SIvansWarBookReview

Reviewed by Steven Douglas Mercatante [1]

Catherine Merridale's Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945, is a
fascinating and necessary look at men all too often reduced to a subhuman status by
not only their Second World War foes but nearly fifty years of Cold War propaganda.
What most grants Merridale's work its importance lies within what is sometimes
forgotten about the Second World War; the reality Hitler and his National Socialist
regime were dedicated to fighting a racial war against only the Jew but also against
the Slav - humans Hitler referred to as untermenschen (subhuman). Ironically, the
racism that motivated Hitler's war against the Slav, in spite of Germany's defeat,
became an enduring part of the historiography of the Second World War; particularly in
the Anglo-American World.

As a result the Anglo-American dominated historical narrative focused on their war
against Germany and virtually ignored not only the war between Germany and the
Soviet Union but also the German's genocidal goals for the Slavic peoples of Eastern
Europe. The faceless Soviet colossus fought in an inadequately understood Eastern
European war, a war punctuated by events before Moscow in 1941, at Stalingrad in
1942, Kursk in 1943, and jumping to Berlin in 1945. The narrative portrayed the
victorious Red Army crudely; as a Genghis Khan like horde swarming into Europe,
mindlessly steamrolling the German army and evoking racist imagery built on the chaos
wrought by Asiatic hordes sweeping into Eastern and Central Europe centuries before.
The notable exceptions during this era resulted from work done by British historian John
Erickson, and few others. In the Western World this prevailing perception has been
hard to shake. Several reasons stand out, and not just because of the beliefs
pervading the Cold War.

After the Second World War, the American and British militaries used former
high-ranking German officers to analyze and describe their war against the Soviet
Union. These military and civilian leaders took to this task in what generally was a
highly subjective, racist and partisan fashion that completely divorced them and their
men from complicity in the War of annihilation in Eastern Europe. They cast blame for
German defeat on Hitler and other elements purportedly outside their control; such as
the weather or the numerical strength possessed by their bestial foes. The American
dominated free world eagerly lapped up these descriptions of the Slavic man. The
availability of selected German archives for historians to access, without corresponding
contact with Soviet archives, only exacerbated the German centric approach to
examining the war in Eastern Europe. Not until the 1980s, and the Glasnost era in the
Soviet Union, did researchers begin to take a renewed look at Soviet citizens and
military veterans as individuals. The people patriotically fought for "Mother Russia",
suffered enormously, and therefore a human face, albeit distorted, began to take
shape regarding the Red Army's fight against Nazi Germany. This period was so brief
however, as to barely alter perceptions formed in the 40 years following the War's end.
In addition, Soviet era historians faced considerable barriers from a police state
blocking their chance to objectively analyze the war in Eastern Europe. After the Cold
War ended in 1991, however, the archives in the former Soviet Union and Soviet bloc
nations finally opened - at least in part. Western historians therefore began to compile
a richer and more precise picture regarding the War. However, much of the historical
work focused on a better political, economic, or military understanding of the war
between Germany and the Soviet Union. The actual face of the Red Army, a
description of its men and officers, remained elusive - until now.

Ivan's War is essential reading for anyone seeking a greater understanding into the
individuals making up the Second World War era Red Army. In conducting over 200
interviews with Russian veterans, examinations of diaries and military reports, even
through visits to the battlefields it is obvious Merridale has done her homework. Ivan's
War is a social history; Merridale largely avoids any in depth discussion of the European
war's strategic, operational or tactical military history; those so interested will have to
go elsewhere. Potential readers should also note the book spends the majority of its
time on the pre-war social history, the actual war years are covered in less detail.
Ivan's War also gives rise to one more complaint; the book somewhat neglects to
cover the Red Army Air Force and Navy. Consequently, I cannot say Merridale's work
represents an all encompassing social history. Nevertheless, in spite of its minor flaws,
and for much the same reason I recommended The Wages of Destruction I do not
hesitate to recommend Ivan's War. Far too often the Second World War's military and
political-strategic aspect receives the brunt of our attentions. In going beyond we can
learn much more and truly gain a better understanding into the Second World War.

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