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Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand Design to Start World War II (Blue Jacket Bks)

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Viktor Suvorov in his book Ice Breaker and his new work The Chief Culprit gives the real history behind World War II in Europe. He moves the whole question beyond the wooden typical explanation of the Germano-Soviet conflict into a titanic conflict for the survival of Europe against massive odds.

Joseph Stalin brutalized the Russian people to produce the largest military machine the world has ever seen for one purpose - World Revolution. In the book Hitler's Stooge, Soviet figures are revealed that show Soviet Communists were responsible for the deaths of 132 million people of the Soviet Union from 1917-1989. This was the human cost of the Soviet build up.

The typical history is that Russia was backward, their equipment poor, and the army badly trained. Suvorov goes into excruciating detail about the high quality and astronomical quantity of Soviet weaponry. And, of course, of Stalin's long term plan to invade and conquer Europe in the summer of 1941 - so that Europeans could also enjoy the wonderful benefits of the Gulag.

The only problem with the book is that the print is quite small, and may be a problem for some people. It should have been a larger size for easier readability.

It is hoped that the success of this book will encourage the author to have his other works upon the subject translated into English to further flesh out the history and understanding of Stalin's plan.

This is history at its best. That the world dodged the bullet of World Revolution by less than 2 weeks in 1941 is a revelation deserving of our attention. This is a definite "must read" for everyone interested in the background of World War II, and of Stalin and his dream.

I have read Suvorov's books. But this one is exceptionally brilliant,for it contains some stunning facts and disclosures which kept me spellbound.


For me every para, every page ,every chapter of this book were a revelation. Military buffs you will never regret exploring it ; if not , you have missed something

Firstly,author impugns the established wisdom on World War II Soviet Union was an innocent victim of Nazi aggression. Suvorov argues Stalin hatched plans to invade Germany. Exploiting German preoccupation in the West ,he started massing troops along the border as a prelude to launching a war of liberation. Soviet dictator succeeded in entangling Nazi Germany in a war with Western democracies. Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact and carve-up of Poland was a step in this direction.

Stalin had aggressive intentions and Suvorov has adduced arguments buttressing this view. If Red Army planned a defensive war they should have entrenched behind a web of obstacles ,entanglements. This would have slowed an invading force giving sufficient room for a defending army to launch a counter-strike;for instance, Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. Instead,author argues, Soviets did things to the contrary.Buffer space was demolished as a result nation came to share a common border with Nazi Germany.Bridges across rivers Bug,Vistula were kept intact.while Red Army erected supply dumps,ammunition depots,airbases closer to the border. What were they for? Sounds shocking.

Author dwells on the nature of Soviet troop deployment.Immense concentration of forces in narrow strips of land which wedged deep into enemy territory. For a nation planning a defensive war this tantamount to suicide. Of particular significance is massing of Soviet forces along the Lvov bulge.Thrust from here along the north western axis toward Baltic coast would have severed Wehrmacht from its supply bases in Germany apart from depriving it of precious oil from Ploeisti in Romania.A maneuver of unprecedented strategic beauty ,a lethal blow which would have destroyed Germany in one shot.Unfortunately for Stalin ,Hitler guessed axe was about to fall upon his neck and swiftly acted to prevent it. Therefore Field Marshal Keitel's comments that Soviets planned a first strike and Germans preempted it stands vindicated.

Suvorov debunks the argument the Red army was an ill-trained,ill-equipped ,poorly-led rabble.Author argues Red Army was primarily trained for offensive and capable of carrying war into enemy territory. Most striking comment is about winter war with Finland which author argues Red army won but was mistakenly assessed by the West. Also details about Soviet TB-7 strategic bomber were terrific. Further author has made narration lively by using metaphors. I liked Suvorov's didactic, simple ,clear writing. I take this opportunity to appeal to publishers kindly make Suvorov's other titles available in English.

