The Devils' Alliance
Hitler's Pact With Stalin, 1939-1941
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $18.91
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Derek Perkins
-
By:
-
Roger Moorhouse
About this listen
History remembers the Soviets and the Nazis as bitter enemies and ideological rivals - the two opposing totalitarian regimes of World War II whose conflict would be the defining and deciding clash of the war. Yet for nearly a third of the conflict's entire timespan, Hitler and Stalin stood side by side as partners. The pact that they agreed on had a profound and bloody impact on Europe and is fundamental to understanding the development and denouement of the war.
The Devils' Alliance explores the causes and implications of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, the creation and dissolution of which were crucial turning points in World War II. Forged by Joachim von Ribbentrop and his Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov, the nonaggression treaty briefly united the two powers in a brutally efficient collaboration. The Germans and Soviets quickly conquered and divided Central and Eastern Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people caught between Hitler and Stalin were expropriated, deported, or killed. Fortunately for the Allies, the partnership ultimately soured. Ironically, however, the powers' exchange of material, blueprints, and technological expertise during the period of the pact made possible for a far more bloody and protracted war than would have otherwise been conceivable.
Combining comprehensive research with a gripping narrative, The Devils' Alliance is the authoritative history of the Nazi-Soviet Pact.
©2014 Roger Moorhouse (P)2015 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Poland 1939
- The Outbreak of World War II
- By: Roger Moorhouse
- Narrated by: Roger Moorhouse
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Americans, World War II began in December of 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor; but for Poland, the war began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler's soldiers invaded, followed later that month by Stalin's Red Army. The conflict that followed saw the debut of many of the features that would come to define the later war-blitzkrieg, the targeting of civilians, ethnic cleansing, and indiscriminate aerial bombing-yet it is routinely overlooked by historians.
-
-
Always Overlooked
- By C. G. Telcontar on 05-27-21
By: Roger Moorhouse
-
Bloodlands
- Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 19 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bloodlands is a new kind of European history, presenting the mass murders committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes as two aspects of a single history, in the time and place where they occurred: between Germany and Russia, when Hitler and Stalin both held power. Assiduously researched, deeply humane, and utterly definitive, Bloodlands will be required listening for anyone seeking to understand the central tragedy of modern history.
-
-
a warning for the future
- By judith on 11-06-19
By: Timothy Snyder
-
Stalin's War
- A New History of World War II
- By: Sean McMeekin
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 24 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Sean McMeekin Does It Again!
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 04-21-21
By: Sean McMeekin
-
Stalin
- The Court of the Red Tsar
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
- Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73. Through the lens of personality - Stalin’s as well as those of his most notorious henchmen, Molotov, Beria and Yezhov among them - the author sheds new light on the oligarchy that attempted to create a new world by exterminating the old.
-
-
Stalinist Tyranny
- By Kindle Customer on 12-28-19
-
The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sleepwalkers is historian Christopher Clark's riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
-
-
Very interesting take on a complex problem
- By Steve on 01-24-15
-
Collapse
- The Fall of the Soviet Union
- By: Vladislav M. Zubok
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
-
-
Hopefully Not Prescient
- By Joshua on 01-29-22
-
Poland 1939
- The Outbreak of World War II
- By: Roger Moorhouse
- Narrated by: Roger Moorhouse
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Americans, World War II began in December of 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor; but for Poland, the war began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler's soldiers invaded, followed later that month by Stalin's Red Army. The conflict that followed saw the debut of many of the features that would come to define the later war-blitzkrieg, the targeting of civilians, ethnic cleansing, and indiscriminate aerial bombing-yet it is routinely overlooked by historians.
-
-
Always Overlooked
- By C. G. Telcontar on 05-27-21
By: Roger Moorhouse
-
Bloodlands
- Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 19 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bloodlands is a new kind of European history, presenting the mass murders committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes as two aspects of a single history, in the time and place where they occurred: between Germany and Russia, when Hitler and Stalin both held power. Assiduously researched, deeply humane, and utterly definitive, Bloodlands will be required listening for anyone seeking to understand the central tragedy of modern history.
-
-
a warning for the future
- By judith on 11-06-19
By: Timothy Snyder
-
Stalin's War
- A New History of World War II
- By: Sean McMeekin
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 24 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Sean McMeekin Does It Again!
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 04-21-21
By: Sean McMeekin
-
Stalin
- The Court of the Red Tsar
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
- Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73. Through the lens of personality - Stalin’s as well as those of his most notorious henchmen, Molotov, Beria and Yezhov among them - the author sheds new light on the oligarchy that attempted to create a new world by exterminating the old.
