The Military History of the Soviet Union

by Robin Higham (Editor), F. Kagan (Editor)

The Military History of the Soviet Union and The Military History of Tsarist Russia treat Russian military history from the rise of the Muscovite state to the present, even peeking briefly into the future. The two volumes will cover Russia's land forces extensively, but will also cover the development of the Russian Navy, and the creation and development of the Russian Air Force, parts of the Russian military machine which are frequently neglected in general writings. The historical analysis will address the development and function of the Russian military whether in peace or in war, as well as the impact of war and changes in the military upon Russian society and politics.

Genres: Soviet History, Military Fiction, History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published February 9, 2002

About the author

Robin David Stewart Higham was a British-American historian, specializing in aerospace and military history, who also served as a pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II.

Reviews

[GreyAtlas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A true scholarly work of art. I appreciated the organizational aspects of the chapters and sources. The information was fairly interesting and decent to read for non-experts.

[Bubba · Rating 4 out of 5]

An edited volume is often a mixed bag; not all chapters are created equal. This collection, however, is predominantly high quality, with contributions from experts like Odom, Stone, and Zaloga. All war fighting domains are covered in a fairly evenhanded manner, though the ground forces (as should be expected from a book on the Soviet military) recieve the bulk of the attention.

Zaloga's chapter on the strategic forces (which covers up to the 21st century in contemporary Russia) is a welcome inclusion for the general reader. And, essays on the role of the military in internal security, and civilian-mitary relations, round out the collection nicely.

I have not read the 2010 edition, but assume it brings many of the scholars' predictions about the future of the post-Soviet Russian military into accord with developments since 2002 (including the "New Look" reforms that followed its poor showing in Georgia in 2008). Though, of course, that is far beyond the scope of a history of the Soviet military.