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The Red Army and the Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Soviet Military . By Peter Whitewood . Lawrence, KS : University Press of Kansas , 2015. ii, 360 pp. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Chronology. Glossary. Index. Illustrations. Photographs. Figure. Tables. Maps. $37.50, hard bound.
Book Reviews
"Is there no section of the Soviet organization free from traitors and wreckers? Or is Stalin suffering from a prolonged attack of jitters?" These were the top questions of the New York Times editorial board on June 12, 1937, the day that Mikhail N. Tukhachevskii and seven other high ranking Red Army commanders were shot. The confusion at the Times was widely shared. What did Stalin think he was doing when ordering the arrest and execution of his high command? What was the impact of the military purge upon the future performance of the Red Army? What role, if any, did the assault upon the military play in the course of the Great Terror itself?
Peter Whitewood's book is a successful attempt to answer many of these questions. In the true fashion of a historian, Whitewood believes that context is crucial for developing reasonable explanations. He begins his story in the...