Alexey Isaev, historian: biography, books

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Isaev Alexey Valeryevich is a well-known Russian publicist and writer, whose works are always popular and, without exaggeration, have undeniable value. To a greater extent, the author writes on military-historical topics. Almost all of his works are devoted to the study of controversial moments during the conduct of World War II.

Ambiguous work of a publicist

Alexey Isaev is a historian who has published many books about the war. His most famous works were books about Georgy Zhukov, as well as publications in which he debunked the myths created in the works of Viktor Suvorov.

Aleksey Valerievich Isaev, whose reviews of books are sometimes ambiguous, quite often comes under criticism for not having a specialized historical education, he allows himself to re-evaluate the most important historical events. Despite such attacks, there are devoted readers who are looking forward to his new publications.

Biography

Aleksey Isaev, whose biography began in Uzbekistan, was born in 1974. He spent his childhood in Tashkent. Starting in 1981, he studied at the local city school No. 190. Then the Isaev family moved to Moscow, where Alexei continued his studies at Moscow School No. 179.

The future publicist received his higher education at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute. Isaev chose the Faculty of Cybernetics and studied at the Department of System Analysis. In 1997, he successfully completed his studies.

Starting from 2000, Alexei Isaev, a historian without specialized education, actively studied documents in the main Central Archive of the Russian Federation. He also worked in the State Military Archive of the Russian Federation. For three years, starting in 2007, Alexei Isaev worked at the Institute of Military History under the Ministry of Defense. And already in 2012, he became a candidate of historical sciences, having defended his thesis on the conduct of hostilities by the Southern and Southwestern fronts of the USSR in 1941.

At the moment, Alexey Isaev continues to be actively engaged in scientific and literary activities. In addition, he works as an engineer in the telecommunications industry.

The birth of interest in history

In his interviews, Alexei says that he developed a serious interest in history in general and in various historical events that are not always interpreted in accordance with reality after watching the film "Hot Snow". Also from the wordsThe publicist follows that the decision to become a military historian was greatly influenced by his acquaintance with Svirin Mikhail Nikolaevich, a domestic historian of technology. After graduating from the institute, Isaev Alexei Valerievich begins to work actively in various military archives.

In 2004, the Yauza publishing house published the first works of Isaev as an author. His debut book was devoted to criticism of the author writing about the war under the pseudonym Viktor Suvorov. The second book, published in the same year as the first, in 2004, was "From Dubno to Rostov" - a work about the battles in Ukraine that took place in 1941.

Publicist bibliography

Aleksey Isaev, whose books are not published in large numbers, has a number of devoted readers. Basically, these are lovers of history and non-standard interpretation of known facts. In different periods of time, Alexei Isaev released the following works:

• “Antisuvorov. Little man's big lie.”
• "Berlin on the 45th. Battle in the lair of the beast.”
• “Antisuvorov. Ten Myths of World War II.”
• "Kotly" on the 41st. The history of the Second World War, which we did not know.”
• “Georgy Zhukov. The King's Last Argument.”
• “A short course in the history of the Second World War. The offensive of Marshal Shaposhnikov.”
• “From Dubno to Rostov.”
• “Breakthrough of the Mius Front (July-August 1943)”.
• "Stalingrad. There is no land for us beyond the Volga.”
• “Battle for Kharkov. (February-March 1943)".
• “When there was no more surprise. (The history of the Second World War, which we did not know).”

Myths debunked by publicist's works

The works of V. B. Rezun, who wrote about the Second World War under the pseudonym of Viktor Suvorov, were the first to be criticized by Isaev. In addition, a lot of work was done by the publicist to restore little-known facts about German aviation, as well as about controversial issues in the conduct of air battles between the Nazis and the Allied forces.

Aleksey Isaev mainly tries to dispel the myths about the war, which were at one time spread by the Soviet authorities and popularized with the help of powerful propaganda and films that went on mass screenings.

Stalin's blitzkrieg

The legendary offensive of the Soviet troops and the triumph of the Red Army, called the Stalinist blitzkrieg, was also studied in detail by Alexei Isaev - the operation "Bagration" became one of the main topics for his study, to which the historian devoted a lot of time.

