Reviews for The War in Chechnya

The average rating for The War in Chechnya based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-03-25 00:00:00 William Raine This sobering account of a conflict that was mostly ignored in the West fills the void for English language readers. The war lasted almost two years and took over a hundred thousand lives (accurate casualty figures will probably never be tallied) yet it remains virtually unknown and undocumented outside Russia. The contrast with the attention lavished on the 2003-6 fighting in Iraq is stark. After reading this book, you will have a firm grasp of the subject. It's only flaw is that the accounts of battles for individual villages get repetitive (I dropped it one star for that) yet that is the reality of counter-insurgency fighting. Along with the toll in human lives and massive destruction, the war dealt a mortal blow to the nascent Russian free press and human rights organizations. After favoring independence for the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin was faced with the fragmentation of Russia itself and chose a military response. The strong arm tactics that seemed to work in Armenia, Georgia and South Ossetia failed disastrously in Chechnya. The war exposed the deplorable condition of Russia's once formidable military and fueled a nationalist backlash against democratic reforms. It put Yeltsin's Russia on the path to becoming Putin's Russia. While their sympathies clearly lie with the Chechens, Knezys and Sedlickas give a carefully balanced appraisal of the war including 'military terrorism,' its ugliest legacy. Lastly, the war provides fascinating insights into the mindset of Russian leaders during the first tumultuous post-Soviet decade, and it ends with the fate of Dzhochar Dudajev, whose part in this drama has all the elements of a great espionage thriller complete with uncertainly about his death. I highly recommend this history to anyone interested in contemporary Russia.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-08-16 00:00:00 Kitty Moy Very interesting book combining a journalistic approach with an historian's attention to sources. Remarkably the author avoids references to rapes and violence against women which must have occurred. I would have liked a map of old Chisinau to help understand the geography of events. Apart from this, it looked to me to be a balanced report on a black page of European history. Well written and a quick read.