The book was an eye-opener to me. For years Soviet propaganda tried to convince that Nazi Germany launched a sneak attack. Author has shown this to be a hoax. World escaped a Soviet-style revolution only by a whisker. Ironically, it was Hitler who averted this calamity.Finally,author while accusing the Bolsheviks of using all forms of aliases for concealing their identities himself has used a pseudonym to cloak his identity which again is ironical.

The core of Suvorov's argument is that there was a giant Communist conspiracy in Europe in the 1930s and early 40s to enable the Soviet Union to smash its way into the West and fulfil its objective of world revolution. This book goes much further than 'Icebreaker' to explain Stalin's behaviour towards Hitler in the period leading up to the start of the Russo-German war in June 1941. Stalin studied Nazi ideology and Hitler's book 'Mein Kampf' in considerable detail. He always knew Hitler would attack him, so he set out to prepare the Soviet Union for war - not just any war, but a total, global war. The only thing that Stalin was not expecting was a German attack in 1941; he believed Hitler would not attack while the UK was still in the war. But Stalin's foresight ensured that even after suffering huge defeats in the Western USSR, he could continue the war perfectly well, in the knowledge that most of the heavy production factories were well established in the Urals.

For Stalin, Germany was the gateway to the West. He needed to smash it in order to spread his ideology to Western Europe and beyond. After reading this book it becomes pretty clear that Hitler not only had no choice but to invade the USSR, but that his failure to defeat Britain in 1940 guaranteed his defeat.

This book is one of the most eye-opening on the subject of World War II I've read. The author, trained as an intelligence analyst, offers a mountain of carefully footnoted evidence that the Red Army was fully mobilized and putting the final preparations in place to roll across Europe at the time the Germans struck in 1941. He also offers ample evidence that Stalin had a hand (and an interest) in seeing Hitler come to power. The Stalin's reasoning in a nutshell went like this: 1) Bolshevik revolution must sweep across Europe. 2) Revolution occurs most readily when there is widespread misery 3) War is the most reliable producer of widespread misery 4) Hitler's rise will be the catalyst for a second war to engulf Europe. The plan was to have Germany, Britain and France become embroiled in war, and thereby exhaust each other. Then, the Red Army would sweep across those countries and many more with fresh troops and equipment. And Stalin had almost unfathomable quantities of both.

Although it may not have been their motive, the reader concludes that by launching their preemptive strike, the Germans fell on a grenade that would otherwise have killed all of Western Europe. I offer four brief quotations from the book to pique your interest.

Referring to the years before the war, Suvorov wrote: "Hitler, according to Stalin's plans, was supposed to crush Europe, and then Stalin, with a surprise attack, would 'liberate' it from Hitler. In the name of that goal, German tankers and pilots were trained in the Soviet Union, and Stalin brought Hitler to power. But Hitler ruined Stalin's plans."

Referring to the days immediately after the invasion, he wrote, "Stalin realized he could not fix anything. The socialist country was capable of crushing others, but couldn't compete with other countries in peacetime. From June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union was destined for demise. Sooner or later, it was bound to collapse. It could survive only by consuming everything around it....Therefore, Stalin's main idea was to destroy the capitalism surrounding the Soviet Union...victory was only possible on a global scale...Hitler delivered a suicidal but lethal attack on Communism. No matter how events unfolded afterward, Stalin could no longer conquer the whole world.

Referring to the aftermath of the war, he wrote, "In 1945, tens of millions of square kilometers of territory, occupied by millions of people, lay at Stalin's feet. But Stalin at that time did not have the resources to control all of his conquests...The best part of the male population of the Soviet Union perished in the war against Germany. After the war, the USSR was supposed to have conducted a population census and calculated its war losses. But Stalin did not conduct a census. It was only conducted fourteen years after the war, when Stalin was dead. 'The decision not to count all the citizens until 1959 was founded on a desire not to draw attention to the huge unjustified human losses during the war period.'" and "World War II opened unlimited opportunities for Stalin to spread Communism throughout the world, but there was nobody left in the Soviet Union to reap the crops in the fields. Famine broke out in 1946 and 1947...(and) claimed the lives of about a million people. Stalin had sentenced Europe to death, but he could not carry out the execution."

