Review of "A Short History of the World Volume II," edited by A. Z. Manfred

 Review of

A Short History of the World Volume II, edited by A. Z. Manfred

Five out of five stars

A different perspective from the contents of American history books

 The editor of this book published in 1974 was an academician of the Soviet Union, so the perspective on what has happened in the world during the covered time frame is quite different from American history books. That period starts at the Russian Civil War after World War I and ends in the late 1960’s. Some of the statements are of course nonsense, not every event was caused by capitalist aggression.

 Yet, there is a great deal of truth in much of what appears in this book. For example, the French engaged in horrific colonial wars in Algeria and Southeast Asia in a futile attempt to maintain their control. To cite one example, 1.5 million Algerians died in the hopeless attempt of the French to hold onto their colony. Approximately 150,000 Indonesians died at the hands of the Dutch military in their futile attempt to retake control of Indonesia after the end of World War II.

 The brutal and deadly policies of the European nations toward their colonial areas is generally ignored in the American history books. In that sense, this book has a refreshing honesty. The same statement can be applied to the role American corporations and the U. S. military played in Central and South America.

 Another fact generally ignored in the U. S. history books is how rapid the rise of the power of the Soviet Union was after the end of the Civil War that followed World War I. An estimated 7 to 12 million people died in that Civil War that effectively ended in 1923. Yet, only 18 years later, the Soviet state was able to stand up to and essentially defeat the armies of Germany and their European allies. Despite what the history books of the western nations claim, it was the Soviet Red Army that defeated the Axis.

 In addition to this, in 1972, when American president Richard Nixon visited China, the estimated GDP of the country was $114 billion. The estimated GDP of the Chinese economy in 2020 is $14 trillion and by some measures is the largest economy in the world. Therefore, one must be very careful in dismissing the economic productivity of these two nations. By these measures, their Marxist-Leninist principles were successful.

 As a student of history, it was easy for me to flag some errors that bordered on the absurd. Yet, there is a great deal of truth in many of the statements that are uncomfortable for those of the west to read.