Utilizing secret Soviet archives, Dmitri Volkogonov presents a provocative reevaluation of Lenin's leadership, portraying him as a cruel totalitarian rather than a heroic figure. The book uncovers the darker aspects of Lenin's regime, highlighting his role in some of the most troubling events in Soviet history, thus challenging the traditional narrative surrounding the Founding Father of the Soviet state.
Focusing on the seven General Secretaries of the Soviet Empire, this work provides a comprehensive analysis of the Soviet Union's historical failures. Dmitri Volkogonov, a leading Russian historian, offers an insightful narrative that examines the political dynamics and leadership styles that shaped the empire's trajectory. Through meticulous research, he reveals the complexities and challenges faced by these leaders, ultimately portraying the broader implications of their governance on the Soviet state.
A former general in the Soviet Army's propaganda department, Director of the Institute for Military History, and Defence Adviser to President Yeltsin from 1991 to his death from cancer in December 1995, Dmitri Volkogonov had unrivalled access to Soviet military archives, Communist Party documents and secret presidential files. Basing this book on these inside sources, he reveals the truth behind the activities of the world's most secretive political leaders. He throws new light on: Lenin's paranoia about foreigners in Russia; his creation of a privileged system for top Party members; Stalin's repression of the nationalities and his singular conduct of foreign policy; the origins and conduct of the Korean War; Khrushchev's relationship with the odious secret service chief Beria; Brezhnev's vanity and stupidity; the Afghan War; Poland and Solidarity; Soviet bureaucracy; and Gorbachev's Leninism and role in history.
For ten years General Dmitri Volkogonov studied military records, party archives, trial documents, and other long-suppressed evidence from the era of the purges- one of the most painful and turbulent periods in Russian history. This is the definitive account of the man, the time, and the tragedy. The author had an incredible access to secret KGB files in his role as historian for the Soviet Army, and he pieces together the story of the man who for thirty years controlled the minds and bodies of the hundreds and millions of people of the Soviet Union. This book, the first of a trilogy written by Volkogonov on Stalin, Lenin, and Trotsky, takes advantage of the author's discoveries to reveal much heretofore unknown knowledge about Stalin's reign of terror in the early days of the Soviet Union.
Dmitri Volkogonov presents a groundbreaking reinterpretation of Leon Trotsky's life, drawing from extensive Soviet and Western archives and interviews with key figures, including a member of Stalin's NKVD. The narrative reveals the intense animosity between Trotsky and Stalin, rooted in early disputes and culminating in Trotsky's assassination. Volkogonov explores Trotsky's complex character, highlighting his rigidity and contradictions, as well as his dual nature as both a compassionate leader and a ruthless military strategist. This definitive account delves into the inherent inconsistencies of revolutionary ideology.
This is a biography of Leon Trotsky, a dominating figure of the Russian Revolution. He was largely responsible for building the Red Army, and advocated the system of state terror which was ultimately to lead to the nightmare of Stalinism.
With access to unpublished Lenin documents held in the Communist Party archives and elsewhere, Volkogonov shows that the violence and coercion that characterized the Soviet system derived entirely from Lenin, and that Lenin's regime designed and set in motion the machinery of the Stalinist terror of the 1930s and 1940s.
Traces the life of the Soviet leader, uses the secret Soviet archives to reveal new information, and argues that Lenin set in motion many of the worst excesses of the state later expanded by Stalin
In den sieben Jahrzehnten ihres Bestehens wurde die Sowjetunion von sieben Männern regiert, die nachhaltig und auf unterschiedliche Weise die Weltgeschichte prägten. Der russische Historiker Dimitri Wolkogonow zeigt in seinem letzten Werk die Wahrheit hinter den Kulissen der kommunistischen Herrschaft in Russland. Er kannte die letzten vier Herrscher persönlich und hatte darüber hinaus als Militärberater Jelzins Zugang zu den Archiven der Roten Armee sowie Einblick in Geheimdokumente der kommunistischen Partei und in geheime Präsidentschaftsakten.
Der Terror begann nicht mit Stalin. Leo Trotzki, der „Sänger der Revolution“, hat zugleich die Grundlagen der Diktatur gelegt, die sein siegreicher Rivale um die Macht perfektionierte. Diese große Biographie entzaubert den Mythos Trotzki – und eine Idee, die unser Jahrhundert beherrschte.