-
-
Stalinist Tyranny
- By Kindle Customer on 12-28-19
-
The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sleepwalkers is historian Christopher Clark's riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
-
-
Very interesting take on a complex problem
- By Steve on 01-24-15
-
Collapse
- The Fall of the Soviet Union
- By: Vladislav M. Zubok
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
-
-
Hopefully Not Prescient
- By Joshua on 01-29-22
-
Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front, 1941-1942
- Schwerpunkt
- By: Robert A. Forczyk
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert Forczyk's incisive study offers fresh insight into how the two most powerful mechanized armies of WWII developed their tactics and weaponry during the early years of the Russo-German War. He uses German, Russian, and English sources to provide the first comprehensive overview and analysis of armored warfare from the German and Soviet perspectives.
-
-
A Great work on tank warfare
- By Anonymous User on 03-22-24
-
The Wages of Destruction
- The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy
- By: Adam Tooze
- Narrated by: Adam Tooze, Simon Vance
- Length: 30 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An extraordinary mythology has grown up around the Third Reich that hovers over political and moral debate even today. Adam Tooze's controversial book challenges the conventional economic interpretations of that period.
-
-
Ties the story together in an amazing way
- By Philo on 08-23-21
By: Adam Tooze
-
The Third Reich in Power
- By: Richard J. Evans
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 31 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive account of Germany's malign transformation under Hitler's total rule and the implacable march to war. This magnificent second volume of Richard J. Evans's three-volume history of Nazi Germany was hailed by Benjamin Schwartz of The Atlantic Monthly as "the definitive English-language account... gripping and precise." It chronicles the incredible story of Germany's radical reshaping under Nazi rule.
-
-
Great book, annoying narrator
- By Maria on 08-14-10
By: Richard J. Evans
-
The Fall of the Ottomans
- The Great War in the Middle East
- By: Eugene Rogan
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Fall of the Ottomans, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan brings the First World War and its immediate aftermath in the Middle East to vivid life, uncovering the often ignored story of the region's crucial role in the conflict.
-
-
Great Book About A Little Known Part of WWI
- By Nostromo on 06-08-15
By: Eugene Rogan
-
The Battle for Spain
- The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939
- By: Antony Beevor
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Antony Beevor has written a completely updated and revised account of one of the most bitter and hard-fought wars of the 20th century. With new material gleaned from Russian archives and numerous other sources, this brisk and accessible audiobook (Spain's number-one best seller for 12 weeks) provides a balanced and penetrating perspective, explaining the tensions that led to this terrible overture to World War II and affording new insights into the war - its causes, course, and consequences.
-
-
Not an Accurate History Book
- By Jose on 10-16-19
By: Antony Beevor
-
Hitler
- Downfall: 1939-1945
- By: Volker Ullrich, Jefferson Chase - translator
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 29 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 comes a riveting account of the dictator's final years, when he got the war he wanted but his leadership led to catastrophe for his nation, the world, and himself. Volker Ullrich offers fascinating new insight into Hitler's character and personality, vividly portraying the insecurity, obsession with minutiae, and narcissistic penchant for gambling that led Hitler to overrule his subordinates and then blame them for his failures.
-
-
Had to return because of narration
- By Thomas C on 03-26-21
By: Volker Ullrich, and others
-
The Rising Sun
- The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
- By: John Toland
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 41 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is, in the author’s words, "a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happened - muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox."
-
-
A political as well as military history
- By Mike From Mesa on 07-30-15
By: John Toland
-
Russia at War, 1941–1945
- A History
- By: Alexander Werth, Nicolas Werth - foreword
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 38 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1941, Russian-born British journalist Alexander Werth observed the unfolding of the Soviet-German conflict with his own eyes. What followed was the widely acclaimed book, Russia at War, first printed in 1964. At once a history of facts, a collection of interviews, and a document of the human condition, Russia at War is a stunning, modern classic that chronicles the savagery and struggles on Russian soil during the most incredible military conflict in modern history.
-
-
Simply Astonishing
- By Nicholas Robinson on 02-28-22
By: Alexander Werth, and others
-
A Peace to End All Peace
- The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
- By: David Fromkin
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
-
-
Still A Great Book On The Topic
- By Nostromo on 02-03-19
By: David Fromkin
-
Paris 1919
- Six Months That Changed the World
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 25 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, renowned historian Margaret MacMillan's best-selling Paris 1919 is the story of six remarkable months that changed the world. At the close of WWI, between January and July of 1919, delegates from around the world converged on Paris under the auspices of peace. New countries were created, old empires were dissolved, and for six months, Paris was the center of the world.
-
-
Good book, well narrated
- By W. F. Rucker on 02-07-09
-
The Arabs
- A History
- By: Eugene Rogan
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 27 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this definitive history of the modern Arab world, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan draws extensively on Arab sources and texts to place the Arab experience in its crucial historical context for the first time. Tracing five centuries of Arab history, Rogan reveals that there was an age when the Arabs set the rules for the rest of the world. Today, however, the Arab world's sense of subjection to external powers carries vast consequences for both the region and Westerners who attempt to control it.
