John Erickson

• Preface -- Preface to the First Edition -- Introduction -- The Origins of a New Army -- The Revolutionary Military Command, 1918–1920 -- The Creation of the Soviet Military Machine -- The Formation of the Soviet Command: 1918–1920 -- Before the Gates of Warsaw: 1920 -- Military Debates and Political Decisions, 1921-1926 -- The Struggle for Control of the Army -- Towards Collaboration with the 'Reichswehr' -- The Reign of Frunze and the Rise of Voroshilov: 1924–1926 -- Foreign Adventures and Strategic Priorities -- The Soviet Re-entry into The Far East: The Problem of Japan and China -- Military and Naval Trafficking with Germany -- Soviet Preoccupations with War -- The Politics of Mechanisation -- The Reaction to threats from East and West -- A Brief Triumph: 1934–1935 -- Plots and Counter-plots -- The Military Purge and the Reconstruction of the Command -- The Killings: 1937 -- Exeunt Omnes . . . -- The Race with Time: 1939-1940 -- The Beginning of the Ordeal: 1941 -- 'We are being fired on. What shall we do?' -- The Battle for Moscow: November-December 1941 -- Appendixes -- General Appendix -- Attestation: Command and Political Staff, Red Army -- (material from the period 1918–20) On the Supreme Military Soviet -- (material from the period 1923–7) -- (materials from the period 1936-7) -- (materials from the period 1939–41)