![]() ![]() Why is that? One explanation is that when you look at the war from the perspective of its end rather than its beginning, it is Stalin who emerges as the main beneficiary. McMeekin claims that there is more reason to call the second world war Stalin’s war than Hitler’s. The revisionist take starts with the title. It puts forward new ideas and revives some old ones to challenge current mainstream interpretations of the conflict. The book is well researched and very well written. The list of source publications and literature is even longer, while the notes, often limited to citations, occupy more than 90 pages. It is more than 800 pages long, including a 20-page list of archival collections and files consulted. ![]() The volume is impressive even by the standard of histories of the second world war. ![]() In the spring of 1941, the Soviets considered attacking the Germans first, writes Sean McMeekin in his latest book, Stalin’s War. The day on which they did so is by far the most surprising part of the document:, one month and one week before Hitler attacked the USSR. “I t is necessary to deprive the German command of all initiative, forestall the adversary, and to attack the German army when it is still in the deployment stage and has no time to organise the distribution of forces at the front,” wrote the Soviet commanders to Joseph Stalin. ![]()
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