To summarize: Paradigm-shifting content, well-documented, well-organized and entertainingly presented. Read and understand.

The main theme of this work is that Stalin materially assisted Nazi Germany in its aggression so that the Soviet Union could intervene at the proper time and seize all of continental Europe for itself. Hopefully, Germany and the West would exhaust themselves fighting each other, and the West would fall easily. OK, the question is, does this thesis hold water? Is it supported by a substantial body of evidence? Is it true or confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt? The answers are Yes, Yes, and No -- more evidence is required to change the verdict of "plausible" to "confirmed."

The author has done us all a very great service by bringing this case to our attention. The comparison of Stalin and Hitler in the Preface is worth the price of the book by itself. Author Suvorov also builds a very good case on the strength of the Red Army for its use in conquering Western Europe, particularly with respect to armor which was clearly superior to anything in the West by 1940, in Germany or anywhere else. In fact, it took the US until 1945 to catch up to where the Soviets were in 1940. The widely disseminated verdict on Soviet tanks in 1941 as obsolete was simply untrue, and can be relegated to the dustbin of Soviet propaganda. The arguments concerning the air force are less convincing, and the impact of the purges in the late 1930s are subject to much controversy even before the publication of this book. The author also omits the artillery arm, which the Soviets demonstrated as clearly superior to the Germans beginning with the Battle of Kursk in 1943.

All this begs the question as to why the Red Army performed poorly in 1941. First and foremost was that the readiness of common soldiers to die for Communism and Stalin which was not greatly in evidence in the troops of 1941. Soviet combat effectiveness was greatly enhanced by German brutality and the emergence of a patriotic war for the Russian motherland. The tanks were not as effective as they should have been due to a lack of radio communication and necessity of the tank commander to also act as gunners. In addition, Soviet leadership was clearly inferior to the German as were Soviet tactics. Training was not as good as in Germany, and the Russian peasant did not possess the martial skills of his German counterpart. One must remember that in 1941, much of the German Army was composed of veterans, while most of the Red Army had not yet been blooded.

Where the book is strong is in regards to the positioning of the Soviet units -- essentially in offensive jumping off positions, with air power and supplies well forward. Two fighters were poised to deliver a knockout blow, and the one who swung first won a very great advantage. The author's disclosure of Soviet intelligence concluding that the Wehrmacht was not prepared for a campaign into the Soviet Union, either in clothing (especially winter garb) and in equipment puts Stalin's assumptions into better perspective. Also, the Red Army would reach its operational peak in the fall of 1941 by virture of the pattern of its buildup and enlistments, and the optimum time for an attack on Poland/Germany was in September/October. This pattern would also be in evidence later in the Cold War where the Fall Maneuvers were the moment of maximum effectiveness for the Red Army. The Soviets also could fight efficiently in the winter with their equipment, the Germans couldn't. In retrospect, it appears that Stalin was in a very good position to crush Germany and the West, winning Europe for Communism, if Hitler hadn't attacked first. In the event, it took four years for Stalin to reach the Elbe, but by that time the US was in the war and could defent Western Europe while the Soviets were reaching a point of exhaustion. Stalin's opportunity had passed (for the moment.)

This book almost reads like a detective story where forensic evidence is carefully amassed and analyzed. The reader, especially historians, is/are invited to reason with the author and form conclusions that may or may not agree with the author's.

One can see by other reviews that this thesis is and will be highly controversial, especially to those who might be rather well-disposed to the Soviet side and the myth of Soviet victimhood. But that is hardly a negative, and more evidence is needed to confirm or reject the author's thesis. Ad hominem attacks on the author as being a liar or traitor (to the Soviet Union) are totally out of place in this discussion -- let's examine the facts and draw reasonable conclusions.

Highly recommended to all readers interested in World War II.

What surprises herein! I had no idea--! And I thought the germans were the toughest, scariest, sons of bitches in WWII!

