Warsaw 1920 The War for the Eastern Borderlands - new Osprey

[huevans]

https://ospreypublishing.com/store/military-history/upcoming-books/preorder-3-months/warsaw-1920

[Mark Plant]

Well, I finally got to read it. It's OK, for what it is, and I do like the maps, but I'm not quite sure what space it is meant to fill.

There are a couple of full length books, for those that want to dive deeply, but it is a bit technical for those who only want a short overview.

And I still don't like the way Osprey put in big photos of commanders, but small photos of the troops. What is that about?

[mikos khan]

Mark, what books would you recommend for a good overall history of the Russo-Polish war?

[SJWi]

Hi, me and my mates thought of gaming this and as well as the Osprey I bought Adam Zamoyski's "Warsaw 1920; Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe". I chose this over Norman Davies' "White Eagle Red Star" as the Zamokski title was newer and was on special offer making it half the price.  Although a good read it was rather short at 138 pages of text despite the website saying it was well over 200!The same website says the Davies book is 352 pages . I know page count isn't everything but both are well-known authors on Eastern Europe and I guess there will be more detail in Davies volume.

One other problem with Zamoyski was the maps. For someone not au fait with the theatre of operations there was a lot of repeat references in the text to laces that weren't on the maps.

If I was to choose again today I would probably go with the Davies book which costs less than £15.

By the way we finally abandoned the project as maybe being to  liited in scope. We've chosen the Middle East in WW1 as an alternative project.

[Mark Plant]

Zamoyski's "Warsaw 1920" is an updated but cut down version of his original "Battle for the Marchlands". Davies is good (and my copy is only 200 pages SJWi). As an overview any of them would be fine. None of them are great for maps it has to be said.

It really helps to have a strong knowledge of Eastern European geography when reading them, because the place names do fly at you. Modern maps aren't much help as the borders are so different and so many of the names differ. It's OK for the fighting around Warsaw though.

[mikos khan]

Thanks for the info.  I'll check them out. 

[madman]

Zamoyski's "Warsaw 1920" is an updated but cut down version of his original "Battle for the Marchlands". Davies is good (and my copy is only 200 pages SJWi). As an overview any of them would be fine. None of them are great for maps it has to be said.

It really helps to have a strong knowledge of Eastern European geography when reading them, because the place names do fly at you. Modern maps aren't much help as the borders are so different and so many of the names differ. It's OK for the fighting around Warsaw though.

Found the book at Book Depository so when it gets here...

I also have a selection of Atlases (Atlii?) from 1875 to post WWII but a couple from the 20s and 30s which have many, but I am sure far from most, towns shown. I find these a good way to help visualize where, when reading period history books. Thank you for the suggestion.

[Mark Plant]

What helps is a list of the names in the different language variants. When Zamoyski mentions Mołodeczno you have to know it will be Maladzyechna or Maladziečna (Маладзе́чна) now. It's a massive pain.

Old atlases are often worse, because many in English will give the German variants and they can get really different.

[madman]

What helps is a list of the names in the different language variants. When Zamoyski mentions Mołodeczno you have to know it will be Maladzyechna or Maladziečna (Маладзе́чна) now. It's a massive pain.

Old atlases are often worse, because many in English will give the German variants and they can get really different.

Dang, and here I thought I was on to something! Oh well...

[zippyfusenet]

I find that googling a Polish or Ukrainian place name will often bring up a page that gives all applicable names in different languages, and often a brief history and description of the site.

FrEx, I just googled Mołodeczno, and Wiki had this, as well as other links being offered, some in English:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maladzyechna