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{{Short description|Russian author}}
{{Cleanup|date=August 2008}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
]
{{family name hatnote|Bogdanovich|Rezun|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see ] -->
| name = Viktor Suvorov
| native_name = {{ubl|Владимир Богданович Резун|Виктор Суворов}}
| image = Suworow Wiktor.jpg
| caption = (2007)
| birth_name = Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1947|4|20}}
| birth_place = ], Primorsky Krai, Soviet Union
| occupation =
| notableworks = '']'', '']''
| awards =
| spouse = Tatiana Korzh
| relatives = }}


'''Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun''' ({{langx|ru|link=no|Владимир Богданович Резун}}; {{langx|uk|link=no|Володи́мир Богда́нович Рєзу́н}}; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of '''Viktor Suvorov''' ({{lang|ru|Виктор Суворов}}), is a former ] officer who is the author of ] books about ], the GRU and the ], as well as fictional books about the same and related subjects.
'''Viktor Suvorov''' ({{lang-ru|Ви́ктор Суво́ров}}); is the ] for '''Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun''' ({{lang-ru|Влади́мир Богда́нович Резу́н}}) (born April 20, 1947 in ]), a Russian writer. Suvorov made his name writing books about ] history, the ], ], and ]. His testimony about the capabilities of the ] created concern in the West. It contributed to the formation of the Norwegian ], an elite unit equipped to neutralize such a threat if ever deployed on Norwegian soil.


After defecting to the United Kingdom in 1978, Suvorov began his writing career, publishing his first books in the 1980s about his own experiences and the structure of the ], ], and ]. He writes in Russian with a number of his books translated into English, including his semi-autobiographical '']'' (1981). In the ], according to Suvorov and according to an ] with the former head of the GRU, he was ] in absentia.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lurie|first=V. M.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52074202|title=GRU: dela i lyudi (GRU: affairs and people)|date=2002|publisher=Neva|others=Kochik V. Ya.|isbn=5-7654-1499-0|location=Sankt-Peterburg|pages=597, 605–606|language=ru|oclc=52074202}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Harding|first=Luke|date=2018-12-29|title='Will they forgive me? No': ex-Soviet spy Viktor Suvorov speaks out|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/29/ex-soviet-spy-viktor-suvorov|access-date=2021-06-15|work=]|language=en}}</ref>
Suvorov's most controversial assertion was that ] originally planned to use ] as a proxy (the “Icebreaker”) against the West. For this reason Stalin provided significant material and political support to ], while at the same time preparing the ] to “liberate” the whole of ] from Nazi occupation. Suvorov argued that Hitler lost ] from the moment he attacked ]: not only was he going to war with the ], but it was only a matter of time before the ] would take the most appropriate moment to attack him from the rear. This left Hitler with no choice but to launch a preemptive strike on the Soviet Union, while Stalin's forces were redeploying from a defensive to an offensive posture, providing Hitler with an important initial tactical advantage. But this was strategically hopeless since the ] now had to fight on two fronts, a mistake Hitler himself had identified as Germany's undoing in the previous war. In the end, Stalin was able to achieve some of his objectives by establishing Communist regimes in ], ], and ]. According to Suvorov, this made Stalin the primary winner of World War II.


In his ] books, he offers an alternative view of the role of the ]; the first and most well-known book on this topic being ''Icebreaker: Who started the Second World War?''. The proposed concept and the methods of its substantiation have caused ] in historical and social circles. In '']'', ''M Day'' and several follow-up books Suvorov argued that ] planned to use ] as a ] (the "Icebreaker") against the ].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Putintsyeva|first=Alla|date=1 September 2006|title=Виктор Суворов: "За идеи в России сейчас не убивают" (Viktor Suvorov: "People don't kill for ideas in Russia now")|url=http://www.newizv.ru/news/2006-09-01/53116/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610125823/http://www.newizv.ru/news/2006-09-01/53116/|archive-date=2007-06-10|url-status=live|access-date=15 June 2021|website=Novye Izvestia|language=ru}}</ref> The books are based on his personal analysis of Soviet ], ] maneuvers, ] speeches and other ].
Suvorov's assertions remain a matter of debate among historians.
While most agree that Stalin made extensive preparations for an
upcoming war and exploited the military conflict in Europe to his advantage, the assertions that Stalin planned to attack Nazi Germany in the summer of 1941, and that ] was a preemptive strike by Hitler, is widely disputed.<ref>Glantz, David M., ''Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of War'', Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1998.</ref>


Suvorov also wrote a number of fiction books about the Soviet Army, military intelligence and the pre-war history of the USSR. The trilogy ''Control'', ''Choice'' and ''Snake-eater'' was a bestseller and was approached for ]. According to '']'', an online newspaper, the circulation of some of Suvorov's books exceeds a million copies.<ref name=":5" />
==Biography==


==Early years==
Suvorov began his service in the ]'s ],<ref>p.15, Isby</ref> and worked in Soviet military intelligence (]) before defecting to the ] in 1978, where he worked as an ] analyst and lecturer. At the time he was working in ], ] under United Nations cover. Rezun was smuggled out of the country to ] with his wife and two young children. A career soldier, he had participated in the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and had later supervised the training of the elite Spetsnaz special forces. He had also undertaken missions in ], ], ], ], ] and ].<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3227310/Sir-Dick-Franks.html Obituary of Sir Dick Franks, published October 19, 2008 Daily Telegraph</ref>
].]]
Suvorov, born Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun, comes from a military family of mixed Ukrainian-Russian descent; his father, Bogdan Vasilyevich Rezun, was a veteran of ] and a Ukrainian, while his mother Vera Spiridonovna Rezun (Gorevalova) is Russian. According to his own statements, Suvorov considers himself, his wife and children to be Ukrainians. He was born in the village of ], Primorsky Krai; raised in Ukraine's ], where his father served. The family subsequently settled in ] after his father's retirement.


According to Suvorov, he went to first grade in the village of ], then studied in the village of Barabash. In 1957, after graduating on four classes, at the age of 11 he entered the ] in ] (from 1958 to 1963). In 1963, the school was disbanded, and the students, including Rezun, were transferred to the Kalinin (now ]) Suvorov Military School (from 1963 to 1965).<ref name="suvorovrezun" /> In 1965, Rezun graduated from said school and was admitted without examinations to the second year of the Kyiv Higher Combined Arms Command School then named after General ] (now ]).
== Publications and ideas ==


== Prague Spring invasion ==
Suvorov has written several books about his Soviet Army experiences and also joined the team led by the British General Sir ] in writing the book ''The Third World War: The Untold Story''<ref name="untold_story">''The Third World War: The Untold Story'' ISBN 0-283-98863-0</ref> . Published in 1982, this book was the sequel to the 1978 original ''The Third World War'',<ref name="wow3">''The Third World War'' ISBN 0-425-04477-7</ref> in which Hackett and his team had speculated about the possible course of a Soviet/NATO war in ].
]
In 1968, Suvorov graduated with honours from the Frunze Red Banner Higher Military Command School in Kyiv. At the same year, he served in ] as a tank platoon commander with the 145th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, ], of the ] in Ukraine, participating in the ] invasion of ], ]. This experience is narrated in his 1981 book ''The Liberators: My Life in the Soviet Army''.