-
-
Superb Book About the Arab World
- By Nostromo on 05-29-16
By: Eugene Rogan
-
Retreat from Moscow
- A New History of Germany’s Winter Campaign, 1941-1942
- By: David Stahel
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Germany's winter campaign of 1941-1942 has commonly been seen as its "first defeat". In Retreat from Moscow, David Stahel argues that, in fact, it was its first strategic success in the east. Though the Red Army managed to push the Wehrmacht back from Moscow, the Germans lost far fewer men (one to six), frustrated their enemy's strategic plan, and emerged in the spring unbroken and poised to recapture the initiative.
-
-
Nothing new on the Eastern front basically!
- By philippe jacob on 03-28-20
By: David Stahel
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
Hitler
- A Biography
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson
- Length: 46 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed as the most compelling biography of the German dictator yet written, Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subject's immense darkness. From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail, strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in the 20th century.
-
-
An Excellent Read
- By Rodney on 09-19-13
By: Ian Kershaw
-
Stalin, Volume I
- Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928
- By: Stephen Kotkin
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 38 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Volume One of Stalin begins and ends in January 1928 as Stalin boards a train bound for Siberia, about to embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He is now the ruler of the largest country in the world, but a poor and backward one, far behind the great capitalist countries in industrial and military power, encircled on all sides. In Siberia, Stalin conceives of the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted.
-
-
Excellent Book But First Time Listener Beware
- By Nostromo on 03-23-15
By: Stephen Kotkin
-
Hitler's American Gamble
- Pearl Harbor and Germany's March to Global War
- By: Brendan Simms, Charlie Laderman
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By early December 1941, war had changed much of the world beyond recognition. Nazi Germany occupied most of the European continent, while in Asia, the Second Sino-Japanese War had turned China into a battleground. But these conflicts were not yet inextricably linked - and the United States remained at peace. Hitler’s American Gamble recounts the five days that upended everything: December 7 to 11.
-
-
A waste of time based on a flawed premise
- By Grant on 11-30-21
By: Brendan Simms, and others
-
Forgotten Ally
- China's World War II, 1937 - 1945
- By: Rana Mitter
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades, a major piece of World War II history has gone virtually unwritten. The war began in China two full years before Hitler invaded Poland, and China eventually became the fourth great ally, partner to the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. Yet its drama of invasion, resistance, slaughter, and political intrigue remains little known in the West.
-
-
Bland
- By Rodney on 01-23-14
By: Rana Mitter
-
Stalin
- New Biography of a Dictator
- By: Oleg V. Khlevniuk, Nora Seligman Favorov - translator
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 18 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This essential biography, by the author most deeply familiar with the vast archives of the Soviet era, offers an unprecedented, fine-grained portrait of Stalin, the man and dictator. Without mythologizing Stalin as either benevolent or an evil genius, Khlevniuk resolves numerous controversies about specific events in the dictator's life while assembling many hundreds of previously unknown letters, memos, reports, and diaries into a comprehensive, compelling narrative of a life that altered the course of world history.
-
-
Loved it, but wouldn't want to live it
- By Neil on 01-12-20
By: Oleg V. Khlevniuk, and others
-
Potsdam
- The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe
- By: Michael Neiberg
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After Germany's defeat in World War II, Europe lay in tatters. Millions of refugees were dispersed across the continent. Food and fuel were scarce. Britain was bankrupt while Germany had been reduced to rubble. In July 1945, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin gathered in a quiet suburb of Berlin to negotiate a lasting peace - a peace that would finally put an end to the conflagration that had started in 1914, a peace under which Europe could be rebuilt.
-
-
Richly told and entertaining.
- By John Kaiser on 06-20-15
By: Michael Neiberg
-
Hitler
- A Biography
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson
- Length: 46 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed as the most compelling biography of the German dictator yet written, Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subject's immense darkness. From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail, strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in the 20th century.
-
-
An Excellent Read
- By Rodney on 09-19-13
By: Ian Kershaw
-
Stalin, Volume I
- Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928
- By: Stephen Kotkin
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 38 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Volume One of Stalin begins and ends in January 1928 as Stalin boards a train bound for Siberia, about to embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He is now the ruler of the largest country in the world, but a poor and backward one, far behind the great capitalist countries in industrial and military power, encircled on all sides. In Siberia, Stalin conceives of the largest program of social reengineering ever attempted.
-
-
Excellent Book But First Time Listener Beware
- By Nostromo on 03-23-15
By: Stephen Kotkin
-
Hitler's American Gamble
- Pearl Harbor and Germany's March to Global War
- By: Brendan Simms, Charlie Laderman
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By early December 1941, war had changed much of the world beyond recognition. Nazi Germany occupied most of the European continent, while in Asia, the Second Sino-Japanese War had turned China into a battleground. But these conflicts were not yet inextricably linked - and the United States remained at peace. Hitler’s American Gamble recounts the five days that upended everything: December 7 to 11.
