The Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Western Borderlands

by Alexander Statiev

The Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Western Borderlands investigates the Soviet response to nationalist insurgencies that occurred between 1944 and 1953 in the regions the Soviet Union annexed after the Nazi-Soviet Eastern Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Based on new archival data, Alexander Statiev presents the first comprehensive study of Soviet counterinsurgency that ties together the security tools and populist policies intended to attract the local populations. The book traces the origins of the Soviet pacification doctrine and then presents a comparative analysis of the rural societies in Eastern Poland and the Baltic States on the eve of the Soviet invasion. This analysis is followed by a description of the anti-communist resistance movements. Subsequently, the author shows how ideology affected the Soviet pacification doctrine and examines the major means to enforce the agrarian reforms, deportations, amnesties, informant networks, covert operations, and local militias. The book also demonstrates how the Soviet atheist regime used the church in struggle against guerrillas and explains why this regime could not curb the random violence of its police. The final chapter discusses the Soviet experience in the global context.

Genres: History, Russia, World War II, Soviet History, Soviet Union, Russian History, Military History

386 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2010

About the author

Alexander Statiev is Associate Professor of History at the University of Waterloo.

Reviews

[Gerad Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Statiev uses tons of primary source research from the Soviet archives, along with other sources, to create the definitive work on this topic

[Rhuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've given it four stars due to certain redundancies, but as English does not seem to be the author's native language these are no real handicap.

This is an excellent overview of the anti-Soviet resistance groups operating in the Western borderlands of the USSR, and the author pulls no punches in describing their origin, composition, and conduct as well as delineating the ruthless Soviet counterinsurgency techniques employed by KGB special forces. I don't know if any "sharing" was done between the USSR and USA in the Vietnam era, but it seems the "Phoenix project" of targeted assassination and black operations was not just a CIA invention.

The author connects all the dots: the history of pre-Soviet and early Soviet-era rebellions (Tambov, Kronstadt) and the often Nazi-collaborating background of the postwar guerillas and their leaders. The West vainly sought to turn these insurgencies into early "contra" forces; but without outside support the logistics of revolt behind the "iron curtain" deemed armed struggle to certain defeat. In the end, of course, this period of history was ended by non-violent mass action and political dealmaking, not insurgent armies.

A telling irony here is how much this account parallels US counter-insurgency strategies in Iraq and Afghanistan at present. But then, "good guys are allowed to do what bad guys get hung for."

[Ivo · Rating 3 out of 5]

o livro é escrito por um acadêmico liberal, apesar de bastante respeitoso e sério, tem os defeitos que se espera de alguém embebido de tal ideologia. De qualquer forma, é um excelente estudo, com muitos dados estatísticos importantes.
Ademais, 2 impressões importantes:
1. Como é atual a temática da fascistização do ocidente ucraniano, infelizmente
2. Como Khrushev foi um brilhante dirigente, infelizmente