| ||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Misguided Porter,
By
This review is from: White Eagle Red Star (Paperback)
As a historian of Central and Eastern Europe, I am responding to the review by Thomas Porter who sounds like a typical Westerner who never had the dubious pleasure of living his life within the confines of a communist society.
At the time of this war, it was not necessarily certain that either system would prevail or that Comumuism was such a bad thing. We know a bit better these days since those in power tend to stay in power - for better or worse and usually the latter - unless there is a system that can check them. At the time of this war - according to the philosophy esposed by Marx (and to a certain extent Hegel), the founder of the doctrine - world revolution was an essential requirement for its success. It was this very action that necessitated a change in that theory and the new flavor of the month became Communism in one country with its export later once victory was secure (although Lenin's NEP was a harbinger). This is exactly what happened as we now know. Historically, Russia had far less of a claim to these lands than Poland, at least since the time of Ivan IV. I do not question the fact the Pilsudski was the instigator nor would I say that he was not a dictator - a strong person was needed to forstall the imposition of Communism from within Poland itself (many of the best Communists were Poles or Lituanians - Dzerzhinski, Radek, Rokossovski, etc.). Nonetheless, the evacuation of the Germans from the Ostland created a vacuum that had to be occupied somehow and the race was on. The Western victors of WW1 were exhausted and had no particular interest in this conflict. It is quite likely that this war prevented the imposition of Communism throughout Central Europe or if not, at the very least it prevented another war to decide the issue. There is no evidence that England or France would have moved in any manner had the Reds overrun Poland and entered Germany (and the USA certainly would not have)and even if they had, it is unlikely that the would have fared better then Napoleon before them or Hitler after. However, the time was as ripe as ever considering the fact that Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were working the doctrine in Germany (though they were against the impostion of Communism from Russian, wisely seeing this as a Russian dictatorship) and Russian style Soviets were vying for power in Hungary and Munich. Though all of these attempts were eventually crushed it is interesting to note that that the political rivals that Hitler later targeted were not the Monarchists or liberals but rather the Communists. For these reasons, this war should be considered one of the most important of the 20th century, no less so than the defeat of the Turks at the gates of Vienna by Sobieski several hundred years earlier. It is a great book.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Polish Heroism that Saved Europe,
By
This review is from: White Eagle Red Star (Paperback)
Soon after the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Soviets were poised to impose Communism on all of Europe. Poland, just resurrected after having been conquered and subjugated for 123 years, stood in the way. Davies, an English historian, recounts the heroism of the Poles, under Pilsudski's leadership, in repelling the fresh Russian invasion of Poland that was to eventually continue to the rest of Europe. At the same time, Pilsudski possessed the foresight and discipline not to attempt to set Poland's eastern borders too far east at the expense of the Byelorussians and Ukrainians. It is ironic that the so-called Curzon line, purely a line of armistice between the Polish and Russian forces, was later to be made by Stalin as Poland's eastern frontier. It is also sad to realize that the Polish achievement was only met with European ingratitude. In fact,who knows how the course of history would have been different had the Soviets succeeded in imposing Communism on much or all of Europe back in the early 1920's!
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A review of the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-20.,
By
This review is from: White Eagle Red Star (Paperback)
Davies is a fine historian of Poland and he is at best in describing about this little known war. Few people know that Poland invaded the Ukraine in 1919 or that Russia invaded Poland in 1920. Davies describes these see saw battles in this book and how it affected the rest of Europe. Despite what one reviewer descibed at the saving of Western civilization by Poland, Davies is prettly harsh with his evaluations of the participants in the war. Lloyd George was fickle in his lack of support of the Polish. The French were spineless (and still are) in their support of the Polish when the Russians invaded. Lenin swayed back and forth between building socialism in one country, or causing revolution worldwide. Pilsudski was a military dictator. The Germans were disinterested.
This is a nice read on a little known war. Few people know that the Russian Revolution might have been crushed if the Russians had defeated the Polish and invaded Germany. If this had happened the French and British would have had to stop the Red Menace for good and destroyed the Bolshevik Revolution. This is a good read for those interested in the aftermath of the First World War.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