The book was Suvorov's first after his defection and in it he narrates his eyewitness account of the invasion, recounting the daily life within the ]. He points to deficiencies in readiness and in mindset.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Varhall|first1=Gregory|last2=Kenneth M.|first2=Currie|date=1983|title=An Insider's Warning to the West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lpo_ZclRfhIC&q=Reviews+of+Suvorov+The+Liberators+%281981%29&pg=RA5-PA102|journal=Air University Review|publisher=]|volume=35|pages=101–107}}</ref> Suvorov mentions that ] struggled to impress their superiors, something that does not contribute to military effectiveness or ] – instead fostering on officers a behavior of cunning and ] in order to climb the ranks.
Suvorov is best known for his books about Stalin's times written in a polemic, popular-science style. These books have been translated to more than 20 languages and hotly debated. The first work was '']''. Later books on this subject were '']'', '']'', and ''Last Republic''. Suvorov used hundreds of Soviet-era memoirs and other publicly accessible sources to justify the following points.


At the age of 19 he was admitted to the ] (CPSU). From 1970 to 1971 he was an ] department of the ] of the ] (in the city of ]), and later with the 808th Independent Army ] Company ('']''). In 1970 he became a member of the nomenclature (]) of the ]. In this position he came under the ] of the commander of the Carpathian Military District, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces (later ]) ]. This general was known for suppressing anti-communist uprisings in ] in 1956 and later Czechoslovakia in 1968 with ruthless efficiency, for which Obaturov received the ].
'''1. Soviet Union was intrinsically unstable, as any other communist regime. It had to expand to survive'''. According to the ] the communist system must expand and occupy the entire world to survive. Otherwise, it will fail in a peaceful and military struggle with surrounding “capitalist” countries. Stalin and other Soviet leaders had always understood this. It was publicly declared by Stalin that ''"the ultimate victory of socialism... can only be achieved in international scale"''.<ref> '']'', February 14, 1938, cited from V. Suvorov ''Last Republic'' ({{lang|ru|Последняя республика}}), ACT, 1997, ISBN 5-12-000367-4, pages 75-76 </ref> Therefore, Soviet leaders started preparations for a massive war of aggression. However, to misled the West, they officially declared an adherence to a more peaceful theory of ], according to which Socialism can win in a single country, without being immediately overthrown by hostile "capitalist" neighbors. This leading country would then help revolutionary movements in other countries. Either way, the Soviet pre-war doctrine was based on ] theory that ] will be overthrown through ].


== Espionage in Geneva and defection ==
'''2. Soviet Union made extensive preparations for the future war of aggression during 1920s and 30s.''' Suvorov provides an extensive analysis of Stalin's preparation for war. Stalin, the leader of the ] officially announced three phases that should lead to the final preparation for the war: three ] phases, with the first one focused on ], the second focused on industrialization, and the third phase emphasized the militarization of the country.


=== Geneva station ===
'''3. Stalin escalated tensions in Europe by providing a combination of economic and military support to Hitler.''' (see ]). Stalin's plan and vision was that Hitler's predictability and his violent reactionary ideas made him a candidate to the role of "]" for the Communist revolution. By starting wars with European countries Hitler would warrant the USSR joining World War II by attacking Nazi Germany and "liberating" and Sovietizing all of Europe. It is generally accepted that "from the early 1920s until 1933, the Soviet Union was engaged in secret collaboration with the German military to enable it to circumvent the provisions of the ]", which prohibited Germany's military production.<ref name="Pipes"/> Moscow allowed the Germans to produce and test their weapons on Soviet territory, while some Red Army officers attended general-staff courses in Germany.<ref name="Pipes"/> In 1932-1933, "Stalin helped Hitler come to power, by forbidding German Communists to make common cause with the Social Democrats against the Nazis in parliamentary elections".<ref name="Pipes"/> When concluding the ] in 1939, Stalin "clearly counted on the repetition of the 1914-1918 war of attrition, which would leave the "capitalist" countries so exhausted that the USSR could sweep into Europe virtually unopposed"<ref name="Pipes"/> (see also ]).
From 1971 to 1974, Suvorov studied at the Military Diplomatic Academy,<ref>{{Cite web|script-title=ru:Разведчик – предателю |trans-title=From scout to the traitor|url=http://aravidze.narod.ru/s8/bezr3335.htm|access-date=2021-06-15|website=aravidze.narod.ru|language=ru}}</ref> known as "the Conservatory", located in Moscow. The Academy trained officers for work abroad as intelligence operatives or "scouts" ({{lang|ru-Latn|razvedchiki}} in the Russian language). These worked often "under diplomatic cover" ("jackets", in the jargon of Soviet intelligence operatives), and also as "illegals", meaning intelligence operatives not under diplomatic cover or (quasi-declared) commercial cover.
Stalin always planned to exploit the military conflict between the "capitalist" countries to his advantage. He said as early as in 1925 that
: "Struggles, conflicts and wars among our enemies are...our great ally...and the greatest supporter of our government and our revolution" and "If a war does break out, we will not sit with folded arms - we will have to take the field, but we will be ''last'' to do so. And we shall do so in order to throw the decisive load on the scale"<ref name="Pipes"> ] Communism: A History (2001) ISBN 0-812-96864-6, pages 74-75.</ref>
'''4. World War II was initiated by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany which became allies after signing the ]'''. The essence of this pact was in the secret protocols which divided Europe into zones of influence, and removed the Polish buffer between Germany and the USSR. Some countries that fell into the Soviet zone of influence, ], ], and ], were occupied. The difference between these smaller nations, occupied and annexed by the USSR, and Poland ] was that Poland had military assistance guarantees from ] and ].


For four years, Suvorov worked in the Geneva ] as an employee of the legal residency of military intelligence under the cover of the Permanent Mission of the USSR at the European ]. According to the autobiographical book '']'', he received the rank of major while working in residency. The same title was named in an interview of 1992 with the newspaper {{lang|ru-Latn|]}} by then head of the GRU, Colonel general Yevgeny Timokhin.
'''5. Stalin planned to attack Nazi Germany from the rear in July 1941''', only a few weeks after the date on which the ] invasion of the Soviet Union took place. According to Suvorov, the ] had been already redeployed from a defensive to an offensive position. As described in Suvorov's books, Stalin had made no major defensive preparations. On the contrary, the ] fortifications through Belarus-Ukraine were dismantled, and the new ] was all but finished by the time of Nazi invasion.


=== Defection ===
'''5. Hitler's intelligence identified USSR's preparations to attack Germany'''. Therefore, the Wehrmacht had drafted a ] plan based on Hitler's orders as early as 1940. On June 22, 1941 Hitler launched an assault on the USSR.
On 10 June 1978 he disappeared from his Geneva apartment with his wife and two children. According to Suvorov himself, he made contact with ] because the Geneva station wanted to make him a "scapegoat" of a major failure. On 28 June 1978 British newspapers{{which?|date=August 2024}} reported that Rezun was in England with his family. At the time, he was married to Tatiana Korzh. The couple had a son, Aleksandr, and a daughter, Oksana. They were smuggled out of Switzerland to Britain by British intelligence. There Suvorov worked as an ] analyst for the government and as a lecturer.<ref name="suvorovrezun">. Internet Archive.</ref><ref>{{cite news |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912131659/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3227310/Sir-Dick-Franks.html |archive-date=12 September 2012 |title=Sir Dick Franks: Saboteur with the Special Operations Executive who went on to become Chief of MI6 during the Cold War |type=obituary |newspaper=] |date=October 20, 2008 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3227310/Sir-Dick-Franks.html}}
See also: ].</ref>


Since 1981, he has been writing under the pseudonym Viktor Suvorov, having written his first three books in English: ''The Liberators'', ''Inside the Soviet Army'', and ''Inside Soviet Military Intelligence''. The author explains the choice of pseudonym by the fact that his publisher recommended that he choose a Russian surname of three syllables, evoking a slight "military" association among Western readers. According to Viktor himself, he teaches ] and ] at a British military academy and lives in ].
== Criticism and support ==
=== Criticism ===


== Publications ==
Among the noted critics of Suvorov's work are Israeli historian ], American military historian ], and Russian military historians ], ] and ]. According to Suvorov, ] made extensive preparations for an offensive war in Europe, but it was totally unprepared for defensive operations on its own territory. Critics noted systemic problems plaguing the Red Army, such as: poor leadership after the ], poor logistics, poor training, and low morale in the beginning of the war.
=== Non-fiction ===
Suvorov drew on his experience and research to write non-fiction books in Russian about the Soviet Army, ], and ]. He publishes these works under the pseudonym "Viktor Suvorov."