The Soviets make the german war machine look rather "cute". As I have learned, Stalin was the big poppa mastermind, his plans were greater than all of us, greater than Hitler himself.

Here are few things I used to think:
>I used to think Adolf Hitler was an idiot for invading the Soviet Union, thus creating a two-front war.
>The used to think that the Soviet commanders/generals were imbeciles who knew nothing about war, all because Stalin had exterminated the vast majority of high-ranking officers before the war.
>I used to think the USSR had inferiority technology, resources and weaponry, which paled in comparison to German-made "quality" machinery, especially at the start of the war.
>I never knew about the Winter War between the USSR and Finland!
>Most of all, I never knew just how dangerous the Soviet Union was in comparison to Nazi-Germany!

For all its worth, Adolf Hitler "saved" us from Communism--and the Western Allies "saved" us from Nazism. We were *that* close to either becoming communists or fascists!

Expect to feel a sting from having been so ignorant of real historyn (I know I did). Finishing the book, however, will enlighten your thoughts and expand your view of the world.

Highly recommended.

For years I have said that anyone who hasn't read (and internalized) A.J.P. Taylor's "Origins of the Second World War" does not even begin to understand the real story. Now I would add this book. You MUST read this (as well as Taylor) to understand the origins of the war.

Suvorov does have weaknesses. He does not understand German domestic politics of the era. But that is not important because what he is giving us is insight into Soviet domestic politics which even Taylor did not give us. (No blame to Taylor, he had no access to Suvorov's sources.)

But if you are a believer in the "good war" you won't like this book any better than Taylor. Go back, re-read "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and be happy in your dream world.

I have read only one previous book by Viktor Suvorov: "Aquarium". Highly recommended as well, it describes the author as a Soviet military agent (spy), working in Austria in the 70's. It offers a chilling and exciting story about the inside of the Soviet intelligence service and its brutal and cruel methods. The best part of the book is devoted to how the author managed to defect to the British and how hours or minutes saved him from being recaptured back by the Soviets.

This book is a history book written by an intelligence person who learned to work by seeking contradictions in the materials presented to him. The first contradiction Suvorov noticed was the absolute secrecy about all bad things that ever happend in the Soviet Union. We all remember the Chernobyl disaster and the Soviet lies and half-truths at that time. But it was already the Gorbachov era when "glasnost" (opening) already started. What about the terrible famine in Ukraine in 1932-33? Not a single word in Soviet media. What about military disasters in the war with Germans in July-October 1941? Not much, if anything at all. The list is endless.

Then, why all Soviet sources point to one incredible disaster, which was the German invasion on June 22 the same year? It is openly shown to the world that Stalin was an idiot and was duped by a sudden attack by Hitler. Why is this particular disaster in the open? Suvorov applies his intelligence skills and comes to a typical Soviet conclusion. The information is open only because the Soviets are trying to hide some truth. And the truth is that Stalin himself was getting to attack Hitler at the same time. The Soviet attack was supposed to be started on July 12, 1941, so Hitler was lucky by three weeks.

Suvorov has to dig through thousands of supposedly unconnected documents to get to this conclusion as most of the Russian archives are still not open to this day. He cites Stalin's speech of May 5, 1941 to the Soviet military establishment when Stalin mentioned about an aggressive war (all listeners understood it was to be against Germany). He mentiones a document prepared on May 15 by top Soviet military planners, which describes the German and Soviet intentions about the upcoming war. The Russian never published this document as it talks about Soviet aggressions plans. He cites dozens of examples of Soviet forces arranged on the border with Germany in offensive positions.

In the end, he squarely puts the responsibility for starting World War II where it really belongs - at the feet of the merciless dictators: Hitler and Stalin. For Stalin, this road started on August 19, 1939 when he made a decision to accept a visit of the German Foreign Minister, von Ribbentrop. The result of this visit was the infamous "Ribbentrop-Molotov" pact, which gave Hitler peace from Russia (and no second front). The pact also delineated the spheres of influence between Germany and Soviet Union after the war will have started: Finland, Estonia, Latvia and part of Poland to Soviet Union, and Lithuania and another part of Poland to Germany.

