Russia

Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1921

By: Antony Beevor

Narrated by: Rob Heaps

“Riveting . . . There is a wealth of new information here that adds considerable texture and nuance to his story and helps to set Russia apart from previous works.”—The Wall Street Journal

An epic new account of the conflict that reshaped Eastern Europe and set the stage for the rest of the twentieth century.

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. In the savage civil war that followed, terror begat terror, which in turn led to ever greater cruelty with man’s inhumanity to man, woman and child. The struggle became a world war by proxy as Churchill deployed weaponry and troops from the British empire, while contingents from the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, and Czechoslovakia played rival parts.

Using the most up to date scholarship and archival research, Antony Beevor assembles the complete picture in a gripping narrative that conveys the conflict through the eyes of everyone from the worker on the streets of Petrograd to the cavalry officer on the battlefield and the doctor in an improvised hospital.

©2022 Antony Beevor (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"In this brilliant marshalling of a notoriously complex history, Antony Beevor opens up a magisterial canvas of terror and tragedy." (Colin Thubron, author of Shadow of the Silk Road and The Amur River: Between Russia and China)

"Beevor has given us what may be his most brilliant book to date—a masterpiece of historical imagination, in which the tragedy and horror of this colossal struggle is recaptured, in its impact on everyday life as well as its military dimensions, as never before. This is a great book, whose depiction of savage inhumanity speaks powerfully to our present condition." (John Gray, author of Straw Dogs)

“A completely riveting account of how the Russian Revolution, which started with such high hopes and idealism, degenerated into a tangle of civil conflicts marked by hideous cruelty on all sides. Antony Beevor brings his great gifts for narrative, and his deep interest in the people who both make history and suffer it, to illuminate that crucial period whose consequences we are still living with today.” (Margaret MacMillan, author of War: How Conflict Shaped Us and The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914)

The most in depth history of the russian Civil War

Fantastic book that truly captures the brutality of civil war in all of its aspects. it amazes me the lengths that Winston Churchill wanted to involve his exhausted country into a continuation of the European and Asian conflict. democracy was never in the cards for the russian people.

Sweeping

This reminds me of the current Civil War happening in Ukraine, between Slavic, Russians, and Slavic Ukrainians. Perhaps not as bloodthirsty, at least not yet. But just like in the Russian revolution, today’s Ukrainian war is full of different actors, all with different reasons, and all the Farias as to why they are participating in this Civil War.

A nations inhumanity to themselves.

A thoroughly researched read often somewhat difficult to follow unless one is familiar with the geography of this vast area. The savage brutality of the militants was remarkable although familiar to me was vividly portrayed by the author.

Excellent but not for beginners

This is not a book for the casually interested historian. The details, locations and names require a base line understanding of the events and characters otherwise the listener will likely be overwhelmed. Excellent story and delivery overall.

The history told in detail.

While I am a detail person, the details of the book became almost unbearable to hear, but it is those details that make the entire debacle of the Russian revolution so important to remember, particularly in light of Russia’s recent history.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Russian civil war

An endless procession of savagery on both sides makes you wonder if it is a trait native to the Russian character. The horror begins with the ways the officers are killed in the beginning of the revolution and widens into outright extermination of everyone in the way. There is a relentless prodding through death and destruction on a timeline. The Jews got in the neck every time the Cossacks took an area. It begins to wear you down.

Lacks balance

I was looking for a better balance of information between the political and military campaign struggles. The first section of the book provided much better balance, but as the book went on, it turned almost entirely into a description of battles and battlefield atrocities, with very limited references to the simultaneously unfolding and twisting political situations. After effectively setting up Lenin's power plays and perspectives early on, I felt very disconnected from his situation, which was only reintroduced at the very end in summary of the book.

Good book… but brutal

Antony Beevor is one of my favorite historians of World War II… It’s hard to grasp the inhumanity of man and the atrocities committed during the bolshevik revolution. Beavers book is extraordinarily detailed and pulls no punches.

Very good

It's well done and researched. Doesn't get boring or
Slow and stays focused. I thought it was an excellent overview. I personally enjoyed "A Peoples Tragedy" a bit better but that is one of the best books ever written in the English language so this being up there with that work is a compliment.

Excellent but grueling

This tome is an incredible piece on the savagery that inflicted Russia in the aftermath of the fall of the Czar. One can see the drama building from the end of this book directly to Stalin’s regime and the shaping of the 20th century to come, and the horrors of Communist rule.