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Forged in War

A military history of Russia from its beginnings to today

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Forged in War

By: Mark Galeotti
Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
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Bloomsbury presents Forged in War: A military history of Russia from its beginnings to today by Mark Galeotti, read by Simon Shepherd.

A masterful history of how war and insecurity, both real and perceived, have driven Russia’s destiny for centuries, including the disastrous invasion of Ukraine.

Putin retains his stranglehold on his position in Russia despite an almost ruinous invasion of Ukraine. The answer as to how and why can be found in Russian history as detailed by Mark Galeotti in this new book. With no naturally defensible borders, and environmental factors constraining its economy, Russia has been pitched against the pre-eminent military powers of the age across the centuries, and often at a technological disadvantage. To respond to these challenges, it has had to sit heavily on the backs of its people, and so war – and the need to be able to fight it – has shaped its evolution, from tsars to commissars and presidents.

The national identity has been forged in the furnace of war. From the medieval kingdom of Rus battling against a Scandinavian princes and Mongol emperors, to its own empire-building conflicts in 19th-century Asia, to the formative wars of the 20th century which saw Russia pitch from Tsarist empire to communist state and defender against Nazism, all these conflicts stained the lands of Russia red with blood. A weak post-Cold War Russia then turned to Putin, who created a new mood for martial triumphalism which led directly to the Ukrainian war.

Packed with contemporary accounts, Forged in War strips away the myth to give an insider’s view on Russia’s past and present.©2024 Mark Galeotti (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Military Politics & Government Russia War Royalty Imperialism
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Critic reviews

Galeotti’s absorbing book shows how Putin’s Russia has been defined by endless wars against often more sophisticated neighbours and by its spluttering attempts to modernise itself in response.
A well-informed, thoughtful and readable introduction to a vast, complex and immensely important subject.
The battles, the geopolitics, the palace ideologies and intrigues are set forth in Mark Galeotti’s masterful and absorbing narrative.
Confused policy-makers and curious students will benefit greatly from this impeccably researched and succinctly written account.
[Mark Galeotti] has produced what is not only a succinct tour d’horizon of Russia’s simultaneously rich and brutal history, but a real tour de force of analysis ... a masterful study.
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Excellent book badly let down by narrator who reads with a stilted and dull manner as if he is being given each word individually to narrate and thus gives no flow or understanding to the sentence

Excellent book badly let down by narrator

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a workmen like history up until recent times when it turns from being objective to the typical hit piece and he wonders why Russia is so paranoid.. could it be letting germans roll up to border in 1941 and losing 30 m or maybe seeing their fellow slavs bombed in belgrade or maybe Nato surrounding them and demanding regime change..maybe this hit piece on Russia and putin is price of getting published..but pretty poor

could do better

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