A compelling, energetic and enjoyable history

This is a tremendous effort by Beevor to narrate a period of history that is both complex, at times heart breaking and always relentless.

The text is well organised and captures the international aspects of the conflict. It offers an unvarnished view of all sides superbly.

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Brilliant but harrowing

You need a strong stomach for this - the depths of the inhumanity in the Russian Civil War are astounding. Mr Beevor doesn't hold back. It seems the only people who could possible outdo the Whites for callous brutality were their fellow countrymen, the Bolsheviks.

After reading this it is no wonder Russia is what it is.

Quite revealing about Churchill too, not in a good way for his legacy.

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Russia

A very complex but detailed account of the Russian Revolution. When i think of all the brutal regimes through out history this one is by far the worst in my opinion. At times i found it very difficult to listen to.there were no good guys just genocide commited by all sides. But i enjoyed the audio and narration.👍😢

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A brutal and forensic account

During lockdown I read numerous books on Russia, Stalin and of course Putin. It was no surprise when he invaded (special manoeuvres my a*se) the Ukraine, the history is there, and Putin had a love of the Ukrania.

I listened to Antony at the Hay Festival 2022, his knowledge of Russia is astounding and totally captivating. I had to buy the book, alas I decided to listen to it instead as I was travelling – but it was handy to have the book as well for reference.

This is forensic beyond belief; I will confess to getting lost amongst all the army divisions and (to a degree) who was fighting who at times. But the brutality was not lost in this book, the descriptions were harrowing and shocking. Thanks to this and other similar books before this, my understanding of this period of history has improved – even if some of it is hard to believe. It is no wonder that Russia has gone backwards, they love an autocrat..!!

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Informative and Well Written

A subject I went into with very little knowledge, very precise and educational, as an English speaker it’s a little difficult to follow all the names just by listening to it, would recommend having the book along side for a little clarity but that is all.

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eye opening

the whole book is a fascinating listen. learnt a lot from this listen that I hadn't realised had happened.

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Stunning

A fantastic work, brutally exposing the horrific violence triggered in 1917 that laid the foundations of decades of misery & suffering, the ramifications of which are still influencing the world today.

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The Hidden World War between World Wars

Through the excellent narration , Beevor has taken on a massive task to paint such a huge canvas. He has attempted to provide the detailed movements of all of the participants , not only the Red and White Russians, not only the Cossacks but the presence of the British American, French, the nascent Czechs, Poles, and surprisingly the Chinese. He has combined the details of the movements of all the participants with the memoirs and letters of those who witnessed the human earthquake. The narration was excellent. I would have needed a map to grasp the geographical enormity of the conflicts.

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Excellently written description of hell

This is a difficult book to review. Very well written and narrated. However, I didn’t fully realise how bleak and depressing the subject matter was! A true vision of hell.

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Good but too much focus on the whites.

A great book but I wish Beevor had done more to explain why the Bolsheviks gained so much support. He seems to focus more on the whites and why they lost but he doesn't in my opinion really give enough attention to why they faced such opposition from the working class despite the red army's brutality. That's not to say that he isn't fair in explaining the whites committed atrocities too and he doesn't gloss over this in anyway. It's just I don't feel as though Beevor has properly given his opinion as to why the revolution happened and why even after all the savagery of the reds people remained commited to the Bolsheviks. He explains that the Bolsheviks were more organised and unified than the whites but this doesn't explain the fanaticism and hatred your average rank and file red army soldier had for the whites. it also doesn't explain how their numbers grew so large and how they were able to maintain such commitment to the cause. I refuse to believe it was only fear of reprisals from the checka that kept the red army together. Overall it's a good read, it's a long complex and difficult history but I feel I understand the history better now. I definitely know more about the whites and allied intervention than before I started this book.

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