Russian Experiences: a look at Russia's military past

A very revealing book that I would highly recommend, especially to students and historical buffs who are interested in the old Soviet Union and the new Russian Federation. A four-star effort for certain.

Russian Experiences: Life in the Former USSR & Post-Soviet Russia
By The Raven & Marie Claire
ISBN 1589391772 (paperback)
ISBN 1589391985 (hardcover)

Review by Dan Murr

Right from the start, I liked this book written by The Raven and Marie Claire. If you were not born yet in 1939 when the world was in an upheaval, reading this book provides a glimpse of what Communism is about. You quickly understand the reason for the Chinese Communist revolution in China in 1945; and why the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The first page of this book gives you instant answers.

They wrote that the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was a country built by Communists since 1917, and whose aim was to establish a worldwide Communist regime. "(Karl) Marx," they also wrote, "believed, without questioning the results, that a Communist revolution should be worldwide." Obviously, at this writing, that has failed with the dissolution of the USSR into the new Russian Federation.

So if you like a bit of military history and how governments function, this is a brief but most interesting internal look at Communism inside the former Soviet Union and its different phases of life. The author, The Raven, born in Baku City, in Azerbaijan in what once was the USSR, writes this short but very informative book that gives you a look at what happened after the Communists came into power in 1917. He tells of the pitfalls and why the USSR failed in its quest to establish Communism in Finland when the Russians went to war against the Finns in 1939-40. He also explains how a lack of communication was so costly to the Red Army when it was losing so badly to the Germans in the early days of World War II and the enemy was knocking on Moscow's doors. As a ten-year-old, I can remember the war between Russia and Finland in our newspaper headlines, and especially World War II when the Germans were trying to take over Russia and the fighting around Stalingrad in the bitter Russian winter.

*Note: this review may be published in full or part free of charge.