Another valuable contribution to the world history is Suvorov's clarity about Soviet aims from the beginning (October 1917). Their goal had always been a world revolution as even Lenin, Trocki and other Soviet leaders understood that a country even as rich in natural resources like Russia, cannot survive being surrounded by capitalist countries. Soviet first serious effort to start a world revolution was the war against Poland in 1920 (as the road to Berlin lead through Warsaw).

The same strategy was repeated in 1939. Soviet Union shortened its distance to Berlin by occupying eastern Poland. And, in the process, eliminated other countries that could be buffers between Germany and Soviet Union.

And, one always has to remember Soviet military strength in the 60's and 70's. Why did they have the largest military in the world? Apparently, even then Soviet leaders understood that they must expand or perish.

Suvorov makes one point that can be disputed. It is his claim that Hitler ordered an attack on the Soviet Union as a countermeasure to Soviet moves. Other historians think about this period as two mafia dons trying to kill one another just because it is in the blood. So, it is possible, according to them, that both dictators made their aggression plans independent of one another.

Why did Stalin did not believe his intelligence about German impending attack? Because his intelligence told him that Hitler did not make any preparation for winter war. The most important factor observed by Soviet agents in occupied Europe in late 1940 and early 1941 was the sheep market. Hitler needed six millin sheepskins to equip his army for a winter campaign in Russia. Not even a single item like this was ordered by German military. The same goes for oil and fuel used for German war machinery. It froze at -14 degrees Celsius, while Russian winters easy last for months below -20 degrees. Hitler believed in a blitzkrieg war lasting no more than 3 months. However, already two months after the invasion, it was clear to German generals that the offensive stalled to a large degree.

Suvorov repeats the information that a lot of Soviet aviation was destroyed on the ground by Luftwaffe on the first day of war. There is another Russion historian. Mark Solonin, who wrote several fascinating books about the first days of war in 1941. His books are available only in Russian, but his website provides English translations of some of the chapters (http://www.solonin.org/en). Solonin's thesis is that Soviet troops simply deserted and ran away.

I would advise Suvorov's book to anybody interested in the history of World War II. And I hope Mark Solonin will also find a English publisher.

What did Joseph Stalin intend during WWII? There was surprisingly little discussion of this for thirty years after the end of the conflict. Then, in the late 1980s, Viktor Suvorov in Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War? raised the question of whether Stalin welcomed WWII as a way of communizing Europe. After all, as early as 1925, Stalin had said that another great war was inevitable, and the Soviet Union's strategy in it ought to be to stay out till everyone else was fully committed and stalemated, then enter when Soviet involvement could "tip the balance" in a direction favorable to communism. (The speech in question was only published after WWII, but it has been available since 1949). Stalin had urged Europe to resist Hitler's expansionism until Britain and France finally decided to do so, and then had signed the Soviet-Nazi Pact that made the war possible. Why then was he assumed to want peace? Suvorov said Stalin most definitely wanted war, and planned to attack Germany in July of 1941.

The earliest reactions to this thesis among most Anglophone historians was to ignore it, hoping it would go away. Their second reaction was to denigrate Suvorov without actually bothering to respond to his arguments. But some German historians, notably Ernst Topitsch in Stalin's War: A Radical New Theory of the Origins of the Second World War and Joachim Hoffman in Stalin's War of Extermination, 1941-1945: Planning, Realization and Documentation found the idea both plausible and well supported. Great controversy also arose in Russia, where Suvorov's book and its sequels sold millions of copies, and more than one professional historian supported him. Now, we have an English language summary of Suvorov's twenty years of writing on this subject.

