History of other geographical groupings Books

Book SynopsisThe author of this unusual and exciting book Major Phelps Hodges, was an officer attached to ''Britmis'' (Short for ''British Mission'') the force of some 40,000 soldiers and sailors sent to various Russia ports in the wake of the Russian revolution in order to try and stem the ''Bolshevik menace'' and if possible overthrow the regime in support of ''White'' anti-Bolshevik forces. Hodges was attached to the force in Siberia, the vast area ruled by Admiral Kolchk, one of the most successful White commanders, who was based on his primitive provisional Government in the town of Omsk. After several months of occupying the Trans-SIberian railway, the Reds advanced, the Whites retreated, Kolchak''s regime collapsed and Phelps and his companions, to escape being trapped, fled via the only route still open to them - south across the desolate Gobi desert to China. After joining a nomadic caravanserai, they reached safety in Shanghai - and Hodges survived to tell this enthralling tale.

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Book SynopsisThe Italian Army’s participation in Hitler’s war against the Soviet Union has remained unrecognized and understudied. Bastian Matteo Scianna offers a wide-ranging, in-depth corrective. Mining Italian, German and Russian sources, he examines the history of the Italian campaign in the East between 1941 and 1943, as well as how the campaign was remembered and memorialized in the domestic and international arena during the Cold War. Linking operational military history with memory studies, this book revises our understanding of the Italian Army in the Second World War.Trade Review“Bastian Matteo Scianna’s book is a welcoming addition … . The author’s mission throughout his volume is clear … . The Italian War on the Eastern Front, 1941-1943, Operations, Myths and Memories is a mandatory book that should be on the shelves of those who want to nuance the history of not only the Eastern Front, but the Italian army in the Second World War, going beyond the prejudices of the Operetta Army trope.” (Emanuele Sica, War in History, Vol. 28 (4), 2021)“... Gemeinsam mit der Gegenüberstellung von Memoirenliteratur, theoretischer Wissenschaftsdiskurse und innenpolitischer Narrative entsteht ein pluralistischer, die wichtigsten und divergenten Blickwinkel umfassender Methodenzugang, der geeignet ist, tradierte Mythen nachhaltig zu dekonstruieren. Scianna hat zweifelsohne einen bedeutenden Beitrag zur Versachlichung der Frage nach dem Wirken italienischer Soldaten an der Front zur Sowjetunion 1941-1943 geleistet, der als eine Landmarke für die nachfolgende Forschung dient.” (Richard Germann, in: Connections, 24. April 2021)Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Historiography: Past Problems and Recent Trends3. The Italian Army before the Second World War (1861–1940)4. The guerra fascista – 10 June 1940–25 July 19435. The Italian Operations on the Eastern Front (1941)6. The Italian Operations on the Eastern Front (1942)7. The Battle on the Don, 11 December 1942–31 December 19438. The Italian Combat Performance: ‘Chicken led by Donkeys?’9. Narratives about Victimhood: Evil Germans, Good Italian Occupiers, and Evil Soviets?10. Shaping the Myths: Memoirs, the Army, and the Alpini11. Contested Memories during the Cold War12. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisWhat impact did Bolshevist rule have on Emma Goldmans’s perception of the Russian Revolutions of 1917 and why did she change her mind, going from defending the Russian Revolution to becoming a crusader against Bolshevism? The Russian Revolution changed the world and determined the history of the 20th century as the French Revolution had determined the history of the 19th century. Left-wing intellectuals around the world greeted the February Revolution with enthusiasm as their hope for a new world and social order and the end of capitalism seemed close. However, the joy did not last long as the ideals of February 1917 were replaced by the realities of October 1917 and Lenin crushed the revolution during the following Civil War. Emma Goldman, a famous Russian-born American anarchist was one of the intellectuals, whose admiration for the revolution turned into frustration about its corruption. Emma Goldman and the Russian Revolution discusses her evolving perception of the revolution between 1917 and the early 1920s. The analysis of such an intellectual transformation process, provides a case study of intellectual and revolutionary history alike, adding a closer reading to the research about the famous American anarchist, Emma Goldman, her transnational life and her role as a revolutionary intellectual.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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