Ivan's War
Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945
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Narrated by:
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Derek Perkins
About this listen
A powerful, groundbreaking narrative of the ordinary Russian soldier's experience of the worst war in history, based on newly revealed sources.
Of the 30 million who fought in the eastern front of World War II, 8 million died, driven forward in suicidal charges, shattered by German shells and tanks. They were the men and women of the Red Army, a ragtag mass of soldiers who confronted Europe's most lethal fighting force and by 1945 had defeated it. Sixty years have passed since their epic triumph, but the heart and mind of Ivan - as the ordinary Russian soldier was called-remain a mystery. We know something about how the soldiers died, but nearly nothing about how they lived, how they saw the world, or why they fought.
A tour de force of original research and a gripping history, Ivan's War reveals the singular mixture of courage, patriotism, anger, and fear that made it possible for these underfed, badly led troops to defeat the Nazi army. In the process, Merridale restores to history the invisible millions who sacrificed the most to win the war.
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Between 1917 and 1921 a devastating struggle took place in Russia following the collapse of the Tsarist empire. The doomed White alliance of moderate socialists and reactionary monarchists stood little chance against Trotsky’s Red Army and the single-minded Communist dictatorship under Lenin.
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Not Enough Context
- By Amazon Customer on 02-14-23
By: Antony Beevor
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Crucible
- The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 1917-1924
- By: Charles Emmerson
- Narrated by: Charles Emmerson
- Length: 25 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In Petrograd, a fire is lit. The Tsar is packed off to Siberia. A rancorous Russian exile returns to proclaim a workers' revolution. In America, black soldiers who have served their country in Europe demand their rights at home. An Austrian war veteran trained by the German army to give rousing speeches against the Bolshevik peril begins to rail against the Jews. A solar eclipse turns a former patent clerk into a celebrity. An American reporter living the high life in Paris searches out a new literary style.
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Splendid in all respects
- By Paul Custer on 02-11-20
By: Charles Emmerson
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No Surrender
- A Father, a Son, and an Extraordinary Act of Heroism That Continues to Live on Today
- By: Christopher Edmonds, Douglas Century
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Part contemporary detective story, part World War II historical narrative, No Surrender is the inspiring true story of Roddie Edmonds, a Knoxville-born enlistee who risked his life during the final days of World War II to save others from murderous Nazis, and the lasting effects his actions had on thousands of lives - then and now.
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Personal and impactful
- By Rodney on 10-10-19
By: Christopher Edmonds, and others
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The Greatest Evil Is War
- By: Chris Hedges
- Narrated by: Eunice Wong
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In fifteen short chapters, Chris Hedges astonishes us with his clear and cogent argument against war, not on philosophical grounds or through moral arguments, but in an irrefutable stream of personal encounters with the victims of war, from veterans and parents to gravely wounded American serviceman who served in the Iraq War, to survivors of the Holocaust, to soldiers in the Falklands War, among others. Hedges reported from Sarajevo, and was in the Balkans to witness the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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Another amazing title by an amazing journalist.
- By Zzzing on 12-28-22
By: Chris Hedges
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Moscow 1941
- A City and Its People at War
- By: Rodric Braithwaite
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
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The 1941 Battle of Moscow, unquestionably one of the most decisive battles of World War II, marked the first strategic defeat of the German armed forces in their seemingly unstoppable march across Europe. The Soviets lost many more people in this one battle than the British and Americans lost in the whole of the Second World War. Now, with authority and narrative power, Rodric Braithwaite tells the story in large part through the individual experiences of ordinary Russian men and women.
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slow, repetitive
- By Wylie on 12-27-06
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The Correspondents
- Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World War II
- By: Judith Mackrell
- Narrated by: Julie Teal
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
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On the front lines of the Second World War, a contingent of female journalists were bravely waging their own battle. Barred from combat zones and faced with entrenched prejudice and bureaucratic restrictions, these women were forced to fight for the right to work on equal terms with men.
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Narration was nails on a chalkboard
- By aunt deb on 12-20-21
By: Judith Mackrell
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Inferno
- The World at War, 1939-1945
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 31 hrs and 26 mins
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From one of our finest military historians, a monumental work that shows us at once the truly global reach of World War II and its deeply personal consequences.
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Superb
- By David on 04-05-21
By: Max Hastings
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End of a Berlin Diary
- The Berlin Diary Series, Book 2
- By: William L. Shirer
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
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A radio broadcaster and journalist for Edward R. Murrow at CBS, William L. Shirer was new to the world of broadcast journalism when he began keeping a diary while on assignment in Europe during the 1930s. Shirer’s Berlin Diary, which is considered the first full record of what was happening in Germany during the rise of the Third Reich, appeared in 1941. Shirer returned to the European front in 1944 to cover the end of the war. End of a Berlin Diary chronicles this year-long study of Germany after Hitler.