Generally, the book is excellent. It has a few flaws: in my opinion Suvorov tends to overestimate the prowess of the Red Army of 1941, and to vastly underestimate Hitler's own long-standing desire to start a war. (In 1939, Hitler ordered a draft of German demands to the Polish government be drawn up, and gave it to Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop, with the admonition that under no circumstances were the Poles to be allowed to see it -- they might capitulate to his desires, and prevent him launching a war). And it would have been nice if the author was familiar with more of the secondary literature. But Suvorov makes an excellent case that Stalin wanted a war, did what he could to cause it, and intended to enter it in 1941 with a surprise attack on Germany. This does NOT excuse the German invasion of the USSR, of course, any more than the fact that one Mafia family's plans to attack a rival excuse the rival's attack. Hitler and Stalin were both evil and criminal. Suvorov's argument, if true, does establish that the blame for the bloodiest war in history deserves to be shared between the two monsters. And this book also answers many of the criticisms that have been made by Western scholars who doubt his thesis, criticisms that can be summed up 'No one has published a written order for an attack on Germany' and 'Stalin was much too smart and militarily savvy to even THINK of attacking Germany in 1941.' (It's worth noting that many of the historians who make these criticisms, David Glantz's Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War (Modern War Studies) being the most egregious example, will readily concede that the relevant Soviet archives are still mostly closed, and they also relentlessly criticize 'Uncle Joe' for making bone-headed decisions that cost the Red Army millions of lives.) Notably, Suvorov's critics endlessly ASSERT Stalin's pacific intentions and desire to avoid war, while failing to cite any direct evidence concerning those intentions. Perhaps this is because such evidence, where it has been published at all, tends to show that "Great Stalin, the Universal Genius of All Mankind" definitely hungered for war, and did manage to do pretty well in spreading Bolshevism, as his deputy Molotov observed (Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics).

The desire to find good in the Bolshevik Revolution dies hard. A regime founded on hatred and humanity and power-lust is lauded as the Great Red Hope of Mankind, instead of being recognized as the font of butchery and oppression it actually was and is. But the truth slowly wins out, despite the best efforts of the apologists for dictatorship. Suvorov's books do not prove that Stalin planned to attack Germany, but they make a very strong case, one so strong that the onus is on the his critics to find errors in his work and disprove his thesis, rather than blandly, contemptuously, or angrily dismissing him as so many have tried to do. THE CHIEF CULPRIT makes an excellent argument for revising our previous notions of the basic causes and course of WWII, and I am provisionally convinced that Suvorov is correct.

Highly recommended.

The author begins his odyssey by informing the reader of his previous job as a Russian analyst with access to some of the secret archives, attempting to engender confidence in the reader that what he is about to read is the truth. Once his creditenials and bonafides are presented, Mr Suvorov states his thesis that Stalin had been preparing for many years to attack Germany and then the rest of Europe as part of his master plan to dominate the world. Stalin started out helping Hitler by selling him the critical natural resources that Germany didn't have but would be necessary to expand his industrial and military base. Stalin wanted Hitler to start a Second World War in order to weaken Germany, France and Great Britain so he could come in and vanquish all three countries before taking over the rest of Europe. When Hitler attacked Poland and France and Great Britain declared war, Stalin thought he had succeeded but his plans were dashed when France fell so quickly and Great Britain was pushed off the continent.

While Hitler was devouring much of Europe, Stalin was busy as well. He annexed part of Finland, the Baltic States, eastern Poland and part of Eastern Rumania. While GB was resisting, Stalin figures Hitler wouldn't initiate a second front by attacking Russia. Hitler would also lose his precious oil and other minerals so Stalin felt comfortable in squeezing Hitler with these annexations. In November 1940, Molotov visited Berlin with a list of additional unreasonable demands. Taking part of Romania plus these new demands was too much for Hitler to accept and from that point on knew invasion of Russia would be necessary.

Suvorov slowly and deliberately builds his case by highlighting Communist history that started with Lenin during the last half of WWI and the beginnings of the Revolution. Stalin, originally the "finance minister" of the party soon took control of the party from Lenin and expanded Lenin's philosophy of taking over a country through dissension and chaos. He assisted Hitler in building his Armed Forces in order to start WWII with France and England.

