How Stalin Won The War
My version:
Paperback
Genre:
Non Fiction, Second World War
Publisher: Penguin Books
First published: 2024
ISBN:
978-0-241-99371-2
Pages: 481
Bought
From the cover:
June 1944: In Operation Bagration, more than two million Red Army soldiers, facing 500,000 German soldiers, finally avenged their defeat in Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The same month saw the Allies triumph on the beaches of Normandy but, despite the myths that remain, it was the events on the Eastern Front that sealed Hitler’s fate and destroyed Nazism.
In this vivid new work, bestselling historian Johathan Dimbleby describes and analyses this momentous year, covering the military, political and diplomatic story in his evocative style. Drawing on previously untranslated German, Russian and Polish sources, we see how sophisticated new forms of deception and ruthless Partisan warfare helped shift the Soviets’ fortunes, how their triumphs gave Stalin authority to occupy Eastern Europe and how Stalin came to dictate the terms of the post-war settlement.
Understanding the events of 1944 allows us to see fully the foundations for the Cold War – and modern-day conflicts in Ukraine and beyond.
Endgame 1944: How Stalin Won the War is a critically acclaimed 2024 history book by British historian and broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby. The book focuses on the devastating Eastern Front offensives of World War II – particularly Operation Bagration – and argues that the massive Soviet campaigns, rather than just the Western Allies’ D-Day landings, ultimately destroyed Nazism and allowed Stalin to dictate the post-war order. He doesn’t need to ‘argue’ that really, it’s surely an accepted fact. It is with me anyway.
The book draws on previously untranslated Russian, German, and Polish sources to provide a sweeping military and diplomatic narrative. Dimbleby outlines how this brutal mega-conflict shifted the balance of power, effectively paving the way for the Cold War as Stalin occupied Eastern Europe. It serves as his fourth book on the Second World War, following his previous work on Barbarossa.
Really readable and engaging writing. Not like reading a novel of the whole situation, but not far off it. You learn a lot without really realising it. If he’s not the best historian writing today, then he’s certainly up there with Max Hastings and Anthony Beevor at least.
You can buy Endgame 1944 by Jonathan Dimbleby from Amazon
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Couldn't I Just Tell You 