*'']'',<ref>'']'', 1981, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, {{ISBN|0-241-10675-3}}</ref> includes his eyewitness account about the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces
] "flying tank"]]
*'']'',<ref>''],'' 1982, Macmillan Publishing Co.</ref>
*''Inside Soviet Military Intelligence''<ref>'''', 1984, {{ISBN|0-02-615510-9}}</ref>
*'']'',<ref>'']'' ({{lang|ru|Аквариум}}), 1985, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, {{ISBN|0-241-11545-0}}</ref> his memoir, and
*''Spetsnaz'',<ref>''. The Story Behind the Soviet SAS'', 1987, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, {{ISBN|0-241-11961-8}}</ref> about Special Forces units


=== Novels ===
Much of Suvorov's thesis is based on ]: one of Suvorov arguments is that certain types of weapons were mostly suited for offensive warfare and that the Red Army had large numbers of such weapons. For example, he pointed out that the Soviet Union was outfitting large numbers of paratroopers — preparing to field entire parachute armies, in fact — and that paratroopers are only suitable for offensive action, which the Soviet military doctrine of the time recognized. Suvorov's critics say that 1) paratroopers were widely used in defensive actions by many armies (for example, by Soviet and Israeli) 2) Soviet paratroopers in 1941 were poorly trained and armed.<ref>Алексей Исаев. Вертикальный охват // Неправда Виктора Суворова. М.: Яуза, Эксмо, 2007, с. 257-289 {{ref-lang|ru}}</ref> In like fashion, he cites the development of the KT/A-40 Antonov "flying tank" as evidence of Stalin's aggressive plans (but development of this tank was started only in December of 1941<ref>Василий Чобиток. Кое-что о волшебных танках // Неправда Виктора Суворова. М.: Яуза, Эксмо, 2007, с. 136-137 {{ref-lang|ru}}</ref>).
Suvorov also wrote several fiction books set in the pre-World War II era in the Soviet Union.
* ''Control''
* ''Choice''
* ''Snake-eater'' (2010)


== Works about World War II ==
David M. Glantz disputes the argument that the Red Army was deployed in an offensive stance in 1941. Glantz attempts to show that the Red Army was only in a state of partial mobilization in July 1941, from which neither effective defensive or offensive actions could be offered without considerable delay. Regarding Hitler's alleged ] intentions, Erickson has stated that “what really concerned Hitler was not Soviet aggression but Soviet concessions to Germany, which could frustrate his own grand design, depriving him of a pretext to attack.”<ref>''Barbarossa June 1941: Who Attacked Whom?'' by John Erickson </ref> One of the major critics of the preventive war thesis is the American historian ]. In a scathing 1989 review of Ernst Topitsch’s book ''Stalin’s War'', Weinberg called all who argue that ] was a preventive war believers in “fairy tales”.<ref>Weinberg, Gerhard Review of ''Stalin's War: A Radical New Theory of the Origins of the Second World War'' by Ernst Topitsch pages 800-801 from ''The American Historical Review'', Volume 94, Issue # 3, June 1989 page 800</ref>
{{main|Soviet offensive plans controversy}}
Suvorov has written ten books about the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet War in 1941 and the circumstances related to it. The first such work was '']'' (1989), followed by '']'', ''The Last Republic'', ''Cleansing'', '']'', ''The Shadow of Victory'', ''I Take it Back'', ''The Last Republic II'', ''The Chief Culprit'', and ''Defeat''.


In the ''Icebreaker'', ''M Day'' and several follow-up books Suvorov argued that ] planned to use ] as a proxy (the “Icebreaker”) against the West. For this reason, Stalin provided significant material and political support to ], while at the same time preparing the ] to "liberate" the whole of Europe from Nazi occupation. Suvorov argued that Hitler had lost ] from the time when he attacked Poland: not only was he going to war with the powerful ], but it was only a matter of time before the ] would seize the opportune moment to attack him from the rear. According to Suvorov, Hitler decided to direct a preemptive strike at the Soviet Union, while Stalin's forces were redeploying from a defensive to an offensive posture in June 1941. Although Hitler had an important initial tactical advantage, that was strategically hopeless because he subjected the Nazis to having to fight on two fronts. At the end of the war, Stalin achieved only some of his initial objectives by establishing Communist regimes in ], China and ]. According to Suvorov, this made Stalin the primary winner of World War II, even though he was not satisfied by the outcome, having intended to establish Soviet domination over the whole continent of Europe.
Another criticism of Suvorov's position includes the claim that Stalin had never "encouraged" Hitler to start World War II, even though he agreed with Germany about the ] in the ], which had to trigger a general European war because of the military assistance guarantees given to Poland by Great Britain and France. In his official statements, Stalin was opposed to ]'s theory of ], implementation of which regarded worldwide war and other countries' usurpation as necessary (because practice showed that war, the ultimate devastation, could create revolutionary conditions that usually did not occur in any natural way). Stalin instead officially proclaimed the theory of ] according to which Socialism can win in a single country, without being immediately overthrown by hostile "capitalist" neighbors. This leading country would then help revolutionary movements in other countries. According to Stalin, ''"The ultimate victory of socialism... can only be achieved in international scale"''<ref> '']'', February 14, 1938, cited from V. Suvorov ''Last Republic'' ({{lang|ru|Последняя республика}}), ACT, 1997, ISBN 5-12-000367-4, pages 75-76 </ref>


Most historians agreed that the geopolitical differences between the Soviet Union and the Axis made war inevitable, and that Stalin had made extensive preparations for war and exploited the military conflict in Europe to his advantage. However, there was ] as to whether Joseph Stalin planned to attack Axis forces in Eastern Europe in the summer of 1941. A number of historians, such as ] and ] disputed or rejected this claim.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Pavlova IV Search for the truth about the eve of World War II. // Pravda Viktor Suvorov. Yauza, 2006 352 pp. ISBN 5-87849-214-8}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=. A companion to international history 1900-2001. John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Chapter 20 Stalin and the West}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Gabriel Gorodetsky . "The Icebreaker Myth": On the Eve of the War - M .: Progress-Academy, 1995. - 352 p.}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Colonel David M. Glantz . Fact and Fancy: The Soviet Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945 // Peter B. Lane, Ronald E. Marcello . Warriors and scholars: a modern war reader. University of North Texas Press (English) Russian. , 2005}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Müller, Rolf-Dieter|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/836636715|title=Hitler's war in the east, 1941-1945 : a critical assessment|date=2009|publisher=Berghahn|isbn=978-1-84545-501-9|oclc=836636715}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Stahel|first=David|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/836870454|title=Operation Barbarossa and Germany's defeat in the East|date=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-32130-4|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=11|oclc=836870454}}</ref> But it received some support from others, such as ], ], ], and ].
Conventional theory states that Stalin prepared the Soviet Army for a general war because he knew he would have to free Europe from Fascism, and the ] was nothing more than a way to delay the war with Nazism — to have time for such preparations as those that Suvorov discusses.


