ABSTRACT

This book aims to furnish a history of the origins and development of Soviet military leadership, together with a survey of its relations with the Communist Party and the governmental apparatus, within the chronological limits of the first attempts to organise the Red Army and a military command.

chapter |1 pages

Introduction

chapter Chapter One|20 pages

The Origins of a New Army

part One|88 pages

The Revolutionary Military Command, 1918–1920

chapter Chapter Two|28 pages

The Creation of the Soviet Military Machine

chapter Chapter Three|31 pages

The Formation of the Soviet Command: 1918–1920

chapter Chapter Four|27 pages

Before the Gates of Warsaw: 1920

part Two|103 pages

Military Debates and Political Decisions, 1921-1926

chapter Chapter Five|31 pages

The Struggle for Control of the Army

chapter Chapter Six|20 pages

Towards Collaboration with the 'Reichswehr'

chapter Chapter Seven|50 pages

The Reign of Frunze and the Rise of Voroshilov: 1924–1926

part Three|108 pages

Foreign Adventures and Strategic Priorities

chapter Chapter Nine|36 pages

Military and Naval Trafficking with Germany

chapter Chapter Ten|40 pages

Soviet Preoccupations with War

part Four|124 pages

The Politics of Mechanisation

chapter Chapter Eleven|41 pages

The Reaction to threats from East and West

chapter Chapter Twelve|38 pages

A Brief Triumph: 1934–1935

chapter Chapter Thirteen|43 pages

Plots and Counter-plots

part Five|115 pages

The Military Purge and the Reconstruction of the Command

chapter Chapter Fourteen|25 pages

The Killings: 1937

chapter Chapter Fifteen|36 pages

Exeunt Omnes . . .

chapter Chapter Sixteen|52 pages

The Race with Time: 1939-1940

part Six|106 pages

The Beginning of the Ordeal: 1941

chapter Chapter Seventeen|63 pages

'We are being fired on. What shall we do?'

chapter Chapter Eighteen|41 pages

The Battle for Moscow: November-December 1941