Roderic Braithwaite, British Ambassador to the Soviet Union and Russia from 1988 to 1992, has written an important book for English readers about the titanic battle between Germany and Russia in 1941. He embellishes his account with mini-biographies and stories about minor celebrities of the Soviet past, from partisans to academics to entertainers to ordinary people whose only accomplishment was improbably surviving to recount their tales. He conducted dozens of interviews with survivors or children of survivors; he read numerous documents in the state archives, many of which were made accessible during his tenure in Russia, after the fall of the Soviet Union. In this way, he has conducted primary research, adding meaningfully to the account of this period, especially now that many eyewitnesses have passed on.
An important question he attempts to answer is why did the Russians (and other nationalities of the Soviet Union) fight — and so bravely, against all odds. Why didn’t a population that had been terrorized by the Stalinist purges, mass expropriations, and even famine, fight for a regime that had caused so much ruinous suffering? In this article, using Braithwaite’s account, I ponder if there is a lesson in that is more broadly applicable? That is, a lesson that might be germane to countries and policy makers today?