-
-
A waste of time based on a flawed premise
- By Grant on 11-30-21
By: Brendan Simms, and others
-
Forgotten Ally
- China's World War II, 1937 - 1945
- By: Rana Mitter
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades, a major piece of World War II history has gone virtually unwritten. The war began in China two full years before Hitler invaded Poland, and China eventually became the fourth great ally, partner to the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. Yet its drama of invasion, resistance, slaughter, and political intrigue remains little known in the West.
-
-
Bland
- By Rodney on 01-23-14
By: Rana Mitter
-
Stalin
- New Biography of a Dictator
- By: Oleg V. Khlevniuk, Nora Seligman Favorov - translator
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 18 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This essential biography, by the author most deeply familiar with the vast archives of the Soviet era, offers an unprecedented, fine-grained portrait of Stalin, the man and dictator. Without mythologizing Stalin as either benevolent or an evil genius, Khlevniuk resolves numerous controversies about specific events in the dictator's life while assembling many hundreds of previously unknown letters, memos, reports, and diaries into a comprehensive, compelling narrative of a life that altered the course of world history.
-
-
Loved it, but wouldn't want to live it
- By Neil on 01-12-20
By: Oleg V. Khlevniuk, and others
-
Potsdam
- The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe
- By: Michael Neiberg
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After Germany's defeat in World War II, Europe lay in tatters. Millions of refugees were dispersed across the continent. Food and fuel were scarce. Britain was bankrupt while Germany had been reduced to rubble. In July 1945, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin gathered in a quiet suburb of Berlin to negotiate a lasting peace - a peace that would finally put an end to the conflagration that had started in 1914, a peace under which Europe could be rebuilt.
-
-
Richly told and entertaining.
- By John Kaiser on 06-20-15
By: Michael Neiberg
-
Embers of War
- The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam
- By: Fredrik Logevall
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 32 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this landmark work that will forever change your understanding of how and why America went to war in Vietnam, author Fredrik Logevall taps newly accessible diplomatic archives in several nations and traces the path that led two Western nations to tragically lose their way in the jungles of Southeast Asia. He brings to life the bloodiest battles of France’s final years in Indochina - and describes how, from an early point, a succession of American leaders made disastrous policy choices that put America on its own collision course with history.
-
-
Understanding Why We failed the People of Vietnam
- By VA on 03-22-21
By: Fredrik Logevall
-
Yalta
- The Price of Peace
- By: S. M. Plokhy
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 22 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning Harvard historian S.M. Plokhy delivers a “convincing revisionist analysis” ( Publishers Weekly) of the February 1945 Yalta conference. Bolstered by Soviet wiretaps, Plokhy’s engrossing narrative of Stalin, Churchill, and FDR’s negotiations reveals the West did better than previously thought.
-
-
The depth and breadth of understanding
- By Robin LaCorte on 06-27-19
By: S. M. Plokhy
-
A Savage War of Peace
- Algeria 1954-1962
- By: Alistair Horne
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 29 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Algerian War lasted from 1954 to 1962. It caused the fall of six French governments, led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic, and came close to provoking a civil war on French soil. More than a million Muslim Algerians died in the conflict, and as many European settlers were driven into exile. From the perspective of half a century, it looks less like the last colonial war than the first postmodern one.
-
-
Excellent history of France's Viet Nam
- By David on 04-10-16
By: Alistair Horne
-
Japan 1941
- Countdown to Infamy
- By: Eri Hotta
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Japan attacked the United States in 1941, argues Eri Hotta, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering a conflict they were bound to lose. Availing herself of rarely consulted material, Hotta poses essential questions overlooked by historians in the seventy years since: Why did these men - military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor - put their country and its citizens in harm's way? Why did they make a decision that was doomed from the start?
-
-
Japanese viewpoint
- By Jean on 01-01-14
By: Eri Hotta
-
The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sleepwalkers is historian Christopher Clark's riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
-
-
Very interesting take on a complex problem
- By Steve on 01-24-15
-
The Collapse of the Third Republic
- An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940
- By: William L. Shirer
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 48 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As an international war correspondent and radio commentator, William L. Shirer didn't just research the fall of France. He was there. In just six weeks, he watched the Third Reich topple one of the world's oldest military powers - and institute a rule of terror and paranoia. Based on in-person conversation with the leaders, diplomats, generals, and ordinary citizens who both shaped the events of this time and lived through them on a daily basis, Shirer shapes a compelling account of historical events - without losing sight of the personal experience.
