Gellately Robert. Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. — xv, 696 p., 24 unnumbered; ill. — ISBN-13 9781400040056; ISBN-10 1400040051.A bold new accounting of the great social and political upheavals that enveloped Europe between 1914 and 1945—from the Russian Revolution through the Second World War.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. Arguing that the tragedies endured by Europe were inextricably linked through the dictatorships of Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, Gellately explains how the pursuit of their “utopian” ideals turned into dystopian nightmares. Dismantling the myth of Lenin as a relatively benevolent precursor to Hitler and Stalin and contrasting the divergent ways that Hitler and Stalin achieved their calamitous goals, Gellately creates in Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler a vital analysis of a critical period in modern history.Lenin’s Communist DictatorshipThe First World War and the Russian Revolution
On the Way to Communist Dictatorship
Civil Wars in the Soviet UnionThe Rise of German National SocialismNazism and the Threat of Bolshevism
First Nazi Attempt to Seize Power
Hitler Starts OverStalin Triumphs over Political RivalsBattle for Communist Utopia
Lenin’s Passing, Stalin’s Victory
Stalin’s New Initiatives
Stalin Solidifies His GripGermans Make a Pact With HitlerNazi Party as Social Movement
Nazism Exploits Economic Distress
“All Power” for HitlerStalin’s Reign of TerrorFight Against the Countryside
Terror as Political Practice
“Mass Operations”
“Cleansing” the Soviet EliteHitler’s War Against DemocracyWinning Over the Nation
Dictatorship by Consent
Persecution of the Jews in the Prewar Years
“Cleansing” the German Body PoliticStalin and Hitler: into the Social CatastropheRival Visions of World Conquest
German Racial Persecution Begins in Poland
Hitler and Western Europe
The Soviet Response
The War SpreadsHitler’s War on “Jewish Bolshevism”War of Extermination as Nazi Crusade
War Against the Communists: Operation Barbarossa
War Against the Jews: Death Squads in the East
The “Final Solution” and Death CampsHitler’s Defeat and Stalin’s AgendaGreatest Crisis in Stalin’s Career
Between Surrender and Defiance
Soviets Hold On, Hitler Grows Vicious
Ethnic Cleansing in Wartime Soviet UnionFinal StruggleFrom Stalingrad to Berlin
Stalin Takes the Upper Hand
End of the Third ReichEpilogue