=== Middle positions === == Other works ==
In a 1987 article in the ''Historische Zeitschrift'' journal, the German historian ] argued that both Hitler and Stalin separately were planning to attack each other in 1941.<ref name="Evans, Richard page 43">Evans, Richard ''In Hitler's Shadow'', New York, NY: Pantheon, 1989 page 43</ref> In Hildebrand’s opinion, the news of Red Army concentrations near the border led to Hitler engaging in a ''Flucht nach vorn'' ("flight forward"-i.e responding to a danger by charging on rather than retreating).<ref name="Evans, Richard page 43"/> Hildebrand wrote "Independently, the National Socialist program of conquest met the equally far-reaching war-aims program which Stalin had drawn up in 1940 at the latest".<ref name="Evans, Richard page 43"/> Hildebrand's views could be considered as a median viewpoint in the preventive war debate.


=== About the Cold War-era Soviet Union ===
A middle position seems to be taken by the ]i historian ]. In an interview in the April 11, 2005 edition of the German ] '']'', which is the second largest weekly magazine in Germany, he said: "I doubt that Stalin wanted to attack as early as autumn 1941, as some writers argue. But I have no doubt that sooner or later, if Germany would have been entangled in a war with Great Britain and the ], he would have taken what he wanted. Judging by the talks between ] and ] in November 1940, this would have been ], ], an access to the ], the ] and probably those parts of Poland that were under German control at that time." Asked to what degree the leaders of the ] needed to feel threatened by the ] military buildup, van Creveld replies "very much" and adds: "In 1941, the Red Army was the largest army in the world. Stalin may, as I said, not have planned to attack Germany in autumn 1941. But it would be hard to believe that he would not have taken the opportunity to stab the ] in the back sometime."<ref>http://www.focus.de/magazin/archiv/serie-und150-teil-vi_aid_212248.html</ref>
* '']'', 1981, Hamish Hamilton, {{ISBN|0-241-10675-3}}
* ''],'' 1982, Macmillan Publishing.
* '''', 1984, {{ISBN |0-02-615510-9}}
* '']'' ({{lang|ru|Аквариум}}), 1985, Hamish Hamilton, {{ISBN|0-241-11545-0}}, memoir
* ''. The Story Behind the Soviet SAS'', 1987, Hamish Hamilton, {{ISBN|0-241-11961-8}}
* ''Devil's Mother'' ({{lang|bg|Майката на дявола}}), 2011, Sofia, Fakel Express, {{ISBN|978-954-9772-76-0}}


=== About the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet War ===
Some of Suvorov's critics argue that the suggestion that Stalin regarded war with Nazi Germany as inevitable is at odds with the undisputed fact that the attack by the Axis in 1941 took Stalin completely by surprise. On the other hand, the fact that Stalin was taken completely by surprise contradicts the claims of some writers, who assert that Stalin was paranoid about a possible foreign invasion and so had concentrated on defensive policies. The criticism was addressed in detail in Suvorov's book '']''.
* '']'' ({{lang|ru|Ледокол}}) (1980s), Hamish Hamilton Ltd, {{ISBN|0-241-12622-3}}
* '']'' ({{lang |ru|День "М"}})
* ''Suicide''. For what reason did Hitler attack the Soviet Union? ({{lang|ru|Самоубийство}}), Moscow, ACT, 2000, {{ISBN|5-17-003119-X}}
* '''', ACT, 1997, {{ASIN|B00271256C}}
* '''' ({{lang|ru|Очищение}}). Purification. Why did Stalin behead his army?, Moscow, 2002, {{ISBN|5-17-009254-7}}
* ''Last Republic II''. Why did the Soviet Union lose the Second World War? ({{lang|bg|Последната република II}}), Sofia, Fakel Express, 2007, {{ISBN|978-954-9772-51-7}}
* ''{{cite book |title=The Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand Design to Start World War II |url=https://archive.org/details/TheChiefCulpritStalinsGrandDesignToStartWorldWarIi-ViktorSuvorov}}''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008 (hardcover, {{ISBN|978-1-59114-838-8}}).
* ''Defeat''. Why was the "great victory" worse than any defeat? ({{lang|bg|Разгромът}}), Sofia, Fakel Express, 2009, {{ISBN|978-954-9772-68-5}}


=== Support === === About Soviet historical figures ===
* '''' ({{lang|ru|Тень победы}}), 2003. This questions the status and image of General ], known for his defense of the Soviet Union and later victory in the ]. The first book of a trilogy under the same name.
* '''' ({{lang|ru|Беру свои слова обратно}}), is also about Georgy Zhukov. this is the second book of the "Shadow of Victory" trilogy.


=== Fiction ===
While many Western researchers (the exception being Albert L. Weeks<ref name="weeks">''Stalin's Other War: Soviet Grand Strategy, 1939–1941'' ISBN 0-7425-2191-5 </ref>) ignored Suvorov's thesis,<ref>(e.g., according to Raack, arguments in favor of the thesis “have not so far been systematically reported in, for example, the ''Journal of Slavic Military Studies''. Indeed, one searches in vain in North America for a broad discussion of the issues of Soviet war planning” R. C. Raack ''Unternehmen Barbarossa: Deutsche und Sowjetische Angriffsplane 1940/41'' by Walter Post ''Die sowjetische Besatzungsmacht und das politische System der SBZ'' by Stefan Creuzberger'' ''Slavic Review''. Vol. 57, No. 1 (Spring, 1998), pp. 213</ref> he has gathered some support among Russian professional historians, starting in the 1990s. Support for Suvorov's claim that Stalin had been preparing a strike against Hitler in 1941 began to emerge as some archive materials were declassified. Authors supporting the Stalin 1941 assault thesis are ],<ref name="danilov">Данилов.В.Д. Сталинская стратегия начала войны: планы и реальность—Другая война. 1939–1945 гг; or Danilоv V. "Hat der Generalsstab der Roten Armee einen Praventiveschlag gegen Deutschland vorbereitet?" ''Österreichische Militarische Zeitschrift''. 1993. №1. S.&nbsp;41–51</ref> ],<ref name="nevezhin">Невежин В.А. Синдром наступательной войны. Советская пропаганда в преддверии "священных боев", 1939–1941 гг. М., 1997; ''Речь Сталина 5 мая 1941 года и апология наступательной войны'' {{Wayback| http://sscadm.nsu.ru/deps/hum/kirillov/ref-liter/nevezhin-95.html online text}} </ref> ] and ].<ref name="sokolov"> (online text); Соколов Б.В. ''Правда о Великой Отечественной войне'' (Сборник статей). — СПб.: Алетейя, 1999 ()</ref> As the latter has noted, the absence of documents with the precise date of the planned Soviet invasion can't be an argument in favor of the claim that this invasion was not planned at all. Although the USSR attacked Finland, no documents found to date which would indicate November 26, 1939 as the previously assumed date for beginning of the provocations or November 30 as the date of the planned Soviet assault.<ref>http://militera.lib.ru/research/sokolov1/02.html</ref>
* ''Control'' ({{lang|ru|Контроль}}), novel

* ''Choice'' ({{lang|ru|Выбор}}), novel
However ] noted that a document about the Soviet surprise attack on Nazi Germany was actually found and preserved in the Military-Memorial Center of the Soviet General Staff.<ref>'']: The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives'', Anchor, (1997) ISBN 0-385-47954-9, pages 454-459 </ref> That was a draft drawn up by ], dated May 15, 1941, and signed by ] and ]. The plan of preemptive attack on Germany stated:
* ''Snake-eater'' ({{lang|ru|Змееед}}), novel (Sofia, Fakel Express, 2010), {{ISBN|978-954977269-2}}

{{Quotation|"In view of the fact that Germany at present keeps its army fully mobilized with its rear services deployed, it has the capacity of deploying ahead of us and striking a sudden blow. To prevent this I consider it important not to leave the operational initiative to the German command in any circumstances, but to anticipate the enemy and attack the German army at the moment when it is in the process of deploying and before it has time to organize its front and the coordination of its various arms".}}

The plan drafted by the Soviet command included a secret mobilization of the Soviet forces at the Western frontier. The objective of the offensive operation was to cut Germany off its allies, and especially Romania with its oil required for Germany to conduct the war. The document about attack on Germany and Romania was also mentioned by ] who however did not consider it as a final proof of the Soviet intentions.

