Armageddon by Leon Uris

[rhino]

I just finished reading Leon Uris' Armageddon, published in 1963. It covers
the Allied efforts to govern conquered Germany from 1945 until the end of
the Airlift.

I've never read anything by him before and felt a real "ring of truth" in
this book. But how accurate was it, really? It is clearly a novel but it
seems to be one of those which takes what really happened and just changes
some of the names to fictitious ones to avoid legal issues. Or am I just
gullible?

I'd be curious to know how accurately this book reflected what really
happened in the governance of Germany by the Allies in the immediate postwar
period.

--
Rhino

[Dave Wilma]

Post by rhino
I just finished reading Leon Uris' Armageddon, published in 1963. It covers
the Allied efforts to govern conquered Germany from 1945 until the end of
the Airlift.
I'd be curious to know how accurately this book reflected what really
happened in the governance of Germany by the Allies in the immediate postwar
period.

I read the book a couple of times when it was in print. I would say
that the background is accurate, that is, the organization of the
military government in Rombad and life in Berlin. Remember that it was
written against the backdrop of the Cold War and might have been
slanted against the Soviets.

Use a novel to get a "sense" of the time, but read well-documented
history for the facts.

Dave Wilma
Seattle

[Mike Piacente]

Post by Dave Wilma

Post by rhino
I just finished reading Leon Uris' Armageddon, published in 1963. It covers
the Allied efforts to govern conquered Germany from 1945 until the end of
the Airlift.
I'd be curious to know how accurately this book reflected what really
happened in the governance of Germany by the Allies in the immediate postwar
period.

I read the book a couple of times when it was in print. I would say
that the background is accurate, that is, the organization of the
military government in Rombad and life in Berlin. Remember that it was
written against the backdrop of the Cold War and might have been
slanted against the Soviets.
Use a novel to get a "sense" of the time, but read well-documented
history for the facts.
Dave Wilma
Seattle

Rhino,

Dave is absolutely right -- historical novels are good for giving you the
'flavor' of the event(s), but if you want to know the truth as well as the
surrounding story, you must read well-documented history. Notice Dave said
"read" because most purported film/video documentaries (i.e., 'The (alleged)
History Channel,' for example) are replete with errors, be it dates,
personalities, weapons, and/or units involved.

Another Leon Uris book that is very good at giving you the 'flavor' of an
event is "Mila 18" about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1944. I haven't read
the book in over 30 years so I'm a little fuzzy on the title. I'm sure, if
you're interested, a search on any book site will turn it up.

Mike

[rhino]

Post by Dave Wilma

Post by rhino
I just finished reading Leon Uris' Armageddon, published in 1963. It covers
the Allied efforts to govern conquered Germany from 1945 until the end of
the Airlift.
I'd be curious to know how accurately this book reflected what really
happened in the governance of Germany by the Allies in the immediate postwar
period.

I read the book a couple of times when it was in print. I would say
that the background is accurate, that is, the organization of the
military government in Rombad and life in Berlin. Remember that it was
written against the backdrop of the Cold War and might have been
slanted against the Soviets.

I don't doubt that there was a slant against the Soviets; after all, it
seems to have been written right about the time the Berlin Wall was being
erected, although I'm not sure if it saw print before or after that event.

Post by Dave Wilma
Use a novel to get a "sense" of the time, but read well-documented
history for the facts.

I clearly didn't express myself very well. What I was trying to say was that
some books, like Solzhenitsyn's novels for example, are only thinly-veiled
autobiographies with some of the details changed. Now, I don't suppose
Armageddon was actually about Uris's life but some of the details he cites
read like he was intimate with a lot of the "behind the scenes" stuff during
the Allied occupation of Germany. Perhaps he was a drinking buddy of an
insider, for example.

I was curious to know if some of the details, like Russian soldiers staging
stickups at S-bahn stations in the Western sectors or the Russians being
ordered to expropriate even the German toilets are actually in the
historical record or if this is just something he conjured up for
entertainment (or propaganda) purposes?

As far as the toilets go, he portrays this as having been an order emanating
from the Soviet administration in Berlin at the behest of Moscow but he
gives the impression that the order was not actually carried out. That makes
me wonder how he would ever have known that such a thing was even
contemplated. Could Uris have had access to a Soviet defector (or someone
who debriefed one)?

Also, what are the best regarded books about the immediate aftermath of WW
II in Europe, particular in the countries that became the Warsaw Pact? I'm
also interested in learning more about what was going on in the countries
that leaned toward Marxism, like France and Italy, but ultimately stayed in
the capitalist camp.

--
Rhino

[Brad Meyer]

Post by rhino
I just finished reading Leon Uris' Armageddon, published in 1963. It covers
the Allied efforts to govern conquered Germany from 1945 until the end of
the Airlift.
I've never read anything by him before and felt a real "ring of truth" in
this book. But how accurate was it, really? It is clearly a novel but it
seems to be one of those which takes what really happened and just changes
some of the names to fictitious ones to avoid legal issues. Or am I just
gullible?
I'd be curious to know how accurately this book reflected what really
happened in the governance of Germany by the Allies in the immediate postwar
period.

Major events, i.e. the various elections, the formation of RIAS, the
dropping of candy bars by American transports, war timed accurately.
Names and motivations have been changed in most instances to support
the plot. Many characters are as thinly disgised historical figures as
the Dillinghams, Marstons, Bishops, Doles, etc. in Mitchner's
"Hawaii".

FWIW, I think all Uris' books are readable and some are very, very
good.