-
-
So much information
- By Daniel L Carmony on 05-14-19
-
The Mantle of Command
- FDR at War, 1941–1942
- By: Nigel Hamilton
- Narrated by: Brad Sanders
- Length: 20 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on years of archival research and interviews with the last surviving aides and Roosevelt family members, Nigel Hamilton offers a definitive account of FDR’s masterful - and underappreciated - command of the Allied war effort. Hamilton takes listeners inside FDR’s White House Oval Study - his personal command center - and into the meetings where he battled with Churchill about strategy and tactics and overrode the near mutinies of his own generals and secretary of war.
-
-
Great Book, Terrible Narration
- By Ross Mackey on 04-11-22
By: Nigel Hamilton
-
A Peace to End All Peace
- The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
- By: David Fromkin
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
-
-
Still A Great Book On The Topic
- By Nostromo on 02-03-19
By: David Fromkin
-
De Gaulle
- By: Julian Jackson
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 41 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a definitive biography of the mythic general who refused to accept Nazi domination of France, Julian Jackson captures this titanic figure as never before. Drawing on unpublished letters, memoirs, and resources of the recently opened de Gaulle archive, he reveals how this volatile visionary put a broken France back at the center of world affairs.
-
-
Extremely British approach to de Gaulle
- By Keith on 05-31-19
By: Julian Jackson
-
Goebbels: A Biography
- By: Peter Longerich, Alan Bance - translator, Jeremy Noakes - translator, and others
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 28 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In life and in his grisly family suicide, Goebbels was one of Hitler's most loyal acolytes. Though powerful in the party and in wartime Germany, Longerich's Goebbels is a man dogged by insecurities and consumed by his fierce adherence to the Nazi cause. Longerich engages and challenges the careful self-portrait that Goebbels left behind in his diaries, and, as he delves deep into the mind of Hitler's master propagandist, Longerich discovers firsthand how the Nazi message was conceived. This complete portrait of the man behind the message is sure to become a standard for historians and students of the Holocaust for years to come.
-
-
Excellent Account of the Private Goebbels, But...
- By Derek on 05-29-15
By: Peter Longerich, and others
-
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume I: Visions of Glory 1874-1932
- By: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 41 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winston Churchill is perhaps the most important political figure of the 20th century. His great oratory and leadership during the Second World War were only part of his huge breadth of experience and achievement. Studying his life is a fascinating way to imbibe the history of his era and gain insight into key events that have shaped our time.
-
-
Superb - Review of Both Volume I & Volume II
- By Wolfpacker on 01-23-09
-
The China Mission
- By: Daniel Kurtz-Phelan
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As World War II came to an end, General George Marshall was renowned as the architect of Allied victory. Set to retire, he instead accepted what he thought was a final mission - this time not to win a war, but to stop one. Across the Pacific, conflict between Chinese Nationalists and Communists threatened to suck in the United States and escalate into revolution. His assignment was to broker a peace, build a Chinese democracy, and prevent a Communist takeover, all while staving off World War III.
-
-
A Previously Untold Story of a Failed Mission
- By Jonathan Love on 05-29-18
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Poland 1939
- The Outbreak of World War II
- By: Roger Moorhouse
- Narrated by: Roger Moorhouse
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Americans, World War II began in December of 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor; but for Poland, the war began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler's soldiers invaded, followed later that month by Stalin's Red Army. The conflict that followed saw the debut of many of the features that would come to define the later war-blitzkrieg, the targeting of civilians, ethnic cleansing, and indiscriminate aerial bombing-yet it is routinely overlooked by historians.
-
-
Always Overlooked
- By C. G. Telcontar on 05-27-21
By: Roger Moorhouse
-
Berlin at War
- By: Roger Moorhouse
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Berlin at War, acclaimed historian Roger Moorhouse provides a magnificent and detailed portrait of everyday life at the epicenter of the Third Reich. Berlin was the stage upon which the rise and fall of the Third Reich was most visibly played out. It was the backdrop for the most lavish Nazi ceremonies, the site of Albert Speer's grandiose plans for a new "world metropolis", and the scene of the final climactic battle to defeat Nazism.
-
-
A unique study of part of World War II
- By Mike From Mesa on 08-25-17
By: Roger Moorhouse
-
The Forgers
- The Forgotten Story of the Holocaust's Most Audacious Rescue Operation
- By: Roger Moorhouse
- Narrated by: Roger Moorhouse
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Between 1940 and 1943, a group of Polish diplomats in Switzerland engaged in a wholly remarkable—and until now, completely unknown—humanitarian operation. In concert with Jewish activists, they masterminded a systematic program of forging passports and identity documents for Latin American countries, which were then smuggled into German-occupied Europe to save the lives of thousands of Jews facing extermination in the Holocaust. The operation was one of the largest actions to aid Jews of the entire war. The Forgers tells this extraordinary story for the first time.