Suvorov shows Stalin was in the mist of final mobilization to invade Europe and that the invasion was within weeks of happening and it would occur south of Priprit Marshes against Romania and Hitler's only source of reliable oil. Without Romanian oil, Hitler's war machine would grind to a halt within two months time. A sampling of which armies were moving up to line was given but a complete description would've been great. A map showing the final deployments would have nice as well.

After signing the August 23, 1939 peace accord and getting Hitler addicted to Soviet oil and other critical resources, Stalin believing Hitler could be controlled and manipulated, began his own program of aggression. It included taking part of Finland, the Baltic States, eastern Poland and parts of Romania. Stalin escalated the situation even further when he sent Molotov to Berlin in November 1940 demanding further concessions from Hitler. At this point Hitler saw what was happening and decided the only way out would be to invade Russia despite still being at war with England. If Stalin had been less intimidating in 1940 Hitler, with encouragement from Stalin, would have probably invaded England and that would have been a better time for Russia to attack Europe.

A great deal of time is spent on discussing offensive weapons vs defensive weapons, offensive strategy from defensive strategy. The biggest chunk of time is spent on tanks and their blitzkrieg manuvers. The agile BT-7 tanks were designed to penetrate the front line, drive deep and then encircle the German line. The T-37 amphibious tank would be useful as well. The dismantling of the Stalin line in favor of a poorly equipped line on the border is also covered, showing the significant impact it would have when Hitler beat Stalin to the punch.
To describe all the machinations of Stalin in igniting a new continental war would consume pages and would be outside the purview of this review. Lets say that from the moment of his ascension to power he elevated his country to a war footing. The five year plans, the massive farm collectives, the purges, the gulags were all done to smother public freedom, cement his power and to make the USSR prepared for world conflict. The author demonstrates Stalin's aggressive nature where he would consider only offensive weaponry and strategy. He was supremely confident Hitler wouldn't attack so all defenses and defensive programs were canceled while the scale of his offensive programs were ramped to an incredible level. A well chosen selection of heavy bombers. well armored ground attack fighters, light, medium and heavy tanks were inaugurated as well as many small arm weapons. Stalin is also shown to be manipulative, calculating, devious as well as ruthless.

The author shows that the contour of the new German-Russian border had salients that would give the attacking country a decided advantage in quickly encircling its enemy. Stalin was determined to be the one to attack first. On June 13, 1941, Stalin begins his final mobilization process to move his second echelon armies into launch position. By June 22nd, many of these armies were strung out for many miles and leaderless for the commanders had already moved up to the front. The Soviets were in no position at this stage to repulse a major invasion and as Barbarossa unfolds Russia loses millions of men and a lot of ground. Its quite ironic for if the author is correct if Hitler had chosen to invade two weeks earlier or two weeks later when the Russian armies were more prepared then Operation Barbarossa could have ended much differently.

There are no maps but an extensive Notes Section, Bibliography and Index are provided.

Mr Suvorov and his books are very controversial. There are some authorities who feel the author gives Stalin and his armies too much credit, that the dictator was not on the verge of invading Europe. If you fall into this camp then you should read David Glantz's "Stumbling Colossus" which is a direct rebuttal to this book. Geoffrey Jukes, another Soviet specialist, in his latest book,"Stalingrad to Kursk" also refutes some of the author's claims. I too believe too much credit is given to Stalin and that some claims are arguable but this book is still intriguing and is recommended to serious students of the war who want to read an alternative to accepted history.
Stalin was a very secretive person; there is very little incriminating evidence like invasion orders that would clearly settle this issue. Mr Suvorov builds as good a circumstantial case as possible.

There is so much more to this book that hasn't been covered in this review but hope its enough to whet your appetite for more. There are a few other books that cover this topic but this by far is the most comprehensive that I've found. If you have any interest in this topic of who really started WWII then you should consider getting this book for it presents insights of Stalin you might not be aware of.