One of views was expressed by ] in his study '']''.<ref> (electronic version of the book) For a review of the book, see )</ref> The author states that the idea for striking Germany arose long before May 1941, and was the very basis of Soviet military planning from 1940 to 1941. Providing additional support for this thesis is that no significant defense plans have been found.<ref>Meltyukhov 2000:375</ref> In his argument, Meltyukhov covers five different versions of the assault plan (“Considerations on the Strategical Deployment of Soviet Troops in Case of War with Germany and its Allies” ), the first version of which was developed soon after the outbreak of World War II. The last version was to be completed by May 1, 1941.<ref>Meltyukhov 2000:370–372</ref> Even the deployment of troops was chosen in the South, which would have been more beneficial in case of a Soviet assault.<ref>Meltyukhov 2000:381</ref>

In ''Stalin's War of Extermination'', ] makes extensive use of interrogations of Soviet prisoners of war, ranging in rank from general to private, conducted by their German captors during the war. The book is also based on open-source, unclassified literature and recently declassified materials. Based on this material, Hoffmann argues that the Soviet Union was making final preparations for its own attack when the Wehrmacht struck. He also remarks that Zhukov's plan of May 15, 1941 has long been known and analyzed. Colonel ] and Dr. ] examined this plan and other documents which might indicate Soviet preparations for an attack almost ten years ago in an Austrian military journal (''Österreichische Militärische Zeitschrift'', nos. 5 and 6, 1991; no. 1, 1993; and no. 1, 1994). Both researchers concluded that Zhukov's plan of May 15, 1941, reflected Stalin's May 5, 1941 speech heralding the birth of the new offensive Red Army.

In 2006, a collection of articles (entitled ''The Truth of Viktor Suvorov'') by various historians who share some views with Suvorov was published.<ref>Хмельницкий, Дмитрий (сост.). ''Правда Виктора Суворова. Переписывая историю Второй Мировой.'' Москва: Яуза, 2006 (ISBN 5-87849-214-8); some of the articles are :</ref> It was followed by two more books, called ''The Truth of Viktor Suvorov 2'' and ''3''

Several politicians have also made claims similar to Suvorov's. On August 20, 2004, historian and former ] ] published an article in '']'' titled ''When Will Russia Say 'Sorry'?''. In this article he said: "The new evidence shows that by encouraging ] to start World War II, Stalin hoped to simultaneously ignite a ] and conquer all of Europe". Another former statesman to share his views of a purported Soviet aggression plan is ], who wrote: "It seems to be clear the Soviet Union was not ready for defense in the summer of 1941, but it was rather preparing for an assault....The forces mobilized in the Soviet Union were not positioned for defensive, but for offensive aims." Koivisto concludes: "Hitler's invasion forces didn't outnumber , but were rather outnumbered themselves. The Soviets were unable to organize defenses. The troops were provided with maps that covered territories outside the Soviet Union."<ref name="koivisto">Koivisto, M. ''Venäjän idea'', Helsinki. Tammi. 2001</ref>


==See also== ==See also==

* ]
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ]

* ]
== Bibliography ==
* ]
===Books by Viktor Suvorov===
* The series about the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet War
**'']'' ({{lang|ru|Ледокол}}) 1990, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-12622-3
**'']'' ({{lang|ru|День "М"}})
**'']''. For what reason Hitler attacked the Soviet Union? ({{lang|ru|Самоубийство}}), Moscow, ACT, 2000, ISBN 5-17-003119-X
**'']'', ACT, 1997, ISBN 5-12-000367-4.
*'']'' ({{lang|ru|Аквариум}}), 1985, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11545-0
*''],'' 1982, Macmillan Publishing Co.
*'']'', 1981, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-10675-3
*'']'' ({{lang|ru|Тень победы}}), questions the image of ]. The first book of trilogy with the same name.
*'']'' ({{lang|ru|Беру Свои Слова Обратно}}), questions the image of Georgy Zhukov. The second book of "Shadow of Victory" trilogy.
*'']'' ({{lang|ru|Очищение}}). Why did Stalin beheaded his army?, Moscow, 2002, ISBN 5-17-009254-7
*'''', 1984, ISBN 0-02-615510-9
*'''', 1987, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11961-8
*'']'' ({{lang|ru|Рассказы освободителя}}), fiction
*'']'' ({{lang|ru|Контроль}}), fiction
*'']'' ({{lang|ru|Выбор}}), fiction
* ''The Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand Design to Start World War&nbsp;II''. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008 (hardcover, ISBN 978-1-59114-838-8).

===Books and articles by other authors===
====''Pro''====
* Dębski, Sławomir. ''Między Berlinem a Moskwą: Stosunki niemiecko-sowieckie 1939–1941''. Warsaw: Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych, 2003 (ISBN 83-918046-2-3).
**Reviewed by R.C. Raack in '']'', 2004, Vol.&nbsp;63, Issue&nbsp;4, pp.&nbsp;718&ndash;719.
*Edwards, James&nbsp;B. ''Hitler: Stalin's Stooge''. San Diego, CA: Aventine Press, 2004 (ISBN 978-1593301446, paperback).
* Hoffmann, Joachim. ''Stalin's War of Extermination''. Capshaw, AL: Theses&nbsp;& Dissertations Press, 2001 (ISBN 0-9679856-8-4).
*Maser, Werner ''Der Wortbruch. Hitler, Stalin und der Zweite Weltkrieg.'' Olzog, München 1994. ISBN 3-7892-8260-X
*Maser, Werner ''Fälschung, Dichtung und Wahrheit über Hitler und Stalin'', Olzog, München 2004. ISBN 3-7892-8134-4
* Pleshakov, Constantine. ''Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of World War Two on the Eastern Front''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005 (ISBN 0-618-36701-2).
** in ''The Washington Times'', May&nbsp;22, 2005.
** Reviewed by Robert Citino in ''World War II'', Vol.&nbsp;21, Issue&nbsp;1. (2006), pp.&nbsp;76–77.
* Raack, R.C. "Did Stalin Plan a ''Drang Nach Westen''?", ''World Affairs''. Vol.&nbsp;155, Issue&nbsp;4. (Summer 1992), pp.&nbsp;13–21.
* Raack, R.C. "Preventive Wars?" '']'', 2004, Vol.&nbsp;63, Issue&nbsp;1, pp.&nbsp;134&ndash;137.
* Raack, R.C. ''Stalins Vernichtungskrieg 1941–1945'' by Joachim Hoffmann, '']'', Vol.&nbsp;55, No.&nbsp;2. (Summer, 1996), pp.&nbsp;493–494.
* Raack, R.C. "Stalin's Role in the Coming of World War II: Opening the Closet Door on a Key Chapter of Recent History", ''World Affairs''. Vol.&nbsp;158, Issue&nbsp;4, 1996, pp.&nbsp;198–211.
* Raack, R.C. "Stalin's Role in the Coming of World War II: The International Debate Goes On", ''World Affairs''. Vol.&nbsp;159, Issue&nbsp;2, 1996, pp.&nbsp;47–54.
* Raack, R.C. ''Stalin's Drive to the West, 1938&ndash;1945: The Origins of the Cold War''. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995. (ISBN 0-8047-2415-6).
* Raack, R.C. "Stalin's Plans for World War Two Told by a High Comintern Source", ''The Historical Journal'', Vol.&nbsp;38, No.&nbsp;4. (Dec., 1995), pp.&nbsp;1031–1036.
* Raack, R.C. " ''Stalins Vernichtungskrieg 1941–1945", '']'', Vol.&nbsp;55, No.&nbsp;2. (Summer, 1996), pp.&nbsp;493–494.
* Raack, R.C. " ''Unternehmen Barbarossa: Deutsche und Sowjetische Angriffspläne 1940/41'' by Walter Post; ''Die sowjetische Besatzungsmacht und das politishe System der SBZ'' by Stefan Creuzberger", '']'', Vol.&nbsp;57, No.&nbsp;1. (Sring, 1998), pp.&nbsp;212–214.
* Raack, R.C. "Breakers on the Stalin Wave: Review Essay ", '']'', Vol.&nbsp;65, No.&nbsp;3. (2006), pp.&nbsp;512–515.
* Topitsch, Ernst. ''Stalin's War: A Radical New Theory of the Origins of the Second World War''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1987 (ISBN 0-312-00989-5).
** critically by Alexander Dallin in , November&nbsp;15, 1987.
* Weeks, Albert&nbsp;L. ''Stalin's Other War: Soviet Grand Strategy, 1939–1941''. Lanham, MD: Rowman&nbsp;& Littlefield, 2002 (hardcover; ISBN 0-7425-2191-5); 2003 (paperback, ISBN 0-7425-2192-3).

