Endgame 1944: How Stalin Won the War
by Jonathan Dimbleby
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Description
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. In the following three weeks, Army Group Centre lost 28 of its 32 divisions. The same month saw the Allies triumph on the beaches of Normandy, but, despite the myths that remain today, it was the events on the Eastern Front in 1944 that sealed Hitler's fate and destroyed Nazism. Sophisticated new forms of deception and show more ruthless Partisan warfare led to a dramatic shift in fortunes in favour of the Soviets, whilst a war within a war in Ukraine complicated the campaign on the Eastern Front. Drawing on previously untranslated sources, bestselling historian Jonathan Dimbleby describes and analyses this momentous year, covering the military, political and diplomatic story in his usual evocative style. We see how Soviet triumphs effectively gave Stalin authority to occupy Eastern Europe, whilst the two Western leaders, often sharply disagreeing amongst themselves, lacked the military or political muscle to challenge this new arrangement. Dimbleby's gripping, masterly narrative sets the drama of the relationships between the "big three" against the history being created on the battlefield, and shows how the Soviet victories in 1944 enabled Stalin to dictate the terms of the post-war settlement and lay the foundations for the Cold War. show lessTags
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Author Information
10+ Works 1,313 Members
Jonathan Dimbleby is a writer, broadcaster, and filmmaker. His books include Russia: A Journey to the Heart of a Land and its People, and the highly acclaimed Destiny in the Desert: The Road to El Alamein.
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
The Guardian Book of the Day (2024-05-27)
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2024
- Important places
- Eastern Front in World War II
- Important events
- Operation Bagration (1944)
- Dedication
- In memory of Nicholas Dimbleby (1946-2024), who was always intrigued
- First words
- (Preface) 1944 was the year in which, after a protracted and barbaric struggle, the Soviet Red Army finally annihilated Germany's armed forces on the battlefield.
High winds and driving snow on New Year's Eve had obliterated almost every feature of a landscape that seemed to drift back into infinity from the banks of the River Dnieper. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)It is in this sense that 1944 might fairly be seen a the 'endgame' year of the Second World War in Europe, the twelve months that shaped the destiny of an entire continent for half a century and more.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)(Afterword) As T. S. Eliot wrote in 'Burnt Norton', the first of his Four Quartets, which was published not long before the outbreak of the Second World War: 'Time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future.' - Blurbers
- Moorhouse, Roger; Braithwaite, Sir Rodric; Evans, Sir Richard; Kershaw, Colonel Robert; Stahel, David
- Original language
- English
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 940.54217 — History & geography History of Europe History of Europe 1918- Military history of World War II Campaigns and battles by theatre European theatre Soviet Union
- LCC
- D764 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania History (General) World War II (1939-1945)
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 122
- Popularity
- 267,530
- Rating
- (4.07)
- Languages
- Dutch, English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 1
