Thunder in the East: the Nazi-Soviet War, 1941-1945 (Modern Wars) - Softcover

Evan Mawdsley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340613920 ISBN 13: 9780340613924

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2007

Synopsis

The Soviet Union's struggle with Nazi Germany played the decisive part in the Allied defeat of Hitler. Gigantic, prolonged, and bloody land battles, running continuously from 1941 to 1945, contrasted with the fighting on other fronts. The Russians largely fought on their own, with an independent strategy, and at a cost much higher than that borne by the other combatants. As for the Germans, Hitler and his high command conceived and carried out the Russian campaign as a singular 'war of annihilation'.
Benefiting from a post-Communist, post-Cold War perspective, Evan Mawdsley takes full advantage of the wealth of new studies and source materials to produce a narrative that is both penetrating and wide-ranging, providing a clear overview of a vast conflict. This is a gripping account of one of the most devastating episodes of European history.

About this title

Review:

"Mawdsley is a Russian specialist, and much of his research is based on thousands of documents from the Soviet military archives published in the 1990s. These enable him, first, to avoid overreliance on self-serving Soviet military memoirs; second to provide an in-depth analysis of the Red Army's development into a highly effective military machine; and, third, to illuminate many neglected phases and episodes of the military campaign."

(Geoffrey Roberts, THES 2006-11-24)

'This is exceptionally precise and judicious work, now the authoritative general history...'

(The Atlantic 2007-05-01)

'This is a substantial contribution to the literature on the Soviet-German war...Mawdsley knows the material intimately. This is a high-class offering.'

(Robert Service, University of Oxford 2007-05-01)

'Thunder in the East ... is now the state-of-the-art general history of the Eastern front.'

(James V. Koch, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA 2006-12-01)

Evan Mawdsley's book strikes new ground by being a one-volume work ... on the Eastern Front which gives equal weight to both the Soviets and the Axis. Consequently, it is likely that this will become the point of first call for those interested in the war in the East from 1941 to 1945 ... It is well-written, amply researched, and fair and balanced in its conclusions ... The focus is very much on the operational level, and in that respect the book is extremely thorough, giving full weight not just to the famous battles, such as Stalingrad, but to the lesser-known ones and to all theatres of the conflict ... the book succeeds admirably in achieving its aim of presenting the history of the Eastern Front in one volume. For this, Evan Mawdsley is to be congratulated.

(P.F. Robinson, SEER 2006-12-01)

Mawdsley's strength is an explicator of the major forces that determined the outcome of this, the most destructive land battle of all time ... Mawdsley is one of the first military historians to pay substantial attention to Joseph Stalin's speeches. The previous tendency had been to regard them as rank propaganda. Mawdsley demonstrates that Stalin's utterances actually contain substantial information and should not be ignored by anyone who wishes to know what was going on in Soviet minds ... (This) is now the state-of-the-art general history of the Eastern front.

(H-Net Reviews Online 2006-12-01)

"Authoritative and judicious, innovative and challenging, accessible and evocative - this is the text for those who want to understand why Hitler lost and why Stalin won."

(Geoffrey Roberts, THES 2006-11-24)

"This is a first-rate account that makes effective use of recently available sources and provides the best one-volume account of the war."

(Professor Jeremy Black, The Historical Association 2006-11-24)

"Evan Mawdsley has written a first-rate account of World War II on the Eastern Front ... It will rightly find its way onto many reading lists; it is a sensible and balanced interpretation, and we like our students to have sensible, balanced textbooks."

(Mark Harrison, Europe-Asia Studies, 2008, 60:1 2006-11-24)

About the Author:

Evan Mawdsley is Professor of International History at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0340613920
• ISBN 13: 9780340613924
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 528