Russia: Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1921

Brilliant!! Lots of names to remember though but well put together on a difficult subject and I just love Beevor ;-)

This was a very interesting book on a huge subject, it will take reading several times to reasonably digest it.I was however disappointed with the print quality.

Antony Beevor is one of the premier historians of our time. His latest work, Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917 - 1921, is devoted mostly to reporting the raw stuff of history -- the myriad details that enable us to learn what happened. And Beevor is a master of detail. There are hundreds of pages that describe skirmishes and battles in the Russian Civil War, with many fascinating insights into the political and military actors, with their shifting loyalties and competing egos. Historians will appreciate this work for its kaleidoscopic reach and its polished nuance. Military historians should learn a great deal from it, including how, in the Far East, in Siberia, at about this time the Americans and the Japanese began the antagonistic relationship that would degenerate into war twenty years later.Beevor is especially clear-eyed about the early principal actors -- Lenin, Trotsky, and Kerensky. Beevor quotes Lenin (p.122) as calling the bourgeoisie lice, fleas, vermin, and parasites, implying their class was worthy of genocide. Beevor does not note, though he might have, that Hitler said the same thing about the Jews at about the same time. Beevor accuses Kerensky of incompetent leadership after the February-March Revolution, which might not have happened at all but for the blindness and stupidity of the influential Tsarina and Czar Nicholas II, who was the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time.Of Trotsky (who kept his own armored train) Beevor notes that he and Lenin together authored and authorized a policy of terror, the Red Terror, during which tens of thousands of political enemies and enemy soldiers were executed during the Civil War. The Red Terror produced unimaginable suffering and vicious, pointless brutality that was accelerated once the Bolsheviks won the Civil War. Then the terror became pure vengeance, as tens of thousands more were executed, many by horrific methods. The best estimates put the total number of victims at about 100,000 for the entire Civil War.Beevor describes, almost with reverence, how innocent civilians came to be without hope, and the personal tragedies they had to endure as fighting subsided. He tells of women reduced to prostitution just to obtain food; of parents killing their own children, and then themselves, to avoid a worse fate should they be captured by the enemy; and of the outright murder of old people, children, and peasants, and of tortures beyond belief. The horrors of the Russian Civil War laid bare in this book will challenge the most committed idealist who believes in the perfectibility of humankind.That caution is reinforced when Beevor tells of retreating armies seeking to escape the battlefields, and of the refugees caught in the clamor. We saw this when the Americans retreated from Saigon in 1975 and from Kabul in 2021, and when the Red Army advanced on Berlin in 1945. We may see it again when the hostilities in Ukraine come to an end. Beevor's descriptions of these events are heart-wrenching, and very difficult to read.For the four-year period 1917-1921 chaos, lawlessness, starvation, and death spread throughout Russia. When the dust finally settled the worst of the worst -- Stalin -- ascended to power. He brought two decades more of starvation, genocide, and carnage that, with an assist from Hitler, became the death of millions. The story of Russia in the first half of the twentieth century is a monumental testament to the futility of war. Beevor's book provides powerful evidence of that testament.

This book was not written for PHD's! The situations are well separated by chapter and fairly easy to grasp. The Russian Revolution has always been relatively hard to follow as there were so many diverse characters involved. This puts all the "ifs" in perspective by character, how a very small minority was able to gain power is illustrated and the character flaws of those involved explained to some degree. An excellent read even if one has a passing interest.

I was looking forward to this book - I wanted to learn more about the Russian Civil War, and Beevor has written some good (Spanish Civil War) and excellent (Stalingrad) books. The Russian Civil War covers a lot of literal and metaphorical ground. It offers a challenge to an author to research such a large, vast topic, and then to organize it into a single 502 page volume.In my view, Beevor's product reflects a great deal of research and a thorough approach, but I think it falls short in 2 areas. One is the organization and presentation of a vast amount of information. Perhaps part (or a good chunk) of the responsibility is with me as the reader, but I felt that the outpouring of information Beevor provides was not presented in a way that enables the reader to be able to track it. A second part is that Beevor devotes a significant portion to the narrative to try to cover the many factions and geographic areas, and I think more time devoted to an analysis of the larger factors would have generally improved the book.

The best book on the Russian Revolution ever. Very hard to stop reading. This is a great author - Beevor’s other work like Stalingrad and WW2 were magnificent books. The author keeps what can be a confusing and complex account moving along with great conciseness. Shows how the split develops and the Civil War coming out today the revolution starts and how it ends. The amount of brutality and suffering is beyond belief! This book is fascinating and constantly reminded me of the cheapness of human life during this time and place. If you want more information on the Russian Revolution it is out there, but this is the best written and understandable account. One of the best books I’ve read this year.

Interesting read, but hard to follow due to the names of different Russians. So many changes of locations and new names, rank etc. at times a bit confusing

Great book great author

...and he's awesome.

Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921 is a very detailed and well researched book, but if only have a basic knowledge of the Russian Revolution (or, like me, studied it many decades ago at university) then I would like to offer you some suggestions for your consideration before delving too far into it:1. It helps to have some knowledge of the Russian Revolution and the geography of the region. After reading only a couple of chapters I had to stop and do some research of my own, given the amount of detail and the complexity of the events covered in this book. Luckily I came across a short (47 pages) book 'Russian Revolution; a history from beginning to end' from the 'Hourly History' series (available on Amazon). This provided me with a 'broad picture' and refresher of the key events and people involved, which really helped me fully appreciate this much more detailed study.2. At the back of this book there is an excellent Glossary and also a section covering the key abbreviations that are used extensively throughout the book. I wish I had known this before I started as I was constantly having to use the 'x-Ray' function on the kindle to check who someone was or what a particular abbreviation stood for.3. The book contains plenty of maps and photographs. The maps are extremely helpful even though a little small to read on my kindle (but much easier to study on a larger tablet / laptop using the Amazon Kindle app). The photographs certainly help visualize the people and events taking place.4. As already mentioned, the book is very detailed; in parts you may say too detailed given the sheer brutality undertaken by both the Bolsheviks and the armies of the White Russian alliance. War is gruesome and this is made perfectly clear in this book, so don't read it if you are at all squeamish.However, if you are looking for a well researched, detailed history of the Russian Revolution, then I think you will find this book invaluable. I only wish it had been around 55 years ago when I was taking a university course on Russian history!

Phantastic book.

Geschenkartikel, der gut angekommen ist

Probably one of the most difficult books to read on the Russian revolution. Comparing the author's other works on the second world war, this book feels devoid of life. There are too many characters at play and one really needs to have a good grasp of modern Russian history to understand these characters & their role in the revolution.It's hard to link chapters. The author mostly describes the life of ordinary people who suffered horrific atrocities, the incompetence of the Tsarist administration, the blindness of the ruling class towards its population and then jumps directly on the execution of military plans by the rebels and the Tsarist armies. Thus, there is hardly any scope to understand the social, political or economical reasons for the revolution.No matter how hard a reader might try, its difficult to focus and comprehend more than 15-20 pages in one go. And that eventually reduces the interest one might have in the topic.While the above points might be critical of the book, it certainly delivers on the military aspects and gives an accurate gory description of the slaughter of the civilian population.This book is a great read for someone who has an advanced knowledge about the other socio-economic aspects of the revolution and could link them with the armed execution. But I wouldn't suggest this for a beginner or someone who is looking to absorb first-hand information on the causes and effects of the civil war.