Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Quick and Easy Sign Up!

It takes less then 1 minute to sign up, then you can enjoy Unlimited eBooks.

Sign Up Browse

Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

  • Download on iOS
  • Download on Android
  • Download on iOS

Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World

Giles Milton
4.42/5 (836 ratings)
Read Now Download Now
From a master of popular history, the lively, immersive story of the race to seize Berlin in the aftermath of World War II as it's never been told before

BERLIN'S FATE WAS SEALED AT THE 1945 YALTA CONFERENCE: the city, along with the rest of Germany, was to be carved up among the victorious powers-- the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. On paper, it seemed a pragmatic solution. In reality, once the four powers were no longer united by the common purpose of defeating Germany, they wasted little time reverting to their prewar hostility toward--and suspicion of--one another. The veneer of civility between the Western allies and the Soviets was to break down in spectacular fashion in Berlin. Rival systems, rival ideologies, and rival personalities ensured that the German capital became an explosive battleground.

The warring leaders who ran Berlin's four sectors were charismatic, mercurial men, and Giles Milton brings them all to rich and thrilling life here. We meet unforgettable individuals like America's explosive Frank "Howlin' Mad" Howley, a brusque sharp-tongued colonel with a relish for mischief and a loathing for all Russians. Appointed commandant of the city's American sector, Howley fought an intensely personal battle against his wily nemesis, General Alexander Kotikov, commandant of the Soviet sector. Kotikov oozed charm as he proposed vodka toasts at his alcohol-fueled parties, but Howley correctly suspected his Soviet rival was Stalin's agent, appointed to evict the Western allies from Berlin and ultimately from Germany as well.

Throughout, Checkmate in Berlin recounts the first battle of the Cold War as we've never before seen it. An exhilarating tale of intense rivalry and raw power, it is above all a story of flawed individuals who were determined to win, and Milton does a masterful job of weaving between all the key players' motivations and thinking at every turn. A story of unprecedented human drama, it's one that had a profound, and often underestimated, shaping force on the modern world - one that's still felt today.
Format:
Pages:
pages
Publication:
Publisher:
Edition:
Illustrated
Language:
eng
ISBN10:
125024756X
ISBN13:
9781250247568
kindle Asin:
B08GJCCD1K

Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World

Giles Milton
4.42/5 (836 ratings)
Read Download
From a master of popular history, the lively, immersive story of the race to seize Berlin in the aftermath of World War II as it's never been told before

BERLIN'S FATE WAS SEALED AT THE 1945 YALTA CONFERENCE: the city, along with the rest of Germany, was to be carved up among the victorious powers-- the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. On paper, it seemed a pragmatic solution. In reality, once the four powers were no longer united by the common purpose of defeating Germany, they wasted little time reverting to their prewar hostility toward--and suspicion of--one another. The veneer of civility between the Western allies and the Soviets was to break down in spectacular fashion in Berlin. Rival systems, rival ideologies, and rival personalities ensured that the German capital became an explosive battleground.

The warring leaders who ran Berlin's four sectors were charismatic, mercurial men, and Giles Milton brings them all to rich and thrilling life here. We meet unforgettable individuals like America's explosive Frank "Howlin' Mad" Howley, a brusque sharp-tongued colonel with a relish for mischief and a loathing for all Russians. Appointed commandant of the city's American sector, Howley fought an intensely personal battle against his wily nemesis, General Alexander Kotikov, commandant of the Soviet sector. Kotikov oozed charm as he proposed vodka toasts at his alcohol-fueled parties, but Howley correctly suspected his Soviet rival was Stalin's agent, appointed to evict the Western allies from Berlin and ultimately from Germany as well.

Throughout, Checkmate in Berlin recounts the first battle of the Cold War as we've never before seen it. An exhilarating tale of intense rivalry and raw power, it is above all a story of flawed individuals who were determined to win, and Milton does a masterful job of weaving between all the key players' motivations and thinking at every turn. A story of unprecedented human drama, it's one that had a profound, and often underestimated, shaping force on the modern world - one that's still felt today.
Format:
Pages:
pages
Publication:
Publisher:
Edition:
Illustrated
Language:
eng
ISBN10:
125024756X
ISBN13:
9781250247568
kindle Asin:
B08GJCCD1K

More Books

Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War's Most Audacious Espionage Operation

Steve Vogel

Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945–1955

Harald Jähner

The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles & Their Secret World War

Stephen Kinzer

Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990

Katja Hoyer

Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory

Ben Macintyre

The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq

Steve Coll

Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome

James Holland

The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World

Ben Macintyre

Targeted: Beirut — The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

Jack Carr

The Abyss: Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962

Max Hastings

Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War

Ben Macintyre

Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West

Calder Walton