The Russian Civil War, a critical bibliography

Cat Lord

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• Jan 9, 2008

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• #1

Hi all,

I am interested in information about the following set of books:

About the revolution and the war:

A People's Tragedy: Russian Revolution, 1891-1924 (Paperback)
by Orlando Figes (Author)

I know there is a section about the war in this book (I skimmed through it at the bookshop today), but I am not sure it would be enough information for me.

Critical Companion to the Russian Revolution, 1914-1921 (Paperback)
by Edward Acton (Editor), V.IU. Cherniaev (Editor), William G. Rosenberg (Editor)

I know Sarmatia1871 said it was a must have, but how much information is there about the war/campaigns in it ?

The Origins of the Russian Civil War (Origins Of Modern Wars) (Paperback)
by G.R. Swain (Author)

More because of the book Swain wrote about the war below.

About the war only ?

Russia's Civil War (Paperback)
by Geoffrey Swain (Author)

He is actually a teacher at the Glasgow Uni, near where I lived.

The Russian Civil War (Hardcover)
by Evan Mawdsley (Author)

Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War, 1918-1921 (Paperback)
by W.Bruce Lincoln (Author)

About specific theater and foreign interventions

White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War, 1919-20 (Paperback)
by Norman Davies

Civil War in Siberia: The Anti-Bolshevik Government of Admiral Kolchak, 1918-1920 (Paperback)
by Jonathan D. Smele (Author)

Stamping Out the Virus: Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War 1918-1920 (Hardcover)
by Perry Moore (Author), Ian Robertson (Author)

I know this book has very very mixed reviews, being more a collections of notes than a real book, but hey, maybe it could be useful.

Between War and Peace: Woodrow Wilson & the American Expeditionary Force in Siberia, 1918-1921 (Hardcover)
by Carol Willcox Melton (Author)

Intervention in Russia 1918-1920: A Cautionary Tale (Hardcover)
by Miles Hudson (Author)


What I am currently looking for is enough information to be able to extract OOBs, understand where the main railtracks were in torn Civil War Russia, understand who the main Generals were and how they were like, have a rough ideas of the fronts and armies positions during the war, their equipment, etc, etc...

In particular, if you know of any book there with good maps of the campaigns of the conflicts, thta would be helpful. So please, if you have read the books above and can write a short comment about it, I would greatly appreciate.

Many thanks,

Cat

 

Cat Lord

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• Jan 9, 2008

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• #2

Similarly if people have the following Ospreys, and could tell me what's in them:

Russian Civil War: The Red Army Vol 1 (Men-at-arms) (Paperback)
by Mikhail Khvostov (Author), Andrei Karachtchouk (Illustrator)

The Russian Civil War: The White Armies v. 2 (Men-at-arms) (Paperback)
by Mikhail Khvostov (Author), Andrei Karachtchouk (Illustrator)

Armored Units of the Russian Civil War: Red Army (New Vanguard) (Paperback)
by David Bullock (Author), Andrei Aksenov (Illustrator)

Armoured Units of the Russian Civil War: White and Allied Pt.1 (Osprey New Vanguard) (Paperback)
by David Bullock (Author), Andrei Aksenov (Illustrator)

New Vanguard 140: Armored Trains (New Vanguard) (New Vanguard) (Paperback)
by Steven J Zaloga (Author), Tony Bryan (Illustrator)

Cat

 

Cat Lord

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• Jan 9, 2008

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• #3

I found back a couple of interesting threads here on the subject :

Russian Civil War

Post Brest-Livtosk, pre-Versailles

Soviet Victory in the Polish-Soviet War?

Books on the Russian civil war

Russian Civil War

Polish camps for Russian POWs in 1920

Why did the Reds won the Russian Civil War ?

Cat

 

Cat Lord

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• Jan 9, 2008

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• #4

Finally, and before someone ask me:

- Yes, I know this fine webpage on a RCW bibliography: http://www.angelfire.com/games3/jacksongamer/RCWbooks.htm

- Yes, I understand "WHITE ARMIES OF RUSSIA", by George Stewart (1933), may be just what I am looking for, but at around $150, it's not an option.

- No, I don't speak Russian.



Cat

 

Cat Lord

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• Jan 9, 2008

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• #5

Ah, and I know there is a new Osprey book to be printed in April that I probably would buy:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essential-H...UTF8&coliid=I3OQWJA0AFIZQ0&colid=M4IE1J4EXLHM

Cat

 

ComradeOm

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• Jan 10, 2008

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• #6

I would recommend Figes as a good comprehensive introduction to the history of the Revolution and Civil War. His failure to analyse the Bolshevik ideology and hero worship of the liberal intellectuals considerably undermines the latter half of the book, but the failures of the Tsardom and social currents that led to and sustained the Revolution are well detailed. However as a general history there is, IIRC, no detailed OOBs or military studies present. Given that military campaigns were of far less importance than social pressures that might still help you

I'm thinking of getting Intervention in Russia (if I can find the time to read) and would be interested in any recommendations of that

 

Sarmatia1871

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• Jan 10, 2008

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• #7

Cat Lord said:

I know Sarmatia1871 said it was a must have, but how much information is there about the war/campaigns in it ?

Click to expand...

Most of the articles are political and social, but there are a couple specifically on the campaigns of the war, another one giving biographical details of the main White Generals, and two going over the changing structures and compositions of the Red Army and White forces respectively (although not really specific enough to give you a clear OOB). Also probably helpful are chapters on Officers, Cossacks, the various regions, and "Green" peasant armies. It also has maps of the main railroads in Siberia and a fairly basic one on the frontlines in European Russia (although most works have one of these).

It's definitely a good place to start, but you will most probably need some more specific books as well: I haven't read it, but Evan Mawdsley's book is cited pretty much everywhere so I'd hazard a guess is reasonable.

And as ComradeOm says, Figes' A People's Tragedy is good, but doesn't have that strong a military focus. His earlier book, Peasant Russia, Civil War, looking at the situation in the Volga region in the period, is very interesting too, but may be a bit too specific and localized in scope.

 

Cat Lord

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• Jan 11, 2008

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• #8

Thanks Sarmatia1871, that's really helpful.

Cat

 

Dr Rare

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• Jan 11, 2008

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• #9

Hello what a great list of books

i have a few of them myself unfortunatly i am away from my own little library at the moment.I understand what you want to know and will post again with more info.

Intervention in Russia 1918-1920: A Cautionary Tale (Hardcover)
by Miles Hudson (Author) is a good book ,but does not really have the OOB info you want its more about Winston and Uk intervention.

The Osprey Russian civil war uniform books are very good in my opinion and the Osprey Ukrainian uniforms 1914-50 is good also.

This book i enjoyed,but its more about the man than the action and forces his other book about the Russo Japanese 1905 war is brillant though.
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en...ts=kr81l1MkpW&sig=kqiFac6Wlr8F2Vc0JcA09NhHR-U
The Republic of the Ushakovka ... - Google Book Search

Dr

 

Dr Rare

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• #10

Edit my mistake

Intervention in Russia 1918-1920: A Cautionary Tale (Hardcover)
by Miles Hudson (Author) is a good book about the all the theatre's of the conflict ,

The one with all the Uk and Winston stuff in i was thinking of is
"Churchill's Crusade" The British Invasion of 1918-1920 Russia ,by Clifford Kinvig.

Dr

 

Cat Lord

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• Mar 11, 2008

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• #11

Hello again.

Has anyone read this book:

Cat Lord said:

White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War, 1919-20 (Paperback)
by Norman Davies

Click to expand...

There is a new title out, that I managed to peek through in library today:

Warsaw 1920: Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe (Hardcover)
by Adam Zamoyski

It contains crude maps of the battle, but which are detailed enough for having the armies, divisions and sometime brigades number on them, which is quite good for my purpose.

I propably will only buy one of those two, but I didn't have the chance to find the first one, so if someone had and can give me a quick summary here, I would be grateful.

Cheers,

Cat

 

E

Easy-Kill

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• Mar 11, 2008

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• #12

I read White Eagle, Red star a few years back. I'm away from home which is also away from my other home at the moment so i cant look into it.

it was certainly an entertaining read, a little biased against the Russians and focused mainly around the Battle of Warsaw with a fair amount of intro and outro, but not so much on the Russian Civil war itself IIRC.

 

Cat Lord

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• Mar 11, 2008

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• #13

Easy-Kill said:

I read White Eagle, Red star a few years back. I'm away from home which is also away from my other home at the moment so i cant look into it.

it was certainly an entertaining read, a little biased against the Russians and focused mainly around the Battle of Warsaw with a fair amount of intro and outro, but not so much on the Russian Civil war itself IIRC.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your comment !

Do you remember if there was any good maps, OOBs, and other military details ?

Cat

 

Sarmatia1871

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• Mar 11, 2008

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• #14

Easy-Kill said:

I read White Eagle, Red star a few years back. I'm away from home which is also away from my other home at the moment so i cant look into it.

it was certainly an entertaining read, a little biased against the Russians and focused mainly around the Battle of Warsaw with a fair amount of intro and outro, but not so much on the Russian Civil war itself IIRC.

Click to expand...

Yeah - the main thing about Norman Davies is that, while he's a very good historian and writer, he is extremely pro-Polish (and correspondingly anti-Russian), which often gets in the way of his analysis - so this is something you need to always bear in mind as a reader, and it definitely shouldn't be your only source on Polish-Soviet war.

I did have a copy of the book, but can't find it at the moment and can't remember it very well. However, as his God's Playground: A History of Poland has a fairly detailed run-down of the war, and a map of the Battle of Warsaw, I'd imagine that White Eagle, Red Star would be pretty in-depth.

 

E

Easy-Kill

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• Mar 11, 2008

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• #15

Cat Lord said:

Thanks for your comment !

Do you remember if there was any good maps, OOBs, and other military details ?

Cat

Click to expand...

From memory there were maps, but no OOBs (if there was such a thing).

It was written very much in a similar style of Antony Beevor. More of a narative than a reference book.

 

unmerged(71032)

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• #16

Davis is not military historian and it shows.

He writes mainly about motivations, political plans - parts about direct war operations are imho the weakest part of the book. Still, it's nice read - and it give goods knowledge not just about war participants, but it's european context (allies reactions on war, support and such).

 

Last edited: Mar 11, 2008

Kaiser Franz

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• Mar 11, 2008

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• #17

I have the two osprey books in question (russian civil war: red and white armies etc), the red army book does not contain anything along the lines of OOB's, but does contain general organisation etc, whereas the white armies book, which gets messy at times and puts way too much in does have a general OOB for certain army groups at certain times...

I have Evan Mawdsleys book and that was interesting, nothing by way of a proper OOB, but i havent read it in some tiem and therefore dont recolect any OOB etc, but it does have maps, but thats the latest edition (which contaisn some interesting photographs as well)