The Contemporary World - Book Review: Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder

This book review examines Timothy Snyder's "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin," focusing on its central argument that the regions of Belarus, Poland, the Baltic states, Ukraine, and western Russia experienced suffering and bloodshed worse than any other region in Western history due to the actions of both Hitler and Stalin. The review analyzes the author's construction of the argument, highlighting the similarities between the two totalitarian regimes and their collaborative actions, particularly before 1941. It discusses the author's use of primary and secondary sources to document the deaths in and outside of concentration camps, and the author's critical analysis of the book's effectiveness and persuasiveness, including statistical data and emotional impact. The review also assesses the book's contribution to scholarly debates, its strengths, and areas where it successfully advances the discussion of the topic.

Book Review
Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Book Review
Main argument
The main argument of the book is that “bloodlands” which the present-day region
covering Belarus, Poland, Baltic states, Ukraine and westernmost fringes of Russia remains the
area which regimes of Hitler and Stalin, notwithstanding opposing goalmouths, intermingled to
surge suffering as well as bloodshed severally worse than any observed in western history.
Scholarly Conversation/Debates
The book contributes to conversation or debate regarding the suffering and bloodshed
caused by the interaction between Hitler and Stalin. This is because the author has noted the
resemblances between these 2 totalitarian governments alongside the allowing interaction which
reinforced both obliteration and misery which stood brought to bear on the non-combatants. The
author contributes to this debate by highlighting the resemblances between the 2 governments.
He argued that Stalin and Hitler shared some tyrannical points; they brought about the disasters,
impugned the enemies of their choices, and subsequently utilized the demise of millions
individuals to make their case that respective policies stood essential or anticipated. The author
argues that the two regimes both have a transformative Utopia; a cohort to be accused whenever
its realization evidenced infeasible, and subsequently a mass murder policy which could be
proclaimed as a type of ersatz triumph. He further contributes to the conversation that the two
regimes usually cooperated and helped each other, at least until the year 1941 when German
invaded the SU. 1
1 Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. Random House, 2011.

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Author’s construction of the argument and Main Points
The author construct arguments documenting that Nazi Germany stood accountable for
the about 2/3 of total number of deaths. The author cites the number of up to 5.4 million deaths.
This books supports the argument by confronting the simplistic perspective of mid-20th century
alongside the WWII history which has become dubbed “Nazis bad, Soviet good.” Moreover, the
author overturns the manner in which every regime remain often scrutinized as operating solely
and absent inspiration from the outdoor. For example, the author remarks that initial Soviet
backing for Warsaw Uprising” in contradiction of occupation of Nazi stood succeeded by the
reluctance to help an uprising; the Soviet remained increasingly eager to have Nazi completely
wipe the city hygienic for the future Nazi’s occupation. The author further highlights that as an
instance of collaboration that might have culminated to several more deaths that could have
remained the case in case government had been independently acting.
The author further structured the arguments based on the re-examination of several points
of postwar and war years; the Nazi Germany-Soviet Non-aggression Pact of the year 1939;
Soviet persecution of Polish underground; the rescue of Jews by Poles in the course of the
Holocaust; cursed soldiers alongside their individual prisoners of war following the war. The
author further speaks to misconceptions; for instance, he successfully documented that several
Jews stood murdered by mass shootings in countryside and villages; besides those deaths
suffered in death camps.2 This implies that the majority of the victims of Hitler, Jewish and
otherwise, did not see a concentration camps. Identically, each of the discussed victims of Soviet
2 Wildt, Michael. "Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. xix+ 524 pp. New York:
Basic Books, 2010. ISBN-13 978-0465002399. $29.95." Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian
History 14, no. 1 (2013): 197-206.

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stood murdered outdoor Gulag concentration camp; inside those camps; an approximated 1M
individuals succumbed. The author further showcased that more Soviet prisoners of succumbed
daily in Nazi camps in the course of autumn of the year 1941 than were the total counts of
Western Allied POWs in entire war. More than three million Soviet POWs demised in Nazi
camps. The German prisoners of war’s fate in SU stood slightly better; over five hundred
thousands of them perished in deplorable circumstances in such Soviet camps.
Sources Used
The author uses several novel primary as well as secondary sources drawn from the
Eastern and Central Europe to bring the scholarship to several forgotten, misunderstood as well
as incorrectly-remembered history parts, and specifically remarks that most of the victims stood
murdered outdoor concentration camps of individual regime.
My Opinions, effective/convincing arguments and Questions left unaddressed
My opinions of the book is that the arguments put forward remain convincing. This is
because of the way these arguments are structured and supported in the book. It was effective for
the author to focus on the three periods as this accords the readers an easy way to understand the
points and arguments being conveyed. For example, the author has detailed the deliberate mass
hunger alongside firings in Soviet Unions as having taken place between 1933 and 1938 while
the mass firings in the occupied Poland more/less similarly by the German and Soviet murderers
as having occurred between 1939 and 1941; and the last period involving the intentional
starvation of 3.10M Soviet prisoners of war alongside mass shelling besides nattering of over 5M
Jews as having been done by Germans from 1941 to 1945. This makes it easy and persuasive for
the readers to follow through what happened per periods to understand whatever the book is
trying to depict.

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The book is also persuasive based on the chapter which covers the early 1930s starvation
in Ukraine under SU as author has comprehensively covered it. It is persuasive on how the
author has recounted that the in the unofficial orphanage in Kharkiv region village, kids stayed
so hungry that they had no option but to resort to cannibalism. Indeed, it is even become quite
convince when the author goes further to highlight that one kid had to eat parts of himself as he
was being cannibalized which provokes the emotion of the readers. The author also uses
statistics and figures to convince the readers as he quoted that 3.30M died in the Ukraine
starvation of the year 1933. This is also supported when the author highlighted that Hitler starved
4.2M individuals in SU under his Hunger Plan which shows authority in writing hence
persuading the readers. In my view, there is no pending questions left unattended by the author in
this book.
Disagreeing with conclusions/ Stance with other historians views/ Success in debate
advancement
I do not disagree with any of the author’s conclusions in this book. This books has great
similarities with the observations of remaining historians I have learned on this course, and it
succeeds in the advancement of this scholarly discussion. This is because the book has
documented the deaths in both concentration camps and outside camps in a similar way other
historians I have learned in the course have done. For instance, the book has shown that both
Hitler and Stalin collaborated in the killings of Poles whereby Nazi Germany alongside SU
murdered nearly two-hundred thousand Polish citizens between 1939 and 1941.3 This is because
3 Bartov, Omer. "Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. By Timothy Snyder. New York: Basic
Books, 2010. xix, 524 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Maps. $29.95, hard bound." Slavic Review 70, no. 2
(2011): 424-428.

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the author has detailed how Nazi and Soviet regimes occasionally remained allies as shown in
their joint occupation of Poland between 1939 and 1941. The author has demonstrated just like
other historians that these two regimes occasionally held well-matched goalmouths as
adversaries; and when Stalin elected never to help the insurgents in 1941 in Warsaw, they
allowed Germans to murder individuals who might have counterattacked rule of communist.

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Bibliography
Bartov, Omer. "Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. By Timothy Snyder. New York:
Basic Books, 2010. xix, 524 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Maps. $29.95, hard
bound." Slavic Review 70, no. 2 (2011): 424-428.
Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. Random House, 2011.
Wildt, Michael. "Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. xix+ 524 pp.
New York: Basic Books, 2010. ISBN-13 978-0465002399. $29.95." Kritika:
Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 14, no. 1 (2013): 197-206.