In his writings, the publicist takes a close look at the little-known causes of the German defeat and talks about a number of previously unreported Soviet failures that preceded one of the most successful maneuver operations of all of World War II.

The destruction of an aviation legend

It is known that the success of military operations largely depends on aviation. In his works, this person examines in sufficient detail the history of the air forces of both Nazi Germany and the USSR Air Force. Alexei Isaev writes a lot about the 54th squadron of the Luftwaffe and, in general, about the features of the fighter aircraft of the III Reich.

One of the statements that Isaev is trying to refute with his works is the fact that the victory over Germany and the complete destruction of enemy troops, including aviation, belongs to the USSR, which is widespread in literature and films. Referring to a number of archival documents, Aleksey Valeryevich states that for the most part, the Allies, namely the British Air Force, were engaged in the destruction of the Luftwaffe. Soviet troops entered Berlin with honor, destroyed the Wehrmacht, but at the same time did not miss the opportunity to ascribe to themselves the merits of British fighters.

Lies about the complete destruction of Soviet aircraft on the first day

Practically all Soviet history books contained information that Germany attacked the USSR and in a matter of minutes completely defeated the aircraft that did not expect an attack. Due to the lightning attack of the Nazis, Soviet aircraft did not have time to take to the air and turned into wreckage, falling under the attacks of German bombers while on the ground.

Isaev writes that the Soviet leadership did not quite correctly illuminate this situation. In fact, the complete destruction of Soviet aircraft did not take place in a matter of minutes, but continued throughout June 22. German bombers sometimes made 8 raids on the same Soviet air base for several hours.

As a result of such attacks, the Southwestern Front of the USSR lost about 16% of its aircraft, and the Western - about 70% of aviation. To talk about the fact that the Air Force was completely defeated in a fewminutes is wrong. The surviving aircraft took an active part in air battles in the border areas, the battles were very intense. The further defeat of the USSR and subsequent losses were the result of losing in air battles, and were not the result of the fact that the planes were destroyed on the ground, not even being able to take off.

Hidden intelligence miscalculations

For a long time, the reasons for the defeat of the Soviet Union in the first stages of the German invasion were considered that our troops were left without communication on the first day. Alexei Isaev, a historian who has studied the issue, refutes such claims. He says that many documents from that period confirm the connection of our army.

There is recorded evidence that on this day the Soviet communications delegates moved around their territory with the help of trains and armored vehicles. According to archival records, on the fateful day of June 22, all information was transmitted normally, the Soviet troops simply underestimated the threat. The fact that on the 22nd not all the necessary information reached those waiting for it in time is more an intelligence omission than a technical reason for the lack of communication.

Unfounded criticism of Stalin

Each era has the ability to rewrite history in its own way and interpret certain facts at its discretion. The odious personality of Stalin was no exception. The man, whose worship by the Soviet people during the war is hard to underestimate, after his death began to be subjected to sharp criticism. Given the authoritarian style of government, terrible repression and legendary purges, this criticism,of course, justified.

In his books, Isaev defends Stalin as the commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops and refutes accusations against him that began to appear during the Khrushchev era. Rumors began to circulate that on June 22, Stalin was so discouraged by the German attack that he had a stupor. There was a version that he, in complete misunderstanding of what was happening, went to his dacha. There, allegedly, Joseph Vissarionovich spent several days, and all this time he refused to make any decisions.

Aleksey Isaev in his publications completely refutes this version, since there are archival documents signed by Stalin, dated both June 22 himself and the subsequent days of the start of the war. One of the main decisions he made on the first day of the German attack was the signing of a decree on urgent mobilization. It was originally planned to call about 3.2 million people. Based on the decision taken by Stalin in the middle of the day on June 22, this figure was significantly increased. People of 14 ages were drafted into the army, and such an extensive military draft turned out to be fateful. It is known that both the fascists and the allies were struck by the endless human resource that the Soviet Union used to obtain the long-awaited victory.