn wasn't born until 1918, it's as if he were strolling alongside Gorky and Tomchak and the other personalities that feature into his tale during that awful time.

I skim read the reviews of this book on amazon, the lower star ratings shocked me more than the others in certain comments they made.
I am about 620 pages through this book, I have read the earlier draft version previously. I have also read one life in the day of ivan denisovich, cancer ward, the nobel speeches, letter to the soviet leaders and the first ward all at least twice (and very thoroughly). also the gulag (some chapters multiple times).... I am still in my early twenties. I agreed with a point a reviewer made about it being hard to work out which battalion is fighting who etc. The earlier draft has list of all these characters and also the russian army layout (it seems strange that this was left out in the later edition)(...so for me this never was a problem, especially since I am reading the book for the second time, a habit i encourage).
However, this book is by no means contrived, it requires a great deal of imagination to be able appreciate it. I find it strange that people compare this to War and Peace, even though Solz clearly critizes Tolstoy in this very book (as he does in Gulag chapter ascent). ALthough to be honest I haven't fully read Tolstoy's book (I started Anna Karenina, but stopped after about 40 pages a couple of years ago)...(so maybe in form there are similarities, I do not know).
Solzhenitsyn only holds bias in the sense that when one sees mass oppression of peoples one is bound to feel agrieved, and bitterness. If one didn't we could rightly claim that they had ceased to behave like a human being (and more like a rat!).
Be careful what translations you read, some seem far superior to others.
When reading this book one must remember how many different human beings are involved, each different.

If you have the original August 1914, you'll want to sell it to a used book store and use the money to buy this version. The original pales in comparision to Solzhenitsyn's complete effort in the revised version. The new version displays all of Solzhenitsyn's mastery of language and description, while the original was choppy and incomplete. Using Solzhenitsyn's screen directions, the original was in black and white, and the revised version is in living color. This book clearly qualifies Solzhenitsyn for Tolstoy status.

Although difficult to follow at times, this work relates the tragedy of war, specifically war undertaken without the proper understanding and preparation necessary to sucessfully see it through. The sections written as a screen play are a mystery to this reader, even though the content of these sections are vital. Particularly touching and poignant is the sheer frustration experienced by the fictional Colonel sent to Second Army, and particularly sad and ironic is the account of Gen. Samsonov's turmoil, from the moment we are first introduced to him, to the bitter and unnecessary fate which is his.

Aleksandr Solzhenitzyn's ("A.S.") August 1914: The Red Wheel paints a marvelous portrait of Russia at the crossroads of the 20th century. By way of background, I read David Remnick's Resurrection about Russia's post -USSR struggles. Remnick writes a beautiful chapter on A.S., his life, his exile, Western Europe and the U.S. intelligentsia's dismissive treatment of him, and his return to Russia. Reminick's extraordinary discourse on A.S. is the perfect prelude to this work because it allows the reader to view the work with a greater respect for the man and his vision. The work itself is compelling in its own right. Some have suggested that it would be helpful to have some background knowledge of the events leading up to W.W. I, the revolutionary ferment enveloping Russia between 1901 and 1917, and the "players' involved in that process. Fair enough comment, but not essential. The reader should not be scared off from this work merely because he/she does not consider themselves particularly knwoledgeable aout Russia. A.S.'s descriptions of the Battle of Tannenburg, the life and times of Stolypin and Bogrov, his assassin ,make for both beautiful writing and a deeper understanding of the events the made the October revolution a foregone conclusion. Finally, A.S.'s focus on the disastrous Battle of Tannenburg sheds great light on a critical battle that has not been more than cursorily examined by eminent historians such as Maritin Gilbert or even Winston Curchill in his classic World Crisis. My sole disappontment was with A.S.'s use of what may be called the 'camera-eye' or multi-media type inserts. It seemed stale compared to its breathtaking freshness when used by Dos Pasos in his U.S.A.. trilogy. It also seemed to detract from the beauty and flow of the writing itself. (Looking back, Dos Pasos didn't suffer from the distraction.) The reader with any interest in Russia, world history, military history, or just plain good literature should seriously consider reading this work.

This is a momentous work - quite unlike FIRST CIRCLE or the GULAG ARCHIPELAGO. Solzhenitsyn cannot himself from centering on people. Despite the epic events depicted, the start of WW1, the Battle of Tannenburg, the meeting of cultures, in the end this is a book of individuals, great and small.

The word pictures he has created of the rolling plains of battle, the lumbering armies, life in the military, are some of the greatest ever painted. One is transported back to that date when backward, religiously zealous, serf-like Russia meets the modern age. The story of the first vision of the industrial West by the illiterate Russian soldier - and the impact it makes on them - was breathtaking.

The story switches from one vista to another, battlefield to palace, and finally from the Romanovs to Lenin as the march of history continues steadily and inexorably onward. Even knowing the awful outcome does not decrease the pleasure of the story. At the end, you have come only so far and are ready for the next in the series, NOVEMBER 1916. I like the method in which he has chosen to write history - the selection of specific periods of time which he considered to have had the greatest impact on the modern Soviet state.

Solzhenitsyn's The Red Wheel, Knot I is an extraordinarily work. His attention to historical detail and ability to draw the reader into the mind of each character make this an extremely enjoyable reconstruction of this chaotic period in Russian history. Solzhenitsyn incorporates newspaper clippings, military communiqués, multiple character viewpoints including German, Russian, revolutionary, soldier, and student in an almost patchwork manner which conveys history's turbid nature. The author occasionally employs a screenplay method, which lends an interesting visual element to the book. Overall, the only comparable book I have read would be Tolstoy's War and Peace. Solzhenitsyn's The Red Wheel is not an "easy read", but I highly recommend it to anyone with some backround in Russian history (without which you may find yourself lost at times) and an interest in historical fiction. Read the "complete and unabridged" version to get the most out of this book.