By: Roger Moorhouse
-
Mussolini and Hitler
- The Forging of the Fascist Alliance
- By: Christian Goeschel
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 1934 until 1944, Mussolini met Hitler numerous times, and the two developed a relationship that deeply affected both countries. While Germany is generally regarded as the senior power, Christian Goeschel demonstrates just how much history has underrepresented Mussolini's influence on his German ally. Goeschel, a scholar of 20th-century Germany and Italy, revisits all of Mussolini and Hitler's key meetings and asks how these meetings constructed a powerful image of a strong Fascist-Nazi relationship that still resonates with the general public.
-
-
Interesting approach to the two power relationship
- By KDN on 12-14-24
-
Stalingrad
- By: David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tantor Audio presents the complete audio version of the long awaited one-volume campaign history from the leading experts of the decisive clash of Nazi and Soviet forces at Stalingrad. Stalingrad is an abridged edition of the five-volume Stalingrad Trilogy.
-
-
An incredible story made mind-numbingly tedious
- By R_T on 12-11-17
By: David M. Glantz, and others
-
1917
- Lenin, Wilson, and the Birth of the New World Disorder
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this incisive, fast-paced history, New York Times best-selling author Arthur Herman brilliantly reveals how Lenin and Wilson rewrote the rules of modern geopolitics. Through the end of World War I, countries marched into war only to increase or protect their national interests. After World War I, countries began going to war over ideas. Together, Lenin and Wilson unleashed the disruptive ideologies that would sweep the world, from nationalism and globalism to Communism and terrorism, and that continue to shape our world today.
-
-
Another book you wish was part of every university world history curriculum
- By Bruno Carleston on 11-26-18
By: Arthur Herman
-
Poland 1939
- The Outbreak of World War II
- By: Roger Moorhouse
- Narrated by: Roger Moorhouse
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Americans, World War II began in December of 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor; but for Poland, the war began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler's soldiers invaded, followed later that month by Stalin's Red Army. The conflict that followed saw the debut of many of the features that would come to define the later war-blitzkrieg, the targeting of civilians, ethnic cleansing, and indiscriminate aerial bombing-yet it is routinely overlooked by historians.
-
-
Always Overlooked
- By C. G. Telcontar on 05-27-21
By: Roger Moorhouse
-
Berlin at War
- By: Roger Moorhouse
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Berlin at War, acclaimed historian Roger Moorhouse provides a magnificent and detailed portrait of everyday life at the epicenter of the Third Reich. Berlin was the stage upon which the rise and fall of the Third Reich was most visibly played out. It was the backdrop for the most lavish Nazi ceremonies, the site of Albert Speer's grandiose plans for a new "world metropolis", and the scene of the final climactic battle to defeat Nazism.
-
-
A unique study of part of World War II
- By Mike From Mesa on 08-25-17
By: Roger Moorhouse
-
The Forgers
- The Forgotten Story of the Holocaust's Most Audacious Rescue Operation
- By: Roger Moorhouse
- Narrated by: Roger Moorhouse
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Between 1940 and 1943, a group of Polish diplomats in Switzerland engaged in a wholly remarkable—and until now, completely unknown—humanitarian operation. In concert with Jewish activists, they masterminded a systematic program of forging passports and identity documents for Latin American countries, which were then smuggled into German-occupied Europe to save the lives of thousands of Jews facing extermination in the Holocaust. The operation was one of the largest actions to aid Jews of the entire war. The Forgers tells this extraordinary story for the first time.
By: Roger Moorhouse
-
Mussolini and Hitler
- The Forging of the Fascist Alliance
- By: Christian Goeschel
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 1934 until 1944, Mussolini met Hitler numerous times, and the two developed a relationship that deeply affected both countries. While Germany is generally regarded as the senior power, Christian Goeschel demonstrates just how much history has underrepresented Mussolini's influence on his German ally. Goeschel, a scholar of 20th-century Germany and Italy, revisits all of Mussolini and Hitler's key meetings and asks how these meetings constructed a powerful image of a strong Fascist-Nazi relationship that still resonates with the general public.
-
-
Interesting approach to the two power relationship
- By KDN on 12-14-24
-
Stalingrad
- By: David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tantor Audio presents the complete audio version of the long awaited one-volume campaign history from the leading experts of the decisive clash of Nazi and Soviet forces at Stalingrad. Stalingrad is an abridged edition of the five-volume Stalingrad Trilogy.
-
-
An incredible story made mind-numbingly tedious
- By R_T on 12-11-17
By: David M. Glantz, and others
-
1917
- Lenin, Wilson, and the Birth of the New World Disorder
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this incisive, fast-paced history, New York Times best-selling author Arthur Herman brilliantly reveals how Lenin and Wilson rewrote the rules of modern geopolitics. Through the end of World War I, countries marched into war only to increase or protect their national interests. After World War I, countries began going to war over ideas. Together, Lenin and Wilson unleashed the disruptive ideologies that would sweep the world, from nationalism and globalism to Communism and terrorism, and that continue to shape our world today.
