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Summary:

A prize-winning historian reveals how Stalin--not Hitler--was the animating force of World War II in this major new history.We remember World War II as a struggle between good and evil, with Hitler propelling events and the Allied powers saving the day. But Hitler's armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit the spoils of war. That role belonged to Joseph Stalin. Hitler's genocidal ambition may have unleashed Armageddon, but as celebrated historian Sean McMeekin shows, the conflicts that emerged were the result of Stalin's maneuverings, orchestrated to unleash a war between capitalist powers in Europe and between Japan and the Anglo-American forces in the Pacific. Meanwhile, the United States and Britain's self-defeating strategy of supporting Stalin and his armies at all costs allowed the Soviets to conquer most of Eurasia, from Berlin to Beijing, for Communism.A groundbreaking reassessment, Stalin's War is essential reading for anyone looking to understand the roots of the current world order.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: Whose war?
• Prologue: May 5, 1941
• I: Before the storm : the main currents of Soviet foreign policy, 1917-1938. World revolution ; Stalin makes his mark ; Strategic coup in Washington ; Behind the Popular Front
• II: "Huge and hateful": The Molotove-Ribbentrop Pact. Courting Hitler ; Gangster pact, Part I: Poland ; Gangster pact, Part II: Finland ; Maximum danger: Finland, Baku, and the Katyn Massacre ; Stalin strikes: The Baltic, Bessarabia, and Bukovina ; Showdown at the Danube delta ; Summit in Berlin: The four-power pact?
• III: Preparing for Armageddon. Mobilizing the proletariat ; The battle for Belgrade ; Operation Snow: Stalin secures his eastern flank ; To the brink ; Hitler smashes Stalin's war machine ; Terror at the Front
• and in the rear ; War for aluminum ; On the ropes
• IV: Capitalist lifeline. Lifting the moral embargo ; The hinge of fate: December 1941 ; Capitalist rope ; Just-in-time delivery: Lend-Lease and Stalingrad
• V: Second front. Keeping Stalin happy: unconditional surrender and Katyn ; Stopping citadel: the second front? ; Operation Tito ; Teheran and Cairo ; Second Front
• VI: Plunder. Warsaw ; Soviet high tide in Washington: the Morgenthau Plan ; Moscow and Yalta: unfinest hour of the Anglo-Americans ; Booty ; Red Star over Asia: the final wages of Lend-Lease
• Epilogue: Stalin's slave empire and the price of victory.

Author/Creator:

McMeekin, Sean, 1974- , author

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

Stalin's war: a new history of World War II [by McMeekin, S.]

Other Related Resources:

Print version: Stalin's war [by McMeekin, S.] (First edition; New York City : Basic Books, 2021 — ISBN 9781541672796; LCCN 2020038843; OCLC Number 1184233929)

Subjects:

Stalin, Joseph, 1878-1953

World War, 1939-1945 — Soviet Union

World War, 1939-1945 — Diplomatic history

World War, 1939-1945 — Pacific Area

World War (1939-1945)

1939-1945

Diplomatic history

Pacific Area

Soviet Union

General Notes:

Description based on: Print version record.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations, maps

Digital Characteristics:

text file

Call Numbers:

D764 .M3825 2021eb

ISBNs:

9781541672772 (electronic bk.)
1541672771 (electronic bk.)
9781541675209 (electronic bk.)
1541675207 (electronic bk.)
9781541672796 [Invalid]
1541672798 [Invalid]

OCLC Numbers:

1246781682