Berlin: The Downfall 1945
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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- Also Known as "The Fall of Berlin 1945" in the US.
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| Berlin: The Downfall 1945 | |
| Author | Antony Beevor |
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| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Military history |
| Genre(s) | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Viking Press, Penguin Books |
| Publication date | ?? 2002 |
| Pages | 501 |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0-141-03239-9 (Pbk) |
Written by Anthony Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall 1945 is a narrative history of the epic battle fought in and around the city of Berlin during World War II. It was published by Viking Press in 2002, then later by Penguin Books in 2003 The book achieved both critical and commercial success, it sold over half a million copies world wide. The book is known as a continuation/ sequel of previous book called Stalingrad, also by Antony Beevor.
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[edit] Prizes
Anthony Beevor's work in this book received him the Longman-History Today Trustees' Award" in 2003.
[edit] About the book
The book revisits the events of the Battle of Berlin in 1945. The book narrates how the Red Army defeated the German Army and brought and end Hitler's Third Reich, as well as an end to the war in Europe.
[edit] Publication notes
The book was published in the United States under the title of The Fall of Berlin 1945, and has been translated into 24 languages. The English paperback version was published by Penguin Books in 2003.
[edit] Criticism
Berlin - The Downfall 1945 has encountered criticism in Russia.[1] The Russian ambassador to the UK denounced the book as "lies" and "slander against the people who saved the world from Nazism."[2], despite heavy evidence to the contrary. O.A. Rzheshevsky, a professor and President of the Russian Association of World War II Historians, has charged that Beevor is merely resurrecting the discredited and racist views of Neo-Nazi historians, who depicted Soviet troops as subhuman "Asiatic hordes". [3] Other prominent historians such as Richard Overy have criticised Russian outrage at the book and defended Beevor. Overy accused the Russians of refusing to acknowledge Soviet war crimes, "Partly this is because they felt that much of it was justified vengeance against an enemy who committed much worse, and partly it was because they were writing the victors' history"[4].
This criticism centres on the book's discussion of atrocities committed by the Red Army against German civilians - in particular, the extremely widespread rape of German women and also female Russian forced labourers, both before and after the end of the war. While this has been widely discussed outside Russia, it remains controversial. In particular, the controversy may reflect both a reluctance in Germany to consider Germans themselves as victims and in Russia to examine the actions of the Red Army in World War II.
[edit] References
- ^ " Russians angry at war rape claims" telegraph.co.uk 25 January 2002 Link Accessed 28/04/08
- ^ "Lies and insinuations" telegraph.co.uk 25 January 2002 Link Accessed 28/04/08
- ^ "Review of Berlin: 1945" gpw.tellur.ru Link Accessed 28/04/08 (Russian)
- ^ "Red Army rapists exposed" news.bbc.co.uk 29 April 2002 Link accessed 28/04/08
- Antony Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall 1945 - Viking 2002 - ISBN 978-0-141-03239-9
