Stalin's Curse

Any potential ambiguity in the title of this book is swiftly resolved in the introduction. Stalin is not the one who was cursed: rather, he was the curse. The principal theme explored by Robert Gellately—perhaps best known as a historian of Nazi Germany—is the spread of a Stalinised form of Communism outside the borders of the Soviet Union during and after the Second World War. A topic of this scope leads to a correspondingly big book. Twenty-one chapters are organised into three sections that chart the creation of a ‘Red Empire’ from the transformation of Soviet power brought about by war, through the onset of the Cold War and the spread of Communist rule, up to the death of Stalin in 1953. Europe is the principal focus, with references to other regions cropping up occasionally prior to a single chapter on post-war Asia (Korea, Vietnam and China). The book uses primary sources extensively, though these are often in published or digital collections, and draws upon the recent literature on the subject in a number of languages

Ancient history · China · Communism · Curse · Economic history · Empire · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Subject (documents · Superpower · Classics · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · Law · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies