Customer Reviews

Russia's War: Blood Upon the Snow

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an astounding 5-volume set of video that made me wonder why this history is not more well known in the U.S. as it appears the soviets lost up to 40 people for every single American loss in WWII. Volume 3 has an hour-long documentary on the total German obliteration of Stalingrad and the wintry turn of events that led to the destruction of the entire German army that found itself eventually surrounded within Stalingrad. This segment left me wondering why a single battle that appears to have had more casualties than the total casualty loss among the U.S. and British during the entire war gets so little attention in American schools. Also extraordinarily notable are the sections on the siege and starvation of millions in Leningrad, the arrest, trial and execution of many (most?) soviet military officers before the war by Stalin, the mass exterminations at Babi Yar, the virtual civil war between the nationalist, anti-Stalinist partisans and soviet partisans in the Ukraine (all the while both groups were fighting Germans), and the interviews with soviet soldiers whose job it was to shoot fleeing soviet soldiers at the front.

This film is an outstanding choice for anyone interested in history.

I saw this series (10-parts) back in 2002 on History International. It is, without a doubt, the best series on World War II's "Front of Decision." Not only does it cover all of the major battles that punctuated this struggle, it delves into issues that are ignored in more cursory treatments. For example, the NKVD's "blocking forces" are discussed at some length--we're even treated to interviews with NKVD veterans who shot recalcitrant officers; it covers Germany's administration of the occupied territories and the privations visited upon the civilian population--the Holocaust among these "difficulties;" and we learn about the partisan war--not just fighting by pro-Soviet partisans, but Ukrainian and Polish freedom fighters--some of these conflicts persisted until 1947.

If you're interested in history and want an excellent treatment of humanity's most destructive undertaking (to date), I highly recommend this DVD.

This is a massive and extremely well integrated series of documentaries that exhaustively depicts, explains, and examines the nature of the Soviet society at the time of the great patriotic struggle (as they called it) against the Nazi forces that invaded Russia during World War Two. It finds its beginnings in the post-revolutionary struggles of the Russian civil war, and the Russian resolve to be better prepared for the next inevitable invasion from the west which communist doctrine taught them to always expect. As a consequence the Russians painstakingly and consistently rebuilt their forces and manufactured arms and armaments to prepare for that terrible prospect. Of course, they also sabotaged their own interests along the way, in a story that one has to know the Russian mindset well to fully appreciate.

Yet the series does much more than give us a skeletal overview of the nature of Russian preparedness and the eventual invasion by the Wehrmacht in operation Barbarossa in June of 1941; it puts all of it in an excellent historical context by showing the nature of Soviet internal repression under the brutal and brazenly paranoid policies of Joseph Stalin, who systematically purged anyone of consequence from the upper echelons of the military during the years just preceding the onset of the Second World War.

Of course, much of the film used in this depiction was produced for use as either German or Russian propaganda, but this unfortunate limitation of the documentary material is scrupulously balanced and buttressed by both the narrative as well as other materials provided in the series. There is a companion text written by noted historian Richard Overy (see my review) which threads through the same material and provides a lot of interesting information that aids one in maximizing the benefit of the film series itself. I plan to use this informally for a high school class in European history as a way of engaging lethargic teens into some interest in modern history. This series isn't intended as an instant graduate course in Operation Barbarossa, but can be quite informative if used in conjunction with the text and some other materials (such as the recent excellent book on the subject, "When Titans Clashed"). Enjoy!

As a teacher of history I can say with a high degree of certainty that this is THE BEST historical documentary I have come across. Here in North America we tend to have the opinion that we saved Europe on D-day; in fact, 80% of the Nazi casualties were inflicted on them by the Red Army. This tape goes some ways in addressing the historical imbalance that we see.

On the down side, they could have found someone more relevant than (and better than) Henry Kissinger to introduce the video. While he may be America's foreign policy "Guru", he is not a historian.

This very fine PBS broadcast details Stalin's War against the Russian People and the German War against the Soviet Union. It seeks to detail these two wars and how it combined cost the Soviet Union 45 million people. Why does it matter? Because in today's world, the Germans are scorned for what they did to the world, but very little is said about what Stalin did to the peoples of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. That is why it matters and why this film series shows Stalin and his henchman for what they really were. This film is not for the weak of heart, as it shows some very disturbing scenes and talks about some very revolting subjects. I watched in amazement as people gloated over a person being hanged.
This is a true horror film starring Stalin and Hitler. It shows mans inhumanity to man. This is very much worth watching.

