Kretinin S.V. Havkin B. L. Russia and Germany. 1900–1945. Interlacement of History. Moscow: Novyi chronograf, 2014. 424 pp.

Abstract: The article is a review of the new book by the famous Russian historian Boris Lvovich Havkin dealing with the most illustrious figures and events in the Russo-German history of the 20th century. The publication analyses the historical portraits of Alexander Parvus (Helphand), Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, Wilhelm von Mirbach-Harff, Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg, Friedrich Wilhelm Paulus, Ewald von Kleist, Ferdinand Schörner and others. The review gives a description of the theses written by the book’s author on such current and contested questions as the role of Germany in the preparation of the Bolshevik overturn of 1917, the Soviet-German pact of 1939, the activities of the “Red chapel”, etc. A series of conceptual positions of the reviewed study are subjected to a critical analysis, concerning the general aspects of the Russo-German history of the 20th century. At the reviewer’s centre of attention lie the historical figures and events, which united the histories of Russia and Germany since 1917 up to 1945. The reviewed volume is of the highest scientific quality, furnished with source publication and photographic documents, and is of unquestionable interest for specialists in the field of Russo-German relations, as well as for those interested in history in general.

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