-
-
Another book you wish was part of every university world history curriculum
- By Bruno Carleston on 11-26-18
By: Arthur Herman
-
Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler
- The Age of Social Catastrophe
- By: Robert Gellately
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, acclaimed historian Robert Gellately focuses on the dominant powers of the time, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, but also analyzes the catastrophe of those years in an effort to uncover its political and ideological nature.
-
-
Incredible research as important now as then
- By Jason on 12-30-21
By: Robert Gellately
-
Stalingrad
- The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943
- By: Antony Beevor
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In August 1942, an overconfident Adolf Hitler would attempt to invade Stalin's namesake city on the Volga. The battle of Stalingrad is extraordinary in every way: the triumphant invader fought to a standstill; then the Soviet trap sprung, surrounding their attackers; and the terrible siege, with Germans starving and freezing, forced to fight on by a disbelieving Hitler.
-
-
Audible! Pls provide Michael Tudor Barnes
- By Anand on 07-02-15
By: Antony Beevor
-
Hitler
- A Biography
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson
- Length: 46 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed as the most compelling biography of the German dictator yet written, Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subject's immense darkness. From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail, strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in the 20th century.
-
-
An Excellent Read
- By Rodney on 09-19-13
By: Ian Kershaw
-
Stalin in Power
- The Revolution from Above, 1928-1941
- By: Robert C. Tucker
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 34 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1929, Stalin plunged Soviet Russia into a coercive "revolution from above", a decade-long effort to amass military-industrial power for a new war. He forced 25 million peasant families into state-run collectives and transformed the Communist Party into a servile instrument. In 1939, he concluded the pact with Hitler that enabled him to grasp at Eastern Europe while Hitler made war in the West.
-
-
How to become a dictator
- By Kindle Customer on 09-22-21
By: Robert C. Tucker
-
The Third Reich in History and Memory
- By: Richard J. Evans
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 70 years since the demise of the Third Reich, there has been a significant transformation in the ways in which the modern world understands Nazism. In this brilliant and eye-opening collection, Richard J. Evans offers a critical commentary on that transformation, exploring how major changes in perspective have informed research and writing on the Third Reich in recent years. Drawing on his most notable writings, Evans reveals the shifting perspectives on Nazism's rise to political power, its economic intricacies, and its subterranean extension into postwar Germany.
-
-
each book is better than the first. your writing is genius
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-24
By: Richard J. Evans
-
Stalin
- The Court of the Red Tsar
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
- Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73. Through the lens of personality - Stalin’s as well as those of his most notorious henchmen, Molotov, Beria and Yezhov among them - the author sheds new light on the oligarchy that attempted to create a new world by exterminating the old.
-
-
Stalinist Tyranny
- By Kindle Customer on 12-28-19
What listeners say about The Devils' Alliance
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Andrew
- 04-12-18
More books like this needed
Great book; any young person should read it to learn the true history of WW2. We need more books like this one
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- karl neubert
- 08-09-22
Very Informative about seldom covered part of WWII
Very few people are aware of the fact that Germany and Russia made a pact of alliance during the beginning of the second world war. The only part that most people know about is after the pact was broken and the two countries were attacking each other. After having listened to audio book, the reason why Germany, most notably, Berlin, was, split with one part being communist, and the other part democratic has become substantially clearer to me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike From Mesa
- 07-11-15
Fascinating look at much neglected peiod
The central premise of The Devil’s Alliance is that the 1939 Nazi-Soviet agreement, secured just prior to the German invasion of Poland, is wrongly considered by most historians to be only an incidental event of World War II but was, rather, one of the central events that made the war possible. Mr Moorhouse argues that the alliance is barely mentioned in most histories of the period but should be examined in detail to understand how it affected the ability of Germany to wage war and especially how it affected Germany’s ability to wage war against the Soviet Union.
Most histories of of World War II in Europe that I have read do mention the agreement and consider it to have been essential in securing Germany’s eastern borders and in allowing Hitler to fight a single front war during his battle against France and England, and all of those books describe the events in western Poland and the effect the German invasion had on the peoples of that part of Poland. However almost describe the events the alliance set in motion for the peoples of eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and none describe how the alliance functioned, the effect it had on Germany’s ability to wage war, the effect it had on the Soviet Union’s rearmament efforts and the political and social effect it had on the German and Soviet population.