I have always loved to read books and watch videos about World War II and this was an excellent series. First of all, it showed many new video clips that I had never seen before which helps to better illustrate the excelent narration. The introductions by Henry Kissinger also added greatly to the whole peice. I especially remember the segment on Staligrad. It told an informative story from both sides of the battle which gave it a more human feel. Additionally, it illustrated just how brutal Stalin was in his push to free his country from the Nazis. It also raised an interesting question about whether or not Stalin may have been planning an invasion of Hitler's domain just before Hitler attacked. I also agree with a fellow reviewer about its coverage of the Battle of Kursk, very informative. Overall, I learned a great amount from this documentary and it is well worth its price.

The is an ambitious and brilliant documentary, focusing primarily on the blood lust and psychosis of Sovet Dictator, Joseph Stalin. Multiple interviews with Societ citizenry and historians prove conclusively that Stalin was the greatest mass murderer in history. His purges against the Russian peasants killed 3 million people alone. The depictions of his vast Gulag system are sobering and depressing.

The strongest parts of the documentary focus on the Russian attempts to thwart Nazi invasion. The heroism of the civilian populations in Stalingrad and Leningrad is harrowing.

The weakest part of the documentary is the ridiculous and unnecessary inclusion of Henry Kissinger, who is not noted to be an expert on Soviet History. Thankfully, you can fast forward through his 5 minute introductory segments.

This documentary will fascinate anyone with an interest in Russian history, Stalin or Hitler.

Yes, yes, yes, we know. The series doesn't cover all the details of Russia's involvement in World War II (or the years leading up to it). And, yes, it does reflect the perspective of the people who put the project together. And, yes, yes, there are other ways to interpret the material. Good grief! Do we really need a lecture on the fact that documentary films are made by people who do, in fact, filter material through their own experiential and cultural viewpoints? Documentaries are not absolute truth; they are interpretive communication.

The point is that this series displays photographs and film footage which have never been available in any format prior to their sifting and presentation in this production.

Surely the people who are carping at the series because they feel that the filmmakers have not presented the entirety of the story can understand the realities of trying to organize literally hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of randomly accumulated footage discovered in heretofore sealed archives in Germany and Russia into a manageable package.

So some of the narration is a little clichéd. So all the details of every event and all aspects of every personality are not fully developed. If you want additional perspective, watch other documentaries. Read some books. But view these programs for what they do offer--an amazing collection of images that expand our understanding of the terrors of both the prewar and wartime events. Bravo to the filmmakers. I guarantee that at least some of these images are going to make your eyes grow wide.

This is an excellent series that fills in some very large blank spots about the Russian side of World War II. No doubt other documentaries will be produced in the future that make use of the same archival material and reach different conclusions, but this was a commendable and ground-breaking effort that should be purchased for every school and community video collection. My only regret is that it is not currently available on dvd. C'mon, PBS; respond to the advancement in technology and publish this series on dvd so that it is more user friendly and can be adapted to wider applications

These 10 episodes (5 video tapes) provide an intense panoramic historical condensation of soviet history for the approximate period from 1934 through post WWII (although necessarily not complete in every detail). It provides actual video footage of battle scenes, from both German and Soviet sources.

The film impacts one with the immensely horrifying historical facts about the Soviet Government's actions affecting the death of tens of millions of soviet citizens (20+ million) leading up to WWII, and then facing the loss of a much greater number during the course of WWII. Simply put, this series is a MUST SEE. It provides first and second hand historical & psychological analysis of Stalin's government and it's efforts to achieve total control and power within and beyond the Soviet territories. A stark, shocking, 'real' look into what arguably to date the most hellish period of human recorded history. Stalin & Hitler at first briefly court and then convulse the world, they are opposite are sides of the same coin!!

This is an outstanding history of the contributions of blood, sweat, tears and treasure spilled by the Russian people during WWII. It is a pity that the contribution of the Red Army and the people of the Soviet Union were downplayed in the age of the Cold War. Why weren't we taught about the battle of Kursk? The Red Army broke the back of the German military- victory was sealed there- it was only a matter of time. A painful and enlightening series. D-Day and Kursk the two major military operations carried out by our American and Russian grandfathers- the grandfathers that saved the world...