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Mr Shrier might is an excellent Historian but pass
- By Clarence Nelson on 07-19-20
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Total War
- From Stalingrad to Berlin
- By: Michael Jones
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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The powerful story of the Red Army's battle of liberation against the Nazi invader - from Stalingrad all the way to Berlin. In February 1943, German forces surrendered to the Red Army at Stalingrad, and the tide of war turned. By May 1945 Soviet soldiers had stormed Berlin and brought down Hitler's regime. Total War follows the fortunes of these fighters as they liberated Russia and the Ukraine from the Nazi invader and fought their way into the heart of the Reich. It reveals the horrors they experienced.
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Excellent history, great narration, worth it
- By Colin on 08-29-18
By: Michael Jones
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Year Zero
- A History of 1945
- By: Ian Buruma
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Year Zero is a landmark reckoning with the greatdrama that ensued after war came to an end in 1945. One world had ended and anew, uncertain one was beginning. Regime change had come across Asia and all of continental Europe. It was the greatest global powervacuum in history, and out of the often vicious power struggles thatensued emerged the modern world as we know it.
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Great historical overview
- By marykk on 10-14-13
By: Ian Buruma
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The First World War
- A Complete History
- By: Martin Gilbert
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 33 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11:15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would officially end nearly five years later. Unofficially, however, it has never ended: Many of the horrors we live with today are rooted in the First World War. The Great War left millions of civilians and soldiers maimed or dead. It also saw the creation of new technologies of destruction: tanks, planes, and submarines; machine guns and field artillery; poison gas and chemical warfare.
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Unbiased true facts of the first world war
- By troy a myers on 07-27-20
By: Martin Gilbert
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Gunter K. Koschorrek was a machine-gunner on the Russian front in WWII. He wrote his illicit diary on any scraps of paper he could lay his hands on. As keeping a diary was strictly forbidden, he sewed the pages into the lining of his thick winter coat and deposited them with his mother on infrequent trips home on leave. The diary went missing, and it was when he was reunited with his daughter in America some 40 years later that it came to light and became Blood Red Snow.
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One of the best personal accounts coming out of WW2
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Blood, Dust and Snow
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The war on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945 was the bloodiest combat theater in the bloodiest war in history. Oberleutnant Friedrich Wilhelm Sander experienced this bloodshed firsthand when serving with the 11th Panzer-Regiment. This regiment made up the core of the 6th Panzer-Division, one of Hitler's top armored formations, which was involved in most of the major campaigns on the Eastern Front; campaigns such as Operation Barbarossa and Operation Winter Storm.
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Great account of a light tank commander during WWII, BUT
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Stalin's War
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- By: Sean McMeekin
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World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, European, and US archives, Stalin’s War revolutionizes our understanding of this global conflict by moving its epicenter to the east.
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Sean McMeekin Does It Again!
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 04-21-21
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What listeners say about Ivan's War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- J. Mar
- 11-08-20
Fascinating perspective on WW2
This is the finest WW2 audiobook I’ve ever listened to. Beautifully written. Impossible to put down. I was hooked! Narrator was perfect.
I’m a Russophile - from the Romanovs to WW2. Books like Ivan’s War make me admire them even more.
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- Buffalo Barry
- 05-26-22
Fantastic and fascinating.
Great writing, research and insights from the author and perfect narration. Highest recommendation for those interested in the history of the average Russian soldier’s actual experience in WW2. Added perspective of complicated Russian societal and political background wove through the military information. Masterful
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- Chris Hummel
- 01-22-23
Remarkable Overview of Soviet War Experience
Based on 200 interviews with surviving veterans, extensive archival research in official records (including NKVD reports), and a vast array of secondary sources (including Werth's excellent history), Merridale presents a picture of Soviet soldiers at war. Her great strength is her ability to combine these complex threads seamlessly to present both the bird's-eye and up close views and weave together both analytical, topic based chapters and an overall narrative. Some have argued there is not as much ground level, personal perspective as they might have liked here (though I suspect the original text better indicates her sources), but I think Merridale does an exceptional job, given the limitations of survivors' memories, imperfect access to former Soviet records (some of which were still restricted or secret at the time of writing), and the heroic mythos of The Great Patriotic War. Her central conclusion, much like Werth's, is that the great suffering and exhausting effort of defeating and destroying the Nazi invaders drew from rage but also hope for a better postwar life. But it was a life that Stalin made sure they could never enjoy, indeed, a betrayal of the heroism (if not the brutality) of his people. Perkins' reading enhances the work and helps keep it engaging throughout many hours of listening. Highly recommended.
