Stalin's War: Tragedy and Triumph, 1941-1945 [Hardcover]

The battlefields of the USSR witnessed the most devastating confrontations of World War II. In every one of those battles, Communist dictator Josef Stalin exercised his influence, meddling with (and executing) his generals, hurling unprepared armies into pure chaos, and meeting with his Western allies to divide the world up into zones of influence that would soon be embroiled in a new war. World War II scholar Hoyt describes the war from Stalin's vantage point and shows how his decisions, especially his early refusal to go to war with Germany even after they attacked, led to the historic battles for Leningrad, Stalingrad, and Moscow. Hoyt also explains how Stalin's bloody purges before the war left a military bereft of leadership, yet opened the doors for Zhukov, Chuikov, Rokossovsky, and other crucial commanders to spearhead a Soviet victory.Stalin's Waralso examines Stalin's use of propaganda to vilify the German army and blame Soviet war crimes and human rights violations on the Nazis.Edwin P. Hoyt, author ofJapan's War,199 Days: The Battle for Stalingrad, andHow They Won the War in the Pacific: Nimitz and His Admirals, lives in Beaverton, Oregon, near Portland.The Eastern Front was chaos, blood, and destruction on an unimaginable scale. Yet, one man dominated it—Stalin. Edwin Hoyt brings the reader into this maelstrom from the web center of the great tyrant whose paranoia set the Soviet Union up for near destruction but who yet transformed himself into the able warlord who beat the Wehrmacht to death.The story of the Soviet Union's struggle to victory in World War II is a gripping one and Hoyt retells it with the observant eye of an historian and the narrative drive of a novelist. By the end ofStalin's Warit is chillingly clear that the Soviet dictator was as much at war with his own people as he was with the Nazis.Fast paced and informative,Stalin's Warsustains the author's track record. It is one of Hoyt's best.TlC¿