The Russian Revolution 1917 1945

This book offers a fresh analysis of the Russian Revolution from a global perspective. It stresses the historical role of Soviet Communism in the modernization of the country, the defeat of Nazism, and the rise of American power and world leadership. For students and scholars of the Russian Revolution, there are pivotal questions that merit careful, comprehensive consideration: why did the Tsarist regime unravel in revolution? Why did the Bolsheviks come to power rather than some other party? How did Stalin—rather than a more popular and respected leader—win the mantle of Lenin and gain leadership of the ruling party? How should Stalin's regime be judged by subsequent generations of Russians, and in the context of world history? In Russian Revolution, 1917-1945, author Anthony D'Agostino discusses all these questions. His suggestions for further reading range over decades of writing on Soviet subjects and cite classics, revisionist works, curiosities, and studies done during and since the Gorbachev years. The book explores topics including the modernization of the Tsarist Russian state, World War I, the revolutionary project of Soviet Communism, the nationalist transformation of Soviet Communism under international pressures, the "Big Drive" to modernize Russia by force, and the external threat of fascism.

The selection of classic and contemporary sources from both sides of the Iron Curtain make this analysis of the Russian Revolution a unique contribution to the study of the country's history. Exceptional in its wide variety of extracts by such influential writers as Lenin, Carr, Kennen, Engels, Dostoevsky and many more, Professor D'Agostino's book provides a rare resource: a genuinely balanced overview, in the words of leading intellectuals from both sides of the political divide, of the historic events that took place in Russia in the first half of the 20th century.D'Agostino contributes extensive introductions to the readings and the problems they explore. Taken together, these introductions comprise an historical essay on the Russian Revolution, taking readers through the debates that raged among observers of Soviet reality for the better part of a century. This volume provides wide-ranging excerpts from out of print books, making available invaluable material for researchers, and anyone interested in Russian History.A unique collection of contemporary documents on the Russian Revolution.

The author analyzes the history of the USSR from a new perspective. Detailed examination of ideological heritage of the XIXth and XXth centuries shows new aspects of the Russian Revolution.

Rex Wade presents an account of one of the pivotal events of modern history, combining his own long study of the revolution with the best of contemporary scholarship. Within an overall narrative that provides a clear description of the 1917 revolution, he introduces several new approaches on its political history and the complexity of the October Revolution. Wade clears away many of the myths and misconceptions that have clouded studies of the period. He also gives due space to the social history of the revolution and incorporates people and places too often left out of the story, including women, national minority peoples, and peasantry front soldiers, enabling a more complete history to emerge. The 2005 second edition of this highly readable book has been thoroughly revised and expanded. It will prove invaluable reading to anyone interested in Russian history.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 has provided fresh perspectives from which to view the Revolution out of which it grew. The Russian Revolution, 1917-1921, by Ronald Kowalski, reviews the ever-changing debate on the nature of the Russian Revolution. This collection of documents and sources includes: * newspapers, memoirs and literature * commentary and background information of each source * a narrative of the major events of the period * new material made available since the policy of glasnost * a re-examination of World War One and the Revolution * focus on thematic issues such as the actions of peasants and workers. For students of European history this will provide interesting and informative reading on this major event in Russia's turbulent past.

By examining the 1917 revolution in the light of the experiences of the ordinary population rather than the activities of central parties and politicians, this book presents a challenging and fresh interpretation.