The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941

Roger Moorhouse

Basic Books, Oct 14, 2014 - History - 440 pages

History remembers the Soviets and the Nazis as bitter enemies and ideological rivals, the two mammoth and opposing totalitarian regimes of World War II whose conflict would be the defining and deciding clash of the war. Yet for nearly a third of the conflict's entire timespan, Hitler and Stalin stood side by side as partners. The Pact that they agreed had a profound -- and bloody -- impact on Europe, and is fundamental to understanding the development and denouement of the war.

In The Devils' Alliance, acclaimed historian Roger Moorhouse explores the causes and implications of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, an unholy covenant whose creation and dissolution were crucial turning points in World War II. Forged by the German foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and his Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov, the nonaggression treaty briefly united the two powers in a brutally efficient collaboration. Together, the Germans and Soviets quickly conquered and divided central and eastern Europe -- Poland, the Baltic States, Finland, and Bessarabia -- and the human cost was staggering: during the two years of the pact hundreds of thousands of people in central and eastern Europe caught between Hitler and Stalin were expropriated, deported, or killed. Fortunately for the Allies, the partnership ultimately soured, resulting in the surprise June 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union. Ironically, however, the powers' exchange of materiel, blueprints, and technological expertise during the period of the Pact made possible a far more bloody and protracted war than would have otherwise been conceivable.

Combining comprehensive research with a gripping narrative, The Devils' Alliance is the authoritative history of the Nazi-Soviet Pact -- and a portrait of the people whose lives were irrevocably altered by Hitler and Stalin's nefarious collaboration.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - ericlee - LibraryThing

This is how history should be written. Roger Moorhouse has taken a subject rarely covered in detail despite its obvious importance and done a very thorough job of it. He begins the book by pointing ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - eowynfaramir - LibraryThing

Very engaging account of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939: the history of its conception and creation, including many details that I have not read in other accounts. This is an essential topic to ...

Contents

• Authors Note: 1933

About the author

Roger Moorhouse studied history at the University of London and is a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Warsaw. He is the author of several books on World War II history, including Berlin at War (shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman Prize) and The Devils' Alliance. He lives in the United Kingdom.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941
• Author: Roger Moorhouse
• Publisher: Basic Books, 2014
• ISBN: 0465054927, 9780465054923
• Length: 440 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Germany