Thunder in the East, originally published in 2005, is widely regarded as the best short history of the entire Nazi-Soviet military conflict. It tells the story from the pre-war expectations of Hitler and Stalin, through the pivotal battles deep in Russia in 1942-43, and on to the huge Soviet offensives across Eastern Europe in 1944-45. This final 'march of liberation' destroyed the Third Reich and set Europe's history for the next 45 years. The book provides penetrating answers to vital questions: Why did the war in the East develop as it did? Why did Hitler's Wehrmacht lose? Why did the Red Army win, and why did the people of Soviet Russia pay such a high price for victory?
The first edition took advantage of the flood of new sources that followed the end of the Soviet era. This second edition takes account of what has been written over the last decade; the Nazi-Soviet war, in all its aspects, has continued to be the subject of extensive and innovative research and heated controversy.

Evan Mawdsley is former Professor of International History at the University of Glasgow, UK. He is the author of December 1941 (2011), World War II: A New History (2009) and The Stalin Years (1998). He is also the General Editor of the three-volume Cambridge History of the Second World War (2015).

Series Editor's Preface
Preface
Part I: The Nazi Onslaught, 1941-42
1. Hitler's War
2. Preparations and Perceptions
3. Operation BARBAROSSA, June to September 1941
4. Moscow and the End of BARBAROSSA, October to December 1941
5. The First Soviet Offensive, December 1941 to May 1942
6. Moscow, Stalingrad, Leningrad, June 1942 to January 1943
Part II: The Soviet Victory, 1943-45
7. Total War I: Wartime Arms and Armies
8. Total War II: Occupation and Diplomacy
9. The Turning Tide, January to September 1943
10. The Ukraine and Leningrad, August 1943 to April 1944
11. To the Soviet Frontiers, June to October 1944
12. The March into Eastern Europe, July 1944 to May 1945
13. The Destruction of Nazi Germany, October 1944 to May 1945
14. Conclusion
Chronology of Events, 1939-45
Glossary
Bibliography
Index