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- Scotdancer
- 02-05-23
A story we have not heard.
This perspective is one we have not heard. It is gut wrenching, brutal, horrifying, and gives shape to a history where there was a gaping hole in our knowledge. The loss and destruction on the Eastern front of WWII is truly shattering in scope. This book captures it from the most personal stories of its soldiers. Worth reading.
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- Mike From Mesa
- 01-16-20
Bird's eye view of the Eastern Front in WW2.
I bought this book thinking that it was going to give me some detailed information about the life of the average Soviet soldier in World War II. I had already read quite a few books on the Eastern Front in the Second World War and so was not particularly interested in reading another book about the battles. What I wanted was some information about what daily life was like for those who fought in the Soviet Army, what discipline was like, what daily life was like, how the chain of command worked, how the political and military branches worked with (or against) each other and how the average Soviet soldier survived in such terrible conditions.
What this book provided was a much higher view of the Soviet side of the Eastern Front. Instead of the daily life of the soldier and how he fought against the German forces I found details of the clothing they wore, how their uniform changed as rank became more important, how the Army evacuated civilians during the first part of the war and how they helped harvest crops in the second part of the war, how the civilians lived, how the Soviet soldier changed during the war and how difficult reunions were after the war, corruption, demobilization and other high view topics. That is not to say that the book is uninteresting. It is, in fact, very interesting and I learned quite a bit, but not what I thought I would learn from buying the book.
One thing that did surprise me is that the book spends considerable time explaining why some of the terrible things that happened during the war occurred. Stalin's order "Not One Step Back" (Order 277) that ended up insuring the captivity of more than a million Soviet soldiers rather than their retreat to safer locations is justified due to the existing conditions of the fighting. The author explains the causes of the looting and the epidemic of rape that occurred when the Soviet soldiers reached Germany, and almost seems to understand it. It is not that the author thinks well of the old Soviet reign of terror as the book is clear that the Soviet government was a brutal dictatorship resulting in the unjust conviction, imprisonment and/or death of many innocent soldiers and civilians and gives many examples of normal soldiers, sometimes heroes, who ended up being unable to prove that they were innocent and ended up either dead or in the Gulag. It is a frightening picture of what life was like in Stalin's USSR.
Mr Perkins' narration is first class and adds to the content of the book immeasurably.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Kitty's doorman
- 01-14-23
A welcome addition
Ivan’s War is a welcome addition to the literature about WW II in Europe. With all of the attention on the Western Allies, it is easy to lose sight of the decisive and determinant role played by the USSR. Merridale’s interviews with Russian combatants and her exhaustive archival research give her an excellent vantage point to write this important history. The narration is excellent.
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- Tony
- 09-01-19
Deeply insightful, revealing, and utterly human
The author takes us through WWII through Soviet eyes, both official and from the unheard 'masses.' In this regard the book is already exceptional. I appreciate the author's own gradually developed understanding about some of the reasons behind the reticence of former Soviet soldiers. A must read for anyone interested in WWIs European theater
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5 people found this helpful
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- robert
- 04-13-21
Unknown truth with details
Exceedingly fine description of just how it was in the USSR WW2 army. If the reader wants to get the same kind of picture of what really happened "on the ground" from the individual German soldier perspective you should get "The Forgotten Soldier" a very graphic view of the German side by one that was there.
I knew quite a bit about the USSR's role in WW2 but at the Stalin, Molotov and Zhukov level. After listening to this book it helped me to understand why it was that the Soviet Union was able to beat the Nazi's. It also adds to my belief that as much as I might wish it not so the USSR won the European war. Could the US and it's allies have beaten Germany with out the Soviets? Absolutely, but it would have cost the Allies an additional 1 million deaths or more. The Red army saved all those American lives. Something we forget. Really amazing considering the conditions and poor leadership the individual Red soldier had to endure, especially at the start.
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- J. H. Robinson
- 07-16-21
Great audiobook
So, this isn't a happy book, but if you're interested in the Great Patriotic War, you probably know enough already to just shiver slightly whenever Kursk, Stalingrad, or Brest are mentioned. That said, if this is your first exposure to the Eastern Front, it is a good place to start. Well researched (a lot of quotes from The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexeivich, which is an even better audiobook).
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- HarveyFish
- 12-17-22
Personality for the Red Army
This book is a fantastic look at the common Soviet solider: their backgrounds, their routine, their struggle, their suffering, their triumph, and why they did what they did. A must read for any student of the “Great Patriotic War”
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