Red Terror (Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar - Simon Sebag Montefiore)

Name: buzzard_cad

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Product:	Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar - Simon Sebag Montefiore
Date:	15.02.07 (272 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stacks of details on the like of Stalin

Disadvantages: Can be a heavy read in places

This review is on a book that for me is an interesting subject matter, though for others it may repulse them. The subject in question is one man, Joseph Vissarionovich Djugashvili. A man who is remembered by one name and that is 'Stalin'. Before I even read this book I knew that Stalin was a man who had the word 'terror' linking his name, yet I did not really understand all the events. So why, how and when did a man from humble beginnings in a remote town in Georgia, rise to become one of the most feared and revered dictators of the 20th Century? What does this book tell us about the man who took Lenin's Bolshevik ideology and made it his own and in doing so sealed a place in history from the late 1920's and into the early 1950's? Well at nearly 750 pages the reader will learn quite a lot about the man Stalin, but not only do we get a book about the man. We also get a book that details the lives and times of those close to Stalin.

The paperback version of this book is very thick and weighs in at 600 grams, it is probably one of the heaviest paperbacks I have ever read. The first six pages are quotes from literary reviewers which pack many superlatives and quotes into one paragraph. This gives you the feeling that the literary establishment really liked the book and helps push you on through the first few tedious pages. These first few 25 pages of the authors thanks, the contents, maps, genealogy and lists of names are a little boring at first, but make very good points of reference later on as you try to piece together events, places and people. Finally we hit a short prologue of 20 pages and then finally the meat of the book itself. The main chapters of the book cover over 643 pages of political and day to day events. Finally there is a postscript of seven pages and a cut down version of the bibliography at only 47 pages long!

The prologue relates to the events of the evening of the 8th November 1932, acknowledged by many historians as a turning point in Stalin's life. Whilst trying not to give too much away I can say that I have heard of these events before. This time though I felt I was given a detailed description of the events and the people involved in them. The author even writes parts in a thriller writer's style, adding anecdotes as to the fates that await some of the people involved in this event. I found this a very good start to the book as it gives you an important event in Stalin's life and embellishes it with a thrilling touch so that the reader is tempted to read on and find out what all the hints of 'the coming terror' really mean.

For the main part of the book the author has divided it into ten chapters, each with a descriptive heading and a chronological time like the first part called 'That Wonderful Time: Stalin and Nadya, 1878-1932'. Each part has several chapters detailing the events in that time scale. Even within this layout the author's chronology jumps around a little to describe the same event from a different persons perspective. It can get a little confusing and sometimes I found myself stopping and going back to the beginning of a chapter to re-read it until I could understand it to my satisfaction. This is not a criticism of the book, more an observation and I think that the author has done a very good job in trying to bring together all the people and events into a relatively cohesive book.

For the 643 pages the reader gets an overall view of the events in Stalin's life from his early years as a revolutionary, his rise to power in the early 1920's, how he evolved into a dictator and his final years in power. The reader will also get details of the way the Politburo worked and the holidays the Politburo members had in the late 1920's and early 1930's. The first chapter of the book is good as it brings details the early years and brings the reader to a point just prior to the events detailed in the prologue. I felt that by bringing the reader up to the start point of the prologue early on helped by giving the reader an understanding of the all the events up to that important event.

I also felt that whilst the going could get heavy at times there is little to dissuade the reader from stopping and putting the book down. Indeed I felt the opposite effect and the author had a very good style that leads you on into one terrible event after another. The author also did a very good job of putting the facts down and then moving on to the next event without putting too much effort into glossing up events that happened. He makes good points like one about Stalin's crones and how they kept things moving by putting his words and ideals into action.

Later we get to see that Stalin has many talents as he uses his cunning and guile to play the political game with the Western European governments batting one side off against the other to avoid a war. Here the author gives the reader a good insight into the intrigues and discussions that took place during the period up to the signing of the 'Molotov-Ribbentrop pact'. Yet even with the beginning of a war in Western Europe, Stalin is still not content and continues with a purge of the communist party and senior Red army figures.

It is only in the later third of the book that the author hits my particular field of interest namely the Second World War. The dark days of 1941 as the Panzer divisions advance on Moscow, the siege of Leningrad and finally the turning point at the siege of Stalingrad are known to me in some way or another, but are detailed very well here. We are also given more insight into the activities of Stalin's children and other members of the Politburo during the war. Further details include the 'big three' conferences between Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt. In this part of the book I liked the authors use of a distinctly Russian view and not a western one.

The changing face of Stalin is given more time towards the end of the book with his swaggering ego as he pours over maps of the conquered parts of Eastern Europe deciding what to do with the various countries. The author details the demise of Stalin's skill in leading government and his resistance to retirement. Even in his final years Stalin was still plotting the downfall of those he no longer trusted and other professionals that he no longer liked. At the end of his rule Stalin was probably more ruthless and unpredictable than he had ever been.

Overall I thought the book was very well researched and the author did a good job of putting down all the information on paper. In places the book is hard to read as some events come thick and fast. In other places I actually paused and stopped reading for short while to take in the magnitude of some of the events. The author is very good at skipping over the gory details and making some of the horrific events less detailed, but not any less poignant. I would recommend this book for those interested in Russian history during the mid 20th Century, also anyone with an interest of Stalin or dictators in general. The material is well presented in a good format with well divided parts for good reference to the changing personality of Stalin throughout his political life. This book is not really for those who dislike political history or don't want to read about the details of the tragedies surrounding dictatorships.

(c) buzzard_cad 2007
This review may be found at other websites under the same user name and is also written by me.

Summary: The life of a dictator