Description
The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution is the first comprehensive history of international communism to be published after the collapse of the Soviet Union. After surveying the early development of communism from the French Revolution through Karl Marx to the Russian terrorists and the appearance of Lenin, it presents the whole mighty drama of the establishment of Communist rule over one-third of the world, from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to its almost miraculous defeat in Russia in 1991. For these 74 years communism in power presented the greatest external threat to the freedom of the West. Though this is the history of an ideological movement in action, the author firmly believes that men, not ideologies or economics, make history. Therefore the narrative concentrates on its actors — on the heroism, compromise, or cowardice with which men and nations faced this ultimate challenge. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Ho Chi Minh are here; so are Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and less well known heroes of the struggle deserving everlasting honor: Karl Gustaf Mannerheim of Finland, José Moscardó of Spain, Ahmad Shah Masud of Afghanistan, Lech Walesa of Poland. A well-documented narrative with the power of a great novel, this is a landmark historical work, a panoramic presentation of the central theme of the political history of the twentieth century.