Stalin's Generals [Paperback]

Harold Shukman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2002

Most military history deals in the big picture; the movements of armies, the strategy of campaigns. But the training, experience and personalities of the generals themselves, and the nature of their relations with their peers and political leaders, can be unexpectedly illuminating, going well beyond Tolstoy's musings about the effects of Napoleon's cold in the head. This is particularly true in the case of Stalin's generals. How could Soviet generals, whose independent judgement was essential to success, stand up to a bloodthirsty dictator who was ignorant of military skill? Dr Harold Shukman, author and editor of books on the Russian Revolution, has assembled an international group of distinguished military historians. Their portraits of some twenty-five generals - and a final chapter on those who were purged in 1937-38, 'Stalin's Ghosts' - throw light on the relations between a new military elite and a totalitarian leader, at a time when the very existence of the Soviet state was in the balance.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Harold Shukman is an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford, where he was for a number of years Director of the Russian and East European Centre and University Lecturer in Modern Russian History. He edited and translated Dmitri Volkogonov's Stalin: Triumph and Tragedy (1991), Trotsky: The Eternal Revolutionary (1996), and The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire (1998).

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix Press (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1842125133
• ISBN-13: 978-1842125137
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,303,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Red Army's top generals (but where's Chernyakovsky)?, March 4, 2001

By 

Signorelli Luca (Turin, Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stalin's Generals (Hardcover)

While WWII studies have seen a lot of ink devoted to most of Wehrmacht top brass, the same cannot be said for the Soviet war leadership. Reasons have been mixed: lack of material, blind faith on the surmise (popular until mid-70's) that the only Soviet great commander had been Zhukov, and most of the rest had been (at best) a bunch of reliable robots, Cold War cultural policies. So this (a book born out of the sudden flow of material of post-Soviet era) is another "one-of-a-kind", as far as I know is the only collection of monographs dedicated to the wartime Soviet Generals, at least if you don't want to go back to such venerable stuff as Erickson's "The Soviet High Command", that anyway didn't deal with the personal details of each commander. I bought it with some trepidation, but I shouldn't have worried: "Stalin's General" is historiography at his best.

The array of contributor is impressive - John Erickson, Geoffrey Jukes, David Glantz, Richard Woff, Victor Anfilov and many others: what could you ask for more? Each contribution (the list is strictly alphabetical) deals with one name, usually mixing biographical data with some interesting assessment on the relative ability (or inability) of the subject. Some of the portraits are extraordinarily vivid - for instance, Konev as the competitive bastard, Rokossovsky as the compassionate, self restrained but gifted commander, Shaposhnikov as the old-school General Staff officer getting surprisingly well along with Stalin, Antonov and Vasilevsky as the brainy war managers (a la Nimitz), Vatutin and Rybalko as the impetuous field commanders, Golikov as the enigmatic "political" general, Boldin as epitome of mediocrity, Budenny as the man hopelessly out of sync with its times, Batov as the talented, professional Army officer who could have received much more recognition, had he fought with a Western power. And the list could continue - the book collect 26 monographs, plus a final article on the Soviet general fallen during (or immediately after) the war

The articles on Vlasov and Tuchachevksy stands out of the whole pack. The first in negative: Catherine Andreyev portrait of the ex-Soviet General who defected to the Germans has more to do with the then (1993) current Russian political situation than with serious research. On the reverse, Shimon Naveh's story on Tuchachevksy - deep operation lead theorist's, executed by Stalin in 1937 for an alleged "anti Soviet" plot - is simply terrific.

And now comes my only real gripe - where's Chernyakovsky? Red Army youngest "front" commander, and possibly the most talented Red Army field general, killed in action in East Prussia in 1945 after a meteoric and much deserved rise - I just can't believe it that Harold Shukman, book's editor, has just forgotten to include him. I mean, why Moskalenko (a rather undistinguished general) yes and Chernyakovsky no? It's true that you can't have everything in life...

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Backgrounds on various Soviet commanders, April 15, 2005

By 

lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stalin's Generals (Paperback)

Stalin's Generals is a collection of short essays done on various Soviet generals who became famous or infamous during the Second World War. Most of the information given in this book proves to be rather interesting because most of us know little or nothing about these Soviet generals outside of their names. However, its pretty clear that most of the folks who wrote these essays also know very little of generals themselves. Most of these essays read like some dossier files, giving you the achievements and awards of these Soviet commanders but very little about them as human beings. Compared to essays done in Hitler's Generals where very insightful perceptions on Hitler's generals were made, there seem to be almost none in among the essays wrote on Stalin's generals. Zhukov's essay seem to be bit overdone, overlooking his failures (like Operation Mars) while exhorting his victories.

However, this book is quite useful in introducing these Soviet generals and gives the reader a good understanding how Stalin's general purges of the late 1930s really hurt his miliary in ways that cannot be counted.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction to Soviet Generals, January 17, 2006

By 

T. Kunikov (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Stalin's Generals (Paperback)

I picked this book up when I was in England years ago and to this day it remains one of the best compilations on the Generals and Marshals of the Red Army during WWII. Many interesting facts I never knew are dispersed with general accounts and histories of the Generals as they went from 1941 defeats to final victory in 1945. Although many Generals are missing the ones discussed most definitely deserve the attention that they have received by the authors. Tukhachevsky's account was interesting, but I would liked to see Yakir right there next to him. Another Soviet General who was killed during the purges who had a great impact on Soviet Strategy and theory was A. A. Svechin the author of "Strategy" him I would have also liked to read about. Overall an excellent source for a novice to understand how the Generals in the Red Army did their jobs and under what kind of circumstances did the defeat of the German Army come about.