eBook

Making Sense of War

Weiner, Amir

2012,2001,2002,2000

Overview

InMaking Sense of War,Amir Weiner reconceptualizes the entire historical experience of the Soviet Union from a new perspective, that of World War II. Breaking with the conventional interpretation that views World War II as a post-revolutionary addendum, Weiner situates this event at the crux of the development of the Soviet--not just the Stalinist--system. Through a richly detailed look at Soviet society as a whole, and at one Ukrainian region in particular, the author shows how World War II came to define the ways in which members of the political elite as well as ordinary citizens viewed the world and acted upon their beliefs and ideologies. The book explores the creation of the myth of the war against the historiography of modern schemes for social engineering, the Holocaust, ethnic deportations, collaboration, and postwar settlements. For communist true believers, World War II was the purgatory of the revolution, the final cleansing of Soviet society of the remaining elusive \"human weeds\" who intruded upon socialist harmony, and it brought the polity to the brink of communism. Those ridden with doubts turned to the war as a redemption for past wrongs of the regime, while others hoped it would be the death blow to an evil enterprise. For all, it was the Armageddon of the Bolshevik Revolution. The result of Weiner's inquiry is a bold, compelling new picture of a Soviet Union both reinforced and enfeebled by the experience of total war.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Subject: 20th century / Abwehr / Anti-fascism / Antisemitism / Antisemitism (authors) / Battle cry / Battle of Stalingrad / Bolsheviks / Central Committee / Collaboration with the Axis Powers during World War II / Combatant / Communism / Communism -- Soviet Union -- History / Counter-revolutionary / De-Stalinization / Decossackization / Dekulakization / Demagogue / Demoralization (warfare) / Denazification / Destruction battalions / Einsatzgruppen / Europe / General history of Europe Eastern Europe Soviet Union / German war crimes / Great Patriotic War (term) / HISTORY / HISTORY / Europe / General / HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General / Hitler's Willing Executioners / Home front during World War II / Imperialism / Insurgency / Invasion of Poland / Jews / Kolkhoz / Lazar Kaganovich / Militarism / Militarization / Military / Military occupation / Moral and ethical aspects / Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) / Nazi propaganda / Nazism / Nikita Khrushchev / Nuremberg trials / On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences / On War / Operation Barbarossa / People's Army / Persecution / Pogrom / Prisoner of war / Propaganda / Propaganda, Soviet / Propaganda, Soviet -- History / Psychological aspects / Religious war / Reprisal / Resistance during World War II / Revolutionary terror / Russia & The Former Soviet Union / Russian Civil War / Social aspects / Soviet Union / Soviet Union in World War II / Stalinism / The German War / The Great Terror / The Origins of Totalitarianism / Total war / Ukraine / Ukrainians / Untermensch / Victor Kravchenko (defector) / Vinnytsia / Vinnytsia Region / Vinnytsia Region (Ukraine) / Vinnyt︠s︡i︠a︡ Region (Ukraine) -- History -- 20th century / Violent Struggle / War / War correspondent / War crime / War effort / War song / Warfare / World War I / World War II / World War, 1939-1945 / World War, 1939-1945 -- Moral and ethical aspects -- Soviet Union / World War, 1939-1945 -- Propaganda / World War, 1939-1945 -- Psychological aspects / World War, 1939-1945 -- Social aspects -- Soviet Union / World War, 1939-1945 -- Soviet Union / World War, 1939-1945 -- Ukraine -- Vinnyt︠s︡i︠a︡ -- Region
• ISBN: 9781400840854, 1400840856, 0691095434, 0691057028, 9780691095431, 9780691057026