The Russian Revolution, Sean McMeekin
The Russian Revolution, Sean McMeekin
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The Russian Revolution
A New History

Author: Sean McMeekin

Narrator: Pete Larkin

Unabridged: 15 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 07/03/2017

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

From an award-winning scholar comes this definitive, single-volume history that illuminates the tensions and transformations of the Russian Revolution.

In The Russian Revolution, acclaimed historian Sean McMeekin traces the events which ended Romanov rule, ushered the Bolsheviks into power, and introduced Communism to the world. Between 1917 and 1922, Russia underwent a complete and irreversible transformation. Taking advantage of the collapse of the Tsarist regime in the middle of World War I, the Bolsheviks staged a hostile takeover of the Russian Imperial Army, promoting mutinies and mass desertions of men in order to fulfill Lenin's program of turning the "imperialist war" into civil war. By the time the Bolsheviks had snuffed out the last resistance five years later, over 20 million people had died, and the Russian economy had collapsed so completely that Communism had to be temporarily abandoned. Still, Bolshevik rule was secure, owing to the new regime's monopoly on force, enabled by illicit arms deals signed with capitalist neighbors such as Germany and Sweden who sought to benefit-politically and economically-from the revolutionary chaos in Russia.

Drawing on scores of previously untapped files from Russian archives and a range of other repositories in Europe, Turkey, and the United States, McMeekin delivers exciting, groundbreaking research about this turbulent era. The first comprehensive history of these momentous events in two decades, The Russian Revolution combines cutting-edge scholarship and a fast-paced narrative to shed new light on one of the most significant turning points of the twentieth century.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Anthony

Every Time it Hits Hard. Reading about Russian’s tragic Revolution never fails to invoke feelings of sadness and shock at the loss of a nation and it’s people. The horrors are unimaginable and the suffering cannot be contemplated. So many died for so little. The Russian Revolution: A New History by S......more

Goodreads review by Liviu

shorter than I expected (there are 150 pages of notes, references etc) but captivating like a page turner novel; the main thrust (argued well) is how preparing for 1917, Russia was actually very well positioned to defeat the Central powers who were the ones on the verge of meltdown, but a weak Tsar......more