Catherine Merridale

A gripping account of how, in the depths of the First World War, Russia's greatest revolutionary was taken in a 'sealed train' across Europe and changed the history of the world By 1917 the European war seemed to be endless. Both sides in the fighting looked to new weapons, tactics and ideas to break a stalemate that was itself destroying Europe. In the German government a small group of men had a brilliant idea: why not sow further confusion in an increasingly chaotic Russia by arranging for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the most notorious of revolutionary extremists, currently safely bottled up in neutral Switzerland, to go home? Catherine Merridale's Lenin on the Train recreates Lenin's extraordinary journey from harmless exile in Zurich, across a Germany falling to pieces from the war's deprivations, and northwards to the edge of Lapland to his eventual ecstatic reception by the revolutionary crowds at Petrograd's Finland Station. With great skill and insight Merridale weaves the story of the train and its uniquely strange group of passengers with a gripping account of the now half-forgotten liberal Russian revolution and shows how these events intersected. She brilliantly uses a huge range of contemporary eyewitnesses, observing Lenin as he travelled back to a country he had not seen for many years. Many thought he was a mere 'useful idiot', others thought he would rapidly be imprisoned or killed, others that Lenin had in practice few followers and even less influence. They would all prove to be quite wrong.

Lenin on the Train

The extraordinary story of the Kremlin, from prize-winning author and historian Catherine MerridaleBoth beautiful and profoundly menacing, the Kremlin has dominated Moscow for many centuries. Behind its great red walls and towers many of the most startling events in Russia's history have been acted out. It is both a real place and an imaginative idea; a shorthand for a certain kind of secretive power, but also the heart of a specific Russian authenticity. Catherine Merridale's exceptional new book revels in both the drama of the Kremlin and its sheer unexpectedness: an impregnable fortress which has repeatedly been devastated, a symbol of all that is Russian substantially created by Italians. The Kremlin is one of the very few buildings in the world which still keeps its original, late medieval function: as a palace, built to intimidate the ruler's subjects and to frighten foreign emissaries. Red Fortress brilliantly conveys this sense of the Kremlin as a stage set, nearly as potent under Vladimir Putin as it was under earlier, far more baleful inhabitants.Praise for Ivan's War:'A marvellous book ... Catherine Merridale is a superb historian, among the very best of her generation' Tony Judt'Essential reading, not just for those interested in the Eastern Front, but for anyone who wants to understand Russia' Antony Beevor, Sunday Times'A harrowing but unforgettable report on the chaos and tragedy that brought this Europe to birth ... Magnificent' Boyd Tonkin, Independent'Outstanding' Simon Sebag MontefioreAbout the author:Catherine Merridale is the author of Moscow Politics and the Rise of Stalin, Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Russia, which won the Heinemann Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, and Ivan's War: The Red Army, 1939-45. She is Professor of Contemporary History at Queen Mary, University of London.

The Secret Heart of Russia's History

Red Fortress

Drawing on previously closed military and secret police archives, interviews with veterans, and private letters and diaries, a comprehensive history of the Red Army rank and file follows the soldiers from the shock of the German invasion to their costly triumph in Stalingrad. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945

Ivan's War

Lenine no Comboio

călătoria care a schimbat cursul istoriei

Trenul lui Lenin

A powerful, groundbreaking narrative of the ordinary Russian soldier's experience of the worst war in history, based on newly revealed sources Of the thirty million who fought in the eastern front of World War II, eight million died, driven forward in suicidal charges, shattered by German shells and tanks. They were the men and women of the Red Army, a ragtag mass of soldiers who confronted Europe's most lethal fighting force and by 1945 had defeated it. Sixty years have passed since their epic triumph, but the heart and mind of Ivan -- as the ordinary Russian soldier was called -- remain a mystery. We know something about hoe the soldiers died, but nearly nothing about how they lived, how they saw the world, or why they fought. Drawing on previously closed military and secret police archives, interviews with veterans, and private letters and diaries, Catherine Merridale presents the first comprehensive history of the Soviet Union Army rank and file. She follows the soldiers from the shock of the German invasion to their costly triumph in Stalingrad, where life expectancy was often a mere twenty-four hours. Through the soldiers' eyes, we witness their victorious arrival in Berlin, where their rage and suffering exact an awful toll, and accompany them as they return home full of hope, only to be denied the new life they had been fighting to secure. A tour de force of original research and a gripping history, Ivan's War reveals the singular mixture of courage, patriotism, anger, and fear that made it possible for these underfed, badly led troops to defeat the Nazi army. In the process Merridale restores to history the invisible millions who sacrificed the most to win the war.

