Russia. War, Peace and Diplomacy: Essays in Honour of John Erickson

Contemporary Review, July, 2005

Russia. War, Peace and Diplomacy: Essays in Honour of John Erickson. Ljubica Erickson and Mark Erickson, editors. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]25.00. xv 365 pages. ISBN 0-297-84913-1. John Erickson taught in the University of Edinburgh and was an acknowledged expert on Soviet military history and his two-volume history of the Second World War set new standards.

This collection of nineteen essays was written by leading experts in the field and the final paper is an analysis of discussions on arms control organised by Prof. Erickson during the Cold War. There are papers on: the Scotsman, Patrick Gordon, who became Peter the Great's main adviser; the military theories of Clausewitz and Jomini; Russian relations with Britain between 1914 and 1917; Russian views about the nature of future wars from 1866 to the present; military policy, international relations and Soviet security after the Bolshevik revolution; Turkey's relations with Russia; the myth and reality of women tractor drivers in the 1930s; the German military's image of Russia; film images of the German army; US views of the Soviet Union before and after Hitler's 1941 invasion; further thoughts on the Battle of Stalingrad (by Antony Beevor); women's role in that same battle; forgotten battles of the USSR-German war between 1941 and 1945; and the role of the Travniki Guards as collaborators. While the individual papers are necessarily short, the range is impressive and a fitting tribute to a great historian. (T.B.)