Originally published in Naval War College Review This is the third volume of Harvard professor Richard Pipes’ trilogy on Russian history, the first two being Russia under the Old Regime (1974) and The Russian Revolution (1990). This volume limits itself to the period 1918-1924; it begins with the Civil War and ends with the death of Vladimir Ilich Lenin. In Pipes’ view, this period constitutes the brutal formative period of Soviet totalitarianism, Stalin’s later contributions notwithstanding. Like the earlier studies, this book is filled with highly contentious interpretations and conclusions. The Civil War (1918-1920) was, in the author’s view, the “most devastating event in that country’s history since the Mongol invasions in the thirteenth century.” The devastation, however, was not merely the consequence of military conflict between … Read entire article »

Originally published in Naval War College Review The Russian Revolution is an immense and masterful account of the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, the Bolshevik coup of October 1917, and that party’s attempt to consolidate its power. It begins where Professor Pipes’s earlier study, Russia under the Old Regime (1974), left off–both chronologically and, one must lament, ideologically. The work is vintage Pipes. It displays an impressive mastery over evidence which, unfortunately, is forced to serve a narrow and inadequate interpretation of Russian history. Pipes is probably the foremost proponent of the “patrimonial” interpretation of Russian history, which avers that because the tsar considered Russia to be his private estate, politics became indistinguishable from the economics of the household. Russians were … Read entire article »