Download Russia: The Story of War AudioBook Free
No region is a stranger to war, but for Russians war is a central part of who they are. Their "motherland" has been the battlefield where a few of the largest armies have clashed, the most savage fights have been fought, the highest death tolls paid. Having prevailed over Mongol hordes and vanquished Napoleon and Hitler, many Russians believe that no other region has sacrificed so much for the earth. In Russia: The Story of Conflict, Gregory Carleton explores how this belief has produced a misconception of exceptionalism that pervades Russian culture and politics and has helped forge a national identity rooted in war. While outsiders view Russia as an aggressor, Russians themselves visit a country ornamented by enemies. Over and over history has called after Russia to try out the savior - of European countries, of Christianity, of civilization itself - and its own victories have come at immense cost. Within this showing, even defeats lose their sting. Isolation becomes a virtuous future and the whole of its bloody history a spot of pride. Conflict is the unifying thread of Russia's national epic, the one that transcends its wrenching ideological transformations. As Putin's Russia asserts itself in ever before bolder ways, focusing on how the story of its war-torn previous shapes today's is essential to understanding its self-image and worldview.