====''Contra''====
* Acton, Edward. "Understanding Stalin’s Catastrophe: ", ''Journal of Contemporary History'', 2001, Vol.&nbsp;36(3), pp.&nbsp;531–540.
* Carley, Michael Jabara. "Soviet Foreign Policy in the West, 1936–1941: A Review Article", '']'', Vol.&nbsp;56, No.&nbsp;7. (2004), pp.&nbsp;1081–1100.
* Erickson, John. "Barbarossa June 1941: Who Attacked Whom?" ''History Today'', July 2001, Vol.&nbsp;51, Issue&nbsp;7, pp.&nbsp;11&ndash;17.
* Edmonds, Robin. "[Review: ''Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War?''", ''International Affairs'', Vol.&nbsp;66, No.&nbsp;4. (Oct., 1990), p.&nbsp;812.
* Glantz, David&nbsp;M. ''Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War''. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998 (ISBN 0-7006-0879-6).
** Reviewed by David&nbsp;R. Costello in ''The Journal of Military History'', Vol.&nbsp;63, No.&nbsp;1. (Jan., 1999), pp.&nbsp;207–208.
** Reviewed by Roger Reese in '']'', Vol.&nbsp;59, No.&nbsp;1. (Spring, 2000), p.&nbsp;227.
* Glantz, David&nbsp;M. "[Review: ''Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War?''", ''The Journal of Military History'', Vol.&nbsp;55, No.&nbsp;2. (Apr., 1991), pp.&nbsp;263–264.
* Gorodetsky, Gabriel. ''Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia''. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1999 (ISBN 0-300-07792-0).
** Reviewed by David&nbsp;R. Costello in ''The Journal of Military History'', Vol.&nbsp;64, No.&nbsp;2. (Apr., 1999), pp.&nbsp;580–582.
** Reviewed by Stephen Blank in '']'', 2000, Vol.&nbsp;59, Issue&nbsp;2, pp.&nbsp;310&ndash;311.
** Reviewed by Hugh Ragsdale in '']'', Vol.&nbsp;59, No.&nbsp;2. (Summer, 2000), pp.&nbsp;466–467.
** Reviewed by Evan Mawdsley in '']'', Vol.&nbsp;52, No.&nbsp;3. (May, 2000), pp.&nbsp;579–580.
* Harms, Karl. "The Military Doctrine of the Red Army on the Eve of the Great Patriotic War: Myths and Facts", ''Military Thought'', Vol.&nbsp;13, No.&nbsp;03. (2004), pp.&nbsp;227–237.
* Haslam, Jonathan. "Soviet–German Relations and the Origins of the Second World War: The Jury Is Still Out ", '']'', Vol.&nbsp;69, No.&nbsp;4. (Dec., 1997), pp.&nbsp;785–797.
* Humpert, David M. "Viktor Suvorov and Operation Barbarossa: Tukhachevskii Revisited." ''The Journal of Slavic Military Studies'', Vol.&nbsp;18, Issue&nbsp;1. (2005), pp.&nbsp;59–74.
* ]. ''June 1941: Hitler and Stalin''. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 2006 (ISBN 0-300-11437-0).
* McDermott, Kevin. ''Stalin: Revolutionary in an Era of War (European History in Perspective)''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 0-333-71121-1; paperback, ISBN 0-333-71122-X).
* Murphy, David&nbsp;E. ''What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa''. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 2005 (ISBN 0-300-10780-3).
** Reviewed by Robert Conquest at ''The American Historical Review'', Vol.&nbsp;111, No.&nbsp;2. (2006), p.&nbsp;591.
** Reviewed by Raymond W. Leonard in the ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History'', Vol.&nbsp;37, No.&nbsp;1. (2006), pp.&nbsp;128–129.
* Neilson, Keith. "Stalin's Moustache: The Soviet Union and the Coming of War: ", ''Diplomacy and Statecraft'', Vol.&nbsp;12, No.&nbsp;2. (2001), pp.&nbsp;197–208.
* Roberts, Cynthia&nbsp;A. "Planning for War: The Red Army and the Catastrophe of 1941", '']'', Vol.&nbsp;47, No.&nbsp;8. (Dec., 1995), pp.&nbsp;1293–1326.
* Rotundo, Louis. "Stalin and the Outbreak of War in 1941", ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Vol.&nbsp;24, No.&nbsp;2, Studies on War. (Apr., 1989), pp.&nbsp;277–299.
*Gerd R. Ueberschär, Lev A. Bezymenskij (Hrsg.): ''Der deutsche Angriff auf die Sowjetunion 1941. Die Kontroverse um die Präventivkriegsthese'' Wissenschaftliche Buchgemeinschaft, Darmstadt 1998
* Uldricks, Teddy&nbsp;J. "The Icebreaker Controversy: Did Stalin Plan to Attack Hitler?" '']'', 1999, Vol.&nbsp;53, No.&nbsp;3, pp.&nbsp;626&ndash;643.

====Neutral, cautious approach====
* Keep, John L.H.; Litvin, Alter L. ''Stalinism: Russian and Western Views at the Turn of the Millennium (Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions)''. New York: Routledge, 2004 (hardcover, ISBN 0-415-35108-1); 2005 (paperback, ISBN 0-415-35109-X). See chapter&nbsp;5, "Foreign policy".