This book is quite different. It covers the 22 months of the agreement in detail and provides wonderful information about subjects I have never seen covered at all. How did the ideologues of both governments handle the political fallout of a friendship agreement between two tyrannies that hated and despised each other? How did the agreement effect international organizations like the Comintern that had been set up to propagandize against Nazi Germany? How did Communists in other countries handle the friendship agreement with a country the Soviet Union had been vilifying for years? What did the Soviet Union get in exchange for their raw materials? What effect did the Soviet raw materials have on the German ability to wage war? Who benefited most? And many, many other subjects that make for fascinating reading including an epilogue discussing how the events during that period ended up affecting the the Soviet Union years later during the late 1980s and early 1990s as all the Soviet Republics gained their freedom. Of special note was how the 1939 deportations by the Soviet Union of the citizens of the Baltic Republics ended up generating intense hatred still felt in 1990 and how that affected relations between those newly independent republics and the dying Soviet Union.
Mr Moorhouse’s writing is clear and interesting, the material is largely fascinating and the narration of the book is very well done. Some parts are a bit more graphic than they need to be and are difficult to listen to, but I have learned a great deal concerning the period in question and feel that it has been very helpful in clarifying much about the agreement and how it worked. Some information was fascinating and I was surprised to find out that the Soviet Union received, among other finished goods from Germany, war making material such as a pocket battleship, improved artillery and German planes. On the German side it can fairly be said that the alliance provided Germany with much of the petroleum and lubricants that allowed it to wage war against the Soviet Union itself. This book is a welcome addition to the literature concerning World War II in Europe and I recommend it to those with an interest in that period of time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matthew Tsien
- 04-30-18
The Alliance Between Nazi Socialists and Stalin.
Few students of WWII remember that Hitler and Stalin had an alliance for nearly five years.
Extermination of the Jewish was mutually shared.
And then, like a fool, Hitler invaded Russia only to cause the death of hundreds of thousands of German, Russian, and Polish soldiers and ultimately fail.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John
- 01-19-24
All the Ramifications of a Pivotal Event
Before now, I understood the main impact of the Nazi-Soviet Pact to be the abrupt about-face forced on Communist, both at home and around the world (so tellingly parodied by Orwell in 1984). What I should have realized is that the same mental gymnastics were required among the Nazis as well. Now, thanks to Roger Moorhouse I understand that, and every other, aftershock of this seismic diplomatic realignment.
As Moorhouse points out, those aftershocks are still being felt, down to the very map of Eastern Europe as it exists today. He makes clear that the only real difference between these two brutal regimes was the source of their hatred and paranoia – one racial, the other political. It’s a point that can get lost in the saga of Soviet courage and sacrifice on the Eastern Front. Just as importantly, Moorhouse shows that soldiers had no monopoly on brutality. The successive Soviet and Nazi occupations of every country from the Baltic to the Black Sea unleashed waves of ethnic and political score-settling by ordinary civilians.
It’s a tale of unimaginable duplicity, violence, and suffering, made listenable by Moorhouse’s insightful intelligence – expressed in masterful prose – and Derek Perkins’ superb reading.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 02-12-16
It Glossed Over Much
If you could sum up The Devils' Alliance in three words, what would they be?
Not enough detail
Would you recommend The Devils' Alliance to your friends? Why or why not?
If you have no idea about the Nazi-Soviet pact then this may be a nice place to start, especially if you are only interested in a short and interesting read. However, there are only a few pieces learnt here that cannot be found in other sources.
What does Derek Perkins bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
It was well narrated, although no moment sticks out.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Not particularly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Max Osterhaus
- 08-15-15
What History Books Should be
This was pretty much the perfect history book. The writing was superb, structure was good, story was compelling, claims were careful, and details were kept to a minimum. On top of all that, the narration was really excellent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- michaelfaisalgreen
- 06-22-23
A thoroughly excellent analysis of one of the most infamous agreements in history.
Excellent disposition on the context, machinations, background and consequences of the infamous agreement. The wide ranging research behind this book was palpable, offering one of the few literary instances of valuable intimate insight from both the soviet and nazi perspective. The book did a wonderful job of providing balanced context behind the motivations underlying the agreement, the chronological implementation of its protocols and the precise benefits and consequences to the parties. Thorough analysis and narrative was accorded to the victims of the agreement - the peoples of the Baltic, Poland and Bessarabia - and their consequent suffering and struggles. And this provides an cogent context to the potent fear and suspicion that These countries still harbour against Russian imperialism. One of the best books I’ve read on Inter-war politics. Derek Perkins, as always, was a wonderful narrator, reminding me of why I search out his narrations as much as I do authors or subjects.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- A. M.
- 07-15-16
Far exceeded my expectations....
Any additional comments?
Great writing, research, and great narration combine to tell a story that is truly fascinating and interesting. So much history and geopolitical intrigue becomes clear as a result of understanding these 22 months of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. I highly recommend it to anyone interesting in the nature of WWII.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Justin R.
- 04-11-18
Excellent Book
Excellent book that is well researched and revealing. Will make you re-think what you thought you knew about this subject. Narration is also very well performed.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!