Die Reise in die Revolution

Lenins Zug

En los primeros meses de 1917, cuando se iniciaba en Rusia la revolución, en medio de las intrigas de agentes y espías que trataban de sacar partido de la confusa situación del país, el gobierno alemán decidió ayudar a un grupo de revolucionarios exiliados en Suiza para que regresaran a Rusia, con la esperanza de que contribuyesen a apartarla de la guerra. Lenin y sus acompañantes atravesaron Alemania en un vagón sellado y, a través de Suecia y de Finlandia, consiguieron llegar a Petrogrado. Una vez allí, Lenin combatió los propósitos de quienes se contentaban con que la revolución condujese a establecer una república burguesa, y fijó como objetivo el paso inmediato al socialismo: a una sociedad sin estado y sin clases. Así comenzó un nuevo rumbo para una revolución que iba a cambiar la historia del mundo. Catherine Merridale nos ofrece una fascinante y documentada interpretación de estos acontecimientos y de sus protagonistas: una visión innovadora que nos ayudará a superar los tópicos establecidos.

Los orígenes de la revolución rusa

El tren de Lenin

Eine neue Geschichte Russlands

Der Kreml

One of The Economist's Best Books of the Year A gripping, meticulously researched account of Lenin’s fateful 1917 rail journey from Zurich to Petrograd, where he ignited the Russian Revolution and forever changed the world In April 1917, as the Russian Tsar Nicholas II’s abdication sent shockwaves across war-torn Europe, the future leader of the Bolshevik revolution Vladimir Lenin was far away, exiled in Zurich. When the news reached him, Lenin immediately resolved to return to Petrograd and lead the revolt. But to get there, he would have to cross Germany, which meant accepting help from the deadliest of Russia’s adversaries. Millions of Russians at home were suffering as a result of German aggression, and to accept German aid—or even safe passage—would be to betray his homeland. Germany, for its part, saw an opportunity to further destabilize Russia by allowing Lenin and his small group of revolutionaries to return. Now, in Lenin on the Train, drawing on a dazzling array of sources and never-before-seen archival material, renowned historian Catherine Merridale provides a riveting, nuanced account of this enormously consequential journey—the train ride that changed the world—as well as the underground conspiracy and subterfuge that went into making it happen. Writing with the same insight and formidable intelligence that distinguished her earlier works, she brings to life a world of counter-espionage and intrigue, wartime desperation, illicit finance, and misguided utopianism. When Lenin arrived in Petrograd’s now-famous Finland Station, he delivered an explosive address to the impassioned crowds. Simple and extreme, the text of this speech has been compared to such momentous documents as Constantine’s edict of Milan and Martin Luther’s ninety-five theses. It was the moment when the Russian revolution became Soviet, the genesis of a system of tyranny and faith that changed the course of Russia’s history forever and transformed the international political climate.

»Enastående skildring … sätter in Putin och hans land i ett rikt och varierat sammanhang.« The Independent »Merridale är historiker till yrket, men hon är skarpsynt som en kriminalare och sinnrik som en romanförfattare.« The Economist »Kreml anknyter till viktiga händelser idag … 800 år av rysk historia på ett lättfattligt och bra sätt … vilket gör boken väldigt unik.« Magnus Utvik, Gomorron Sverige Högaktuell skildring av Kremls fascinerande historia! Det vilar ett skimmer av mystik och myt kring Kreml. Under 800 år har denna del av Moskva varit den främsta symbolen för makt och rikedom i Ryssland. Genom utflykter i Rysslands dramatiska och blodiga historia beskriver Catherine Merridale hur Kreml har förändrats under århundradena för att bli den turistmagnet det är idag. Merridale ger en fascinerande resumé av alla viktiga händelser i den ryska historien: som exempelvis Ivan den förskräckliges härjningar, den falske Dimitrijs bondfångeri, den stora oredans tid, Peter den stores eskapader, Napoleons besök och tyskarnas belägring på 1940-talet. Prisbelönta och kritikerrosade författaren Catherine Merridale är professor i historia vid Londons universitet. Hon har tidigare haft stora framgångar medIvans krig (2010) som beskrev livet som soldat i Röda armén.