====Other====
* ''The Attack on the Soviet Union'' (''Germany and the Second World War, Volume&nbsp;IV'') by Horst Boog, Jürgen Förster, Joachim Hoffmann, Ewald Osers, Louise Wilmott, Dean&nbsp;S. McMurray (Editors), Ernst Klink (Translator), Rolf-Dieter Müller (Translator), Gerd&nbsp;R. Ueberschär (Translator). New York: Oxford University Press (USA), 1999 (ISBN 0-19-822886-4).
* Carley, Michael Jabara. "Soviet Foreign Policy in the West, 1936–1941: A Review Article", '']'', Vol.&nbsp;56, No.&nbsp;7. (2004), pp.&nbsp;1081–1100.
* Drabkin, Ia.S. "'Hitler’s War' or 'Stalin’s War'?", ''Journal of Russian and East European Psychology'', Vol.&nbsp;40, No.&nbsp;5. (2002), pp.&nbsp;5–30.
* Ericson, Edward&nbsp;E., III. "Karl Schnurre and the Evolution of Nazi–Soviet Relations, 1936–1941", ''German Studies Review'', Vol.&nbsp;21, No.&nbsp;2. (May, 1998), pp.&nbsp;263–283.
* Förster, Jürgen; Mawdsley, Evan. "Hitler and Stalin in Perspective: Secret Speeches on the Eve of Barbarossa", ''War in History'', Vol.&nbsp;11, Issue&nbsp;1. (2004), pp.&nbsp;61–103.
* Haslam, Jonathan. "Stalin and the German Invasion of Russian 1941: A Failure of Reasons of State?", ''International Affairs'', Vol.&nbsp;76, No.&nbsp;1. (Jan., 2000), pp.&nbsp;133–139.
* Isby, D.C., ''Ten million bayonets: inside the armies of the Soviet Union'', Arms and Armour Press, London, 1988
* Koch, H.W. "Operation Barbarossa—The Current State of the Debate", ''The Historical Journal'', Vol.&nbsp;31, No.&nbsp;2 (Jun., 1988), pp.&nbsp;377–390.
* Litvin, Alter&nbsp;L. ''Writing History in Twentieth-Century Russia: A View from Within'', translated and edited by John&nbsp;L.H. Keep. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001 (hardcover, ISBN 0-333-76487-0).
* Roberts, Geoffrey. "On Soviet–German Relations: The Debate Continues ", '']'', Vol.&nbsp;50, No.&nbsp;8. (Dec., 1998), pp.&nbsp;1471–1475.
* Vasquez, John A. "The Causes of the Second World War in Europe: A New Scientific Explanation", ''International Political Science Review'', Vol.&nbsp;17, No.&nbsp;2. (Apr., 1996), pp.&nbsp;161–178.
* Ziemke, Earl&nbsp;F. ''The Red Army, 1918–1941: From Vanguard of World Revolution to America's Ally''. London; New York: Frank Cass, 2004 (ISBN 0-7146-5551-1).


== References == == References ==
{{reflist}}

<references/>


==External links== ==External links==
*
* by Victor Suvorov on C-SPAN2.
*
* of Viktor Suvorov and links to related online publications at the
* of Suvorov's online books (some in English), at *
* , audio book (in Russian) * at ]
* (in Russian) * on ]
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Viktor Suvorov}}
* {{en icon}}*
* {{in lang|en}}
* at Vincent Ferraro's web site (published in ''World Affairs'' (1996) vol.&nbsp;158, no.&nbsp;4
:: Viktor Suvorov's presentation at the ], Eurasia Forum, in Annapolis, Maryland (October 7, 2009).
* (in English)
* {{in lang|en}}
*
:: Viktor Suvorov speaks at the ] in Washington, D.C. via ] (February 2009).
* (in German)
* {{in lang|ru}} by Viktor Suvorov and links to related online publications at the
* .
* {{in lang|ru}} of Suvorov's online books (some in English), at
* {{ro icon}} Andreea Tudorica, Ovidiu Ciutescu, Corina Andriuta, , '']'', June 26, 2007
* {{in lang|ru}} , audio book
* .


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Latest revision as of 05:30, 1 December 2024

Russian author

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Bogdanovich and the family name is Rezun.
Viktor Suvorov
(2007)(2007)
Native name
  • Владимир Богданович Резун
  • Виктор Суворов
BornVladimir Bogdanovich Rezun
(1947-04-20) 20 April 1947 (age 77)
Barabash, Primorsky Krai, Soviet Union
Notable worksAquarium, Icebreaker
SpouseTatiana Korzh

Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (Russian: Владимир Богданович Резун; Ukrainian: Володи́мир Богда́нович Рєзу́н; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of Viktor Suvorov (Виктор Суворов), is a former Soviet GRU officer who is the author of non-fiction books about World War II, the GRU and the Soviet Army, as well as fictional books about the same and related subjects.

After defecting to the United Kingdom in 1978, Suvorov began his writing career, publishing his first books in the 1980s about his own experiences and the structure of the Soviet military, intelligence, and secret police. He writes in Russian with a number of his books translated into English, including his semi-autobiographical The Liberators (1981). In the USSR, according to Suvorov and according to an interview with the former head of the GRU, he was sentenced to death in absentia.

In his military history books, he offers an alternative view of the role of the USSR in World War II; the first and most well-known book on this topic being Icebreaker: Who started the Second World War?. The proposed concept and the methods of its substantiation have caused numerous discussions and criticism in historical and social circles. In Icebreaker, M Day and several follow-up books Suvorov argued that Joseph Stalin planned to use Nazi Germany as a proxy (the "Icebreaker") against the West. The books are based on his personal analysis of Soviet military investments, diplomatic maneuvers, Politburo speeches and other circumstantial evidence.

Suvorov also wrote a number of fiction books about the Soviet Army, military intelligence and the pre-war history of the USSR. The trilogy Control, Choice and Snake-eater was a bestseller and was approached for movie adaptations. According to Novye Izvestia, an online newspaper, the circulation of some of Suvorov's books exceeds a million copies.

Early years

Administration building in Barabash.

Suvorov, born Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun, comes from a military family of mixed Ukrainian-Russian descent; his father, Bogdan Vasilyevich Rezun, was a veteran of WWII and a Ukrainian, while his mother Vera Spiridonovna Rezun (Gorevalova) is Russian. According to his own statements, Suvorov considers himself, his wife and children to be Ukrainians. He was born in the village of Barabash, Primorsky Krai; raised in Ukraine's Cherkasy, where his father served. The family subsequently settled in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic after his father's retirement.

According to Suvorov, he went to first grade in the village of Slavyanka (Primorsky Territory), then studied in the village of Barabash. In 1957, after graduating on four classes, at the age of 11 he entered the Suvorov Military School in Voronezh (from 1958 to 1963). In 1963, the school was disbanded, and the students, including Rezun, were transferred to the Kalinin (now Tver) Suvorov Military School (from 1963 to 1965). In 1965, Rezun graduated from said school and was admitted without examinations to the second year of the Kyiv Higher Combined Arms Command School then named after General Mikhail Frunze (now Odesa Military Academy).

Prague Spring invasion

Czechoslovaks carry their national flag past a burning Soviet tank in Prague, August 1968.

In 1968, Suvorov graduated with honours from the Frunze Red Banner Higher Military Command School in Kyiv. At the same year, he served in Chernivtsi as a tank platoon commander with the 145th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, 66th Guards Training Motor Rifle Division, of the Carpathian Military District in Ukraine, participating in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, Operation Danube. This experience is narrated in his 1981 book The Liberators: My Life in the Soviet Army.

The book was Suvorov's first after his defection and in it he narrates his eyewitness account of the invasion, recounting the daily life within the Soviet Army. He points to deficiencies in readiness and in mindset. Suvorov mentions that middle-ranking officers struggled to impress their superiors, something that does not contribute to military effectiveness or discipline – instead fostering on officers a behavior of cunning and deceit in order to climb the ranks.

At the age of 19 he was admitted to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1970 to 1971 he was an officer in the intelligence department of the headquarters of the Volga Military District (in the city of Kuibyshev), and later with the 808th Independent Army Reconnaissance Company (Spetsnaz). In 1970 he became a member of the nomenclature (nomenklatura) of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In this position he came under the patronage of the commander of the Carpathian Military District, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces (later General of the Army) Gennady Obaturov. This general was known for suppressing anti-communist uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and later Czechoslovakia in 1968 with ruthless efficiency, for which Obaturov received the Order of the Red Banner.

