As an ex-communist, Russian president, Vladimir Putin will be respectful of the revolutions of that shaped his country, but will not endorse too much freedom, says Geoffrey Roberts.

75 years on, the consequences of Pearl Harbour have yet to be fully played out, writes Geoffrey Roberts

Russia and its military has proven prowess in learning lessons from its failures, writes Geoffrey Roberts

 

Seventy years after his speech on the Cold War, Churchill’s words still linger writes Geoffrey Roberts.

Though mostly victims of World War II, the Poles were also the perpetrators of violence against Jews, culminating in the Jedwabne massacre when Jewish residents of the town were burned alive, as Geoffrey Roberts recounts.

The stories of Irishmen who served in WWII are deeply moving says Geoffrey Roberts

Frederick the Great is judged by many historians to have been an enlightened despot. Geoffrey Roberts on an  impressive, comprehensive new biography by Tim Blanning.

New figures reveal an increase in unemployment for July, Irish Water meet with stiff resistance in Cork as defiant residents block meter installations, a young woman tries to chop off one of her own fingers in a desperate bid to end chronic pain and an NCT tester is sacked over a breach of its code of integrity. Here’s today’s lunchtime irishexaminer.com round-up.

Tomorrow is the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, which killed 70,000. Geoffrey Roberts looks at how and why we ushered in the age of the megaton bomb.

The Soviets were crucial to the Allied victory in WW2, but 70 years on there is a rift again, says Geoffrey Roberts

In his condemnation of exterminations at Nazi concentration camps [Irish Examiner, February 2] Geoffrey Roberts misses the fact that Stalin exterminated millions of his own citizens.

We must remember that without the efforts of the Red Army , the Nazis would have been able to complete their attempted genocide of Europe’s Jews, writes Geoffrey Roberts

Joseph Stalin was violent and ruthless from an early age, and his criminality, his talents as an organiser and a manipulator, and his over-weening ambition, facilitated his later rise to power, says Geoffrey Roberts. 

The carnage that followed the doomed Warsaw Uprising of 1944 raises the question what was it all for — and who was responsible for its failure, writes Geoffrey Roberts.

Seventy years ago today Hitler’s armies at Stalingrad surrendered after 200 days of the most savage fighting. Geoffrey Roberts on the moment the long, crooked and twisted journey to today’s democratic Europe began

Prof Geoffrey Roberts’s review (Dec 29) of Bernard Kelly’s new book on the role of Irish volunteers who fought for the Allies in World War II points to the pardon in 2012 for Irish army deserters.

Savage Continent:Europe in the Aftermath of World War II

General Zhukov is seen by many as a hero who defeated Hitler and by others as an egotistical brute. Either way he lives on in public consciousness in Russia today, writes Geoffrey Roberts

Hitler’s Hangman: The Life of Heydrich

Molotov: Stalin’s Cold Warrior

To mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the former Soviet Union, Geoffrey Roberts reflects on what led to the collapse of the institution instigated by the Bolsheviks in 1922

The Soviet Army endured terrible suffering — losing eight million soldiers — in its defeat of Nazi Germany, writes Geoffrey Roberts.

Hitler’s attack on Russia on this day 70 years ago was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany, writes Geoffrey Roberts

EARLIER this month I was asked to discuss Irish neutrality during the Second World War on Tom McGurk’s programme on 4FM.