Makt och rikedom

Kreml

Russia's dark history and its modern-day legacy are the focus of this unique look at the troubled country, which confronts the nation's troubled past and examines the shadow cast by these events on the twentieth century. Reprint.

Death and Memory in Twentieth-century Russia

Night of Stone

In »Lenins Zug. Die Reise in die Revolution« erzählt die große britische Historikerin Catherine Merridale fulminant die Geschichte der berühmtesten Zugfahrt der Weltgeschichte, an deren Ende das Zarenreich unterging und die Sowjetunion entstand. Als 1917 der Erste Weltkrieg endlos zu werden drohte, beschloss die deutsche Regierung, den Revolutionär Wladimir Iljitsch Lenin nach Russland zu schmuggeln – nicht ahnend, dass Lenins Fahrt im plombierten Waggon in die weltstürzende Oktoberrevolution münden würde. Spannend schildert sie eine Welt, die wir sonst nur aus Spionageromanen kennen: Agenten in teuren Hotels, Diplomaten auf glattem Parkett, debattierende Exil-Revolutionäre in verrauchten Cafés – und draußen auf den Straßen St. Petersburgs marschieren die streikenden Fabrikarbeiter. Sie sind es, die Lenin schließlich jubelnd in einem Meer roter Fahnen in St. Petersburg empfangen. Tag für Tag beschreibt Catherine Merridale den Sog der Ereignisse und die Träume und Taten der Menschen, die sie in Gang setzten oder von ihnen mitgerissen wurden. Eine grandiose Erzählung, die den Moment einfängt, als Lenin triumphierte – und eine neue, blutige Ära begann, die für Europa und die Welt bis heute nicht ganz vergangen ist.

În 1917, războiul din Europa părea să nu se mai termine vreodată. Ambele tabere căutau arme, tactici și idei noi pentru a sparge blocajul care distrugea el însuși continentul. Un mic grup de oameni din guvernul german a avut o idee genială: de ce să nu provoace și mai multă confuzie într-o Rusie din ce în ce mai haotică aranjând ca Vladimir Ilici Lenin, cel mai notoriu dintre extremiștii revoluționari, aflat în acel moment în Elveția, în siguranță, să meargă acasă? Trenul lui Lenin de Catherine Merridale recreează călătoria extraordinară a lui Lenin din exilul comod la Zürich, de-a lungul unei Germanii în pragul dezintegrării din cauza privațiunilor războiului și spre nord, către granița Laponiei şi primirea entuziastă pe care i-o pregătiseră mulțimile revoluționare în Gara Finlanda, din Petrograd. 8 O nestemată printre cărțile de istorie. The Times Povestea superbă, amuzantă, fascinantă a călătoriei transeuropene cu trenul a lui Lenin, în drumul lui spre putere, și a modului în care acesta a zguduit lumea. Simon Sebag Montefiore Relatarea pe care o face Catherine Merridale călătoriei epice a lui Lenin reprezintă un fragment de istorie readus la viață. Robert Gerwarth 8 Printre cărțile scrise de Catherine Merridale se numără Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Russia, care a câștigat Premiul Heinemann pentru Literatură și a fost nominalizată la Premiul Samuel Johnson, Ivan’s War: The Red Army, 1939-45 și Red Fortress: The Secret Heart of Russia’s History, care a câștigat Premiul Wolfson pentru Istorie și Premiul Pușkin.

Catherine Merridale

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