Espionage in Geneva and defection

Geneva station

From 1971 to 1974, Suvorov studied at the Military Diplomatic Academy, known as "the Conservatory", located in Moscow. The Academy trained officers for work abroad as intelligence operatives or "scouts" (razvedchiki in the Russian language). These worked often "under diplomatic cover" ("jackets", in the jargon of Soviet intelligence operatives), and also as "illegals", meaning intelligence operatives not under diplomatic cover or (quasi-declared) commercial cover.

For four years, Suvorov worked in the Geneva GRU as an employee of the legal residency of military intelligence under the cover of the Permanent Mission of the USSR at the European United Nations Office at Geneva. According to the autobiographical book Aquarium, he received the rank of major while working in residency. The same title was named in an interview of 1992 with the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda by then head of the GRU, Colonel general Yevgeny Timokhin.

Defection

On 10 June 1978 he disappeared from his Geneva apartment with his wife and two children. According to Suvorov himself, he made contact with British intelligence because the Geneva station wanted to make him a "scapegoat" of a major failure. On 28 June 1978 British newspapers reported that Rezun was in England with his family. At the time, he was married to Tatiana Korzh. The couple had a son, Aleksandr, and a daughter, Oksana. They were smuggled out of Switzerland to Britain by British intelligence. There Suvorov worked as an intelligence analyst for the government and as a lecturer.

Since 1981, he has been writing under the pseudonym Viktor Suvorov, having written his first three books in English: The Liberators, Inside the Soviet Army, and Inside Soviet Military Intelligence. The author explains the choice of pseudonym by the fact that his publisher recommended that he choose a Russian surname of three syllables, evoking a slight "military" association among Western readers. According to Viktor himself, he teaches tactics and military history at a British military academy and lives in Bristol.

Publications

Non-fiction

Suvorov drew on his experience and research to write non-fiction books in Russian about the Soviet Army, military intelligence, and special forces. He publishes these works under the pseudonym "Viktor Suvorov."

  • The Liberators, includes his eyewitness account about the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces
  • Inside the Soviet Army,
  • Inside Soviet Military Intelligence
  • Aquarium, his memoir, and
  • Spetsnaz, about Special Forces units

Novels

Suvorov also wrote several fiction books set in the pre-World War II era in the Soviet Union.

  • Control
  • Choice
  • Snake-eater (2010)

Works about World War II

Main article: Soviet offensive plans controversy

Suvorov has written ten books about the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet War in 1941 and the circumstances related to it. The first such work was Icebreaker (1989), followed by M Day, The Last Republic, Cleansing, Suicide, The Shadow of Victory, I Take it Back, The Last Republic II, The Chief Culprit, and Defeat.

In the Icebreaker, M Day and several follow-up books Suvorov argued that Stalin planned to use Nazi Germany as a proxy (the “Icebreaker”) against the West. For this reason, Stalin provided significant material and political support to Adolf Hitler, while at the same time preparing the Red Army to "liberate" the whole of Europe from Nazi occupation. Suvorov argued that Hitler had lost World War II from the time when he attacked Poland: not only was he going to war with the powerful Allies, but it was only a matter of time before the Soviet Union would seize the opportune moment to attack him from the rear. According to Suvorov, Hitler decided to direct a preemptive strike at the Soviet Union, while Stalin's forces were redeploying from a defensive to an offensive posture in June 1941. Although Hitler had an important initial tactical advantage, that was strategically hopeless because he subjected the Nazis to having to fight on two fronts. At the end of the war, Stalin achieved only some of his initial objectives by establishing Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, China and North Korea. According to Suvorov, this made Stalin the primary winner of World War II, even though he was not satisfied by the outcome, having intended to establish Soviet domination over the whole continent of Europe.

Most historians agreed that the geopolitical differences between the Soviet Union and the Axis made war inevitable, and that Stalin had made extensive preparations for war and exploited the military conflict in Europe to his advantage. However, there was a debate among historians as to whether Joseph Stalin planned to attack Axis forces in Eastern Europe in the summer of 1941. A number of historians, such as Gabriel Gorodetsky and David Glantz disputed or rejected this claim. But it received some support from others, such as Valeri Danilov, Joachim Hoffmann, Mikhail Meltyukhov, and Vladimir Nevezhin.

Other works

About the Cold War-era Soviet Union

About the outbreak of the Nazi-Soviet War

About Soviet historical figures

  • Shadow of Victory (Тень победы), 2003. This questions the status and image of General Georgy Zhukov, known for his defense of the Soviet Union and later victory in the Battle of Berlin. The first book of a trilogy under the same name.
  • I Take It Back (Беру свои слова обратно), is also about Georgy Zhukov. this is the second book of the "Shadow of Victory" trilogy.

Fiction

  • Control (Контроль), novel
  • Choice (Выбор), novel
  • Snake-eater (Змееед), novel (Sofia, Fakel Express, 2010), ISBN 978-954977269-2

See also

References

  1. Lurie, V. M. (2002). GRU: dela i lyudi (GRU: affairs and people) (in Russian). Kochik V. Ya. Sankt-Peterburg: Neva. pp. 597, 605–606. ISBN 5-7654-1499-0. OCLC 52074202.
  2. Harding, Luke (29 December 2018). "'Will they forgive me? No': ex-Soviet spy Viktor Suvorov speaks out". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  3. ^ Putintsyeva, Alla (1 September 2006). "Виктор Суворов: "За идеи в России сейчас не убивают" (Viktor Suvorov: "People don't kill for ideas in Russia now")". Novye Izvestia (in Russian). Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  4. ^ "Виктор Суворов, Биография". Internet Archive.
  5. Varhall, Gregory; Kenneth M., Currie (1983). "An Insider's Warning to the West". Air University Review. 35. US Department of the Air Force: 101–107.
  6. Разведчик – предателю [From scout to the traitor]. aravidze.narod.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  7. "Sir Dick Franks: Saboteur with the Special Operations Executive who went on to become Chief of MI6 during the Cold War". Daily Telegraph (obituary). 20 October 2008. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. See also: Dick Franks.
  8. The Liberators, 1981, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-10675-3
  9. Inside the Soviet Army, 1982, Macmillan Publishing Co.
  10. Inside Soviet Military Intelligence, 1984, ISBN 0-02-615510-9
  11. Aquarium (Аквариум), 1985, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11545-0
  12. Spetsnaz. The Story Behind the Soviet SAS, 1987, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11961-8
  13. Pavlova IV Search for the truth about the eve of World War II. // Pravda Viktor Suvorov. Yauza, 2006 352 pp. ISBN 5-87849-214-8.
  14. . A companion to international history 1900-2001. John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Chapter 20 Stalin and the West.
  15. Gabriel Gorodetsky . "The Icebreaker Myth": On the Eve of the War - M .: Progress-Academy, 1995. - 352 p.
  16. Colonel David M. Glantz . Fact and Fancy: The Soviet Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945 // Peter B. Lane, Ronald E. Marcello . Warriors and scholars: a modern war reader. University of North Texas Press (English) Russian. , 2005.
  17. Müller, Rolf-Dieter (2009). Hitler's war in the east, 1941-1945 : a critical assessment. Berghahn. ISBN 978-1-84545-501-9. OCLC 836636715.
  18. Stahel, David (2009). Operation Barbarossa and Germany's defeat in the East. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-107-32130-4. OCLC 836870454.

External links

Viktor Suvorov's presentation at the U.S. Naval Academy, Eurasia Forum, in Annapolis, Maryland (October 7, 2009).
Viktor Suvorov speaks at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. via C-SPAN2 (February 2009).
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