Journal of Slavic Military Studies

Historians who write books, please a) set up your own author website, independent of your university profile and b) get some professional headshots taken. Love, your friendly neighborhood podcaster.

CRESTRICTED] ORIENTATION FACT SHEET 64 WAR DEPARTMENT-WASHINGTON 25, D. C. • 24 March 1945 FASCISM! Note For This Week's Discussion: Fascism is not the easiest thing to identify and analyze; nor, once in power, is it easy to destroy. It is important for our future and that of the world that as many of us as possible understand the causes and practices of fascism, in order to combat it. Points to stress are: (1) Fascism is more apt to come to power at a time of economic crisis; (2) fascism inevitably leads to war; (3) it can come to any country; (4) we can best combat it by making our democracy work.

In March of 1945, the US Army issued this "fact sheet" to guide conversations with soldiers on the topic of fascism, paying particular attention to the ongoing threat that domestic fascist movements posed to the US. Their analysis of what a homegrown US fascism would look like is interesting.

Who Goes Nazi?, by Dorothy Thompson

Fascinating article from 1941, by the great Dorothy Thompson. harpers.org/archive/1941...

Why do some publishers keep table of contents a secret? What possible reason?

Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.

AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.

JSMS Books for Review - PUBLIC Books that The Journal of Slavic Military Studies would welcome a review of. Reviews can look at a single book or spend additional length doing a more involved review essay on a couple texts (and othe...

And if you are looking to write a review for the journal, take a look at this running list, or reach out with your own proposal to the editors...
docs.google.com/document/d/1...

The Journal of Slavic Military Studies Volume 38, Issue 2 of The Journal of Slavic Military Studies

All that and more, found here, in the latest issue www.tandfonline.com/toc/fslv20/3...

And, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, by Yuval N. Harari, via Random House, (reviewed by Carl Van Dyke)
www.randomhousebooks.com/books/762444/

Strategiya | Hurst Publishers A fabulous resource for all those wishing to know more about the great works published in Russian that underpin Moscow’s strategic thinking.

Strategiya: The Foundations of the Russian Art of Strategy, by Ofer Fridman, from Hurst Publishers, (reviewed by Stephen T. Satkiewicz)...
www.hurstpublishers.com/book/strateg...

Australia's Lost Heroes - Big Sky Publishing This remarkable story, both engaging military history and enthralling detective story, recounts the Australian soldiers who fought in Russia in 1919 and the author’s long journey with the guidance and...

And, one more update from this latest issue. Latest book reviews include: Australia’s Lost Heroes: Anzacs in the Russian Civil War 1919, by Damien Wright, from Big Sky Publishing [ed: that's Australia, not Montana], (reviewed by Lincoln E. Flake)...
www.bigskypublishing.com.au/books/austra...

The Journal of Slavic Military Studies Volume 38, Issue 2 of The Journal of Slavic Military Studies

Some of those pieces are open access, including both historical articles—“What Happened to Wilhelm” and "On the battles for Hill 446 (Pustki),"—as well as the research note on the ratio of forces in Ukraine in the first year:

www.tandfonline.com/toc/fslv20/3...

and "The Evolution of the Ratio of Forces in the Russian-Ukrainian War During the First Twelve Months of Operations (February 2022–February 2023),” M. Kaszuba & L. Pawlikowicz

And a couple research notes: The “Ideologically Defective Tank”: Memory Politics and Historical Reenactment at the 2016 Pilsen Liberation Festival,” by Vladimír Naxera & Petr Krčál...

"What happened to Wilhelm? The Life and Times of a Police Officer in the Balkans 1944-1945,” by Erik Sengers...

Also out this issue, "On the battles for Hill 446 (Pustki) during the Gorlice breakthrough (2 May 1915) once again,” by Jan Błachnio...

This piece on mass repression relies on interdisciplinarity of its scholars, combining forensic science, statistics, and medical examination to better understand the history of mass murder in Kazakhstan. This includes a look at the weapons and the processes in conducting these murders…

And looking at the consequences of totalitarianism, but farther east: "Results of excavations of victims of mass political repressions of 1937–1938 in the village of Zhanalyk, Almaty region of Kazakhstan in 2018,” by Dosbol Baigunakov, Gulmira Sabdenova, Mirzahan Egamberdiyev & Anastassiya Stoyan...

"Manufactured Insurgencies and the Pseudo-Insurgency Phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War: April 2014–February 2022," by Amos C. Fox...

A couple articles on current military affairs, in the latest issue, 2025’s vol 38 iss 2, including "The Role of Civilian-Military Cooperation in the Ukrainian Asymmetric War Strategy," by Nurlan Aliyev & Mykola Nazarov...

The Journal of Slavic Military Studies Volume 38, Issue 2 of The Journal of Slavic Military Studies

New issue is out, www.tandfonline.com/toc/fslv20/3...

We only use 100% grade humans in our reviewing!

A Chat GPT tale of fraud, challenge and redemption in several acts. It would be funny if it would not be scary. And tragic.

I decided to see what AI was all about by letting it write a short essay about a topic that I knew well: Soviet hippies.

What got back was…

Memoir: Recollecting the benefits of shoe leather diplomacy in Turkmenistan Getting out, getting a feel for the place, and putting pins on a map.

A new entry in the Ambassadors' Series on Central Asia, published by @eurasianet.bsky.social, spearheaded by @nargiskassenova.bsky.social of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.

Allan Mustard on the use of shoe leather diplomacy in Turkmenistan.

eurasianet.org/memoir-recol...

About to start your summer break...? Take a look at these books--some, perfect beach reading, others not quite so much--and reach out if you are interesting in reviewing one of these for @josms.bsky.social ... docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Conference on War and Life: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Russo-Ukraine War This conference will bring together scholars, artists, writers, and activists for a two-day online conference which aims to expand our discussions ...

For the full program and to register, see the link below

Interpretation will be available and participants will be able to listen to all sessions in Ukrainian and English

events.iu.edu/reei/event/1...

Other reviews include looks at For Russia with Hitler: White Russian Émigrés from @uoftpress.bsky.social and the German-Soviet War and Aces at Kursk. The Battle For Aerial Supremacy On The Eastern Front 1943, @penandswordbooks.bsky.social...

The issue is rounded out with a couple book reviews looking at southeastern Europe, including Through Blood and Brotherhood: Comrades and Enemies in WWII Yugoslavia from @casematepublishers.bsky.social and Serbia: A Modern History from @hurstpublishers.bsky.social...

"The Struggle for Recognition and Belonging: Military Mobilization and Integration of Latvians into the Red Army during the Second World War," by Konstantin Fuks... and pieces by Seth Bernstein and Leonid Rein as well...

Historical piece look back at WWII. These include "Europe by Numbers: Soviet Investigators Count the Dead during World War II," by Paula Chan...

‘It’s Our War as well’: Belarusian Fighters in Ukraine (2014-2023) The presence of foreign fighters in wars has been a factor in many countries. Foreign fighters from Belarus have played important roles in the war in Ukraine that started in 2014 and was expanded w...

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....