Mikhail Meltyukhov

Mikhail Ivanovich Meltyukhov (Russian: Russian: Михаил Иванович Мельтюхов, pronounced [mɪxɐˈil ɪˈvanəvitɕ mɪlʲˈtʲuˈxof]), (born 14 March 1966), is a Russian military historian. He is working at the Russian Institute of Documents and Historical Records Research.

Works

Meltyukhov was born in Moscow.

In 1995, he defended the dissertation “Contemporary Historiography on Pre-history of the German-Soviet War”[1] on historiography concerning the beginning of World War II. Since then, he has published several studies, many of which are notable for the critical review of the official Soviet conceptions of World War II. Some important works in this direction are On the Verge of the Great Patriotic War: the Debate Goes on[2] and Stalin's Missed Chance[3][4] and "Soviet-Polish Wars: Military and Political Standoff in 1918-1939".[5]

Meltyukhov also contributed to a recently published collection of articles on Viktor Suvorov's ideas.[6] Meltyukhov supported some ideas of Suvorov in general but criticized him for inaccuracies. In his latest work, Stalin's Liberation Campaign,[7] he deals with Joseph Stalin's attempts to re-gain 'lost territories' of the Russian empire, for example, Bessarabia. He presents a hypothesis that precisely at the time of Soviet occupation of Bessarabia did Adolf Hitler make the decision to invade the Soviet Union, because he realized that Red Army can quickly cut Germany off its oil reserves in Romania by a strike from Bessarabia. This thesis was put forward earlier by Viktor Suvorov who described Soviet preparations for the strike.

An English version of some of his work has been published as "Disputes over 1941" by M I Mel'tiukhov in the series Russian studies in history.[8]

Assessment

Criticism

Meltyukhov's Soviet-Polish Wars: Military and Political Confrontation in 1918-1939 was strongly criticized for bias and inaccuracies by journalist Peter Cheremushkin who works as a lecturer at Moscow State University[9] and historian Andrzej Nowak of Jagiellonian University and Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences.[10] According to Nowak, Mikhail Meltyukhov interprets Polish-Soviet conflicts as “fragments of eternal Western aggression against Russia.” Russia's (or resp. Soviet Union's) aggressions “are presented as purely defensive postures”, thus presenting Soviet crimes in occupied Poland “as a ‘peacekeeping mission’”[11] In his 2004 book Nowak lists in detail biases and inaccuracies concerning Polish-Russian relations in Meltyukhov's book, primarily pointing out that Poland is always portrayed as an aggressor and many instances of Russian aggression toward Poland are ignored.[11][a]

Support

Meltyukhov's study Stalin's Missed Chance has also been valued positively for covering Soviet military plans before the outbreak of German-Soviet war in 1941, relying on documents that were previously inaccessible.[12] While the theory that the Soviet leadership was indeed planning to strike Germany in 1941 remains disputed, Meltyukhov's data has been used[13] by authors who do not support the Soviet assault plans thesis mentioned above. However, some reviewers who agree that the USSR intended to attack Germany, have also criticised Meltyukhov for including pro-Soviet views (justifying aggressions on the basis of Soviet 'national interests' etc).[14]

Notes

a ^ Bar Confederation for Meltyukhov is not a 'pro-Polish independence movement' but only an 'anti-religious tolerance' one; for a comprehensive study of Polish-Russian relations, there is no mention of Polish–Russian War of 1792 nor of Targowica Confederation.[11] In another example, he claims that 60,000 Soviet POWs died in Polish camps during the Polish–Soviet War, and all Polish POWs were returned safely (this claim has been contradicted by the recent finding of both Polish and Russian historians that for both sides, POWs losses were similar (15,000-20,000); for more on this subject, see Camps for Russian prisoners and internees in Poland (1919–24) and Polish prisoners and internees in the Soviet Union and Lithuania (1919–21)).[11] Perhaps most controversially, the "60,000 Soviet POWs murdered during the Polish–Soviet War" is used to justify the World War II Katyn massacre of ~20,000 Polish officers.[11] Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is declared non-infringing on Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact and as containing no anti-Polish aspects; Soviet invasion of Poland is termed 'peace operation' and 'liberation'; and main concern of Soviet government during its occupation of Poland was the well-being of Polish citizens (deportations were meant to safeguard Poles from retribution of now-liberated minorities in that region).[11] Nowak also criticizes the work on methodological grounds, noting its reliance of Soviet sources like Nikolai Kuzmin Kruszenije trietjego pochoda Ententy (1958) or Paweł Olszański's Riżskij dogowor (1969) and near complete omission of any works from Russian authors who would disagree with his claims, as well as ignoring the Polish or Western historiography.[11]

References
  1. Современнная отечественнная историографии предистории Великой Отечественнной войны (1985-1995). Дисссертация. Москва, 1995
  2. Канун Великой Отечественнной войны: дискуссия продолжается. Москва, 1995
  3. Упущенный шанс Сталина. Советский Союз и борьба за Европу: 1939-1941 (Документы, факты, суждения). - М.: Вече, 2000 ISBN 5-7838-0590-4
  4. М. И. Мельтюхов Упущенный шанс Сталина: Советский Союз и борьба за Европу 1939-1941 гг. : Документы, факты, суждения. Изд. 2-е, испр. , доп. ISBN 5-7838-1196-3 (second edition)
  5. Мельтюхов, Михаил Иванович (Mikhail Mel'tiuhov) (2001). Советско-польские войны. Военно-политическое противостояние 1918—1939 гг. (Soviet-Polish Wars. Politico-Military standoff of 1918-1939). Moscow: Вече (Veche). ISBN 5-699-07637-9. (in Russian).
  6. Преддверие Великой Отечественной войны 1939-1941 гг.: становление великой державы. in: Правда Виктора Суворова. Переписывая историю Второй Мировой. Яуза, 2006 c. 31-108. ISBN 5-87849-214-8
  7. М. И. Мельтюхов Освободительный поход Сталина. Яуза, Эксмо, 2006. ISBN 5-699-17275-0
  8. Russian studies in history 36, no. 2, (1997) Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., ISSN 1061-1983. OCLC 89401509
  9. Peter Cheremushkin, Russian-Polish Relations: A Long Way From Stereotypes to Reconciliation, InterMarium Volume 5 (2002), p.18
    According to Cheremushkin Meltyukhov's "point of view can be used to justify the execution of the Polish officers in 1940." and he argues Meltyukhov is "close to Stalinist and neoimperial concepts"
  10. Andrzej Nowak, History as an Apology of Totalitarianism, p.9, conference paper at Soviet Totalitarianism in Ukraine: History and Legacy, Kiev, September 2–6, 2005
  11. Andrej Nowak, Od imperium do imperium. Spojrzenia na historię Europy Wschodniej, Arcana, Kraków 2004, ISBN 83-89243-81-4, p. 258-271
  12. see e.g. Two Aggressors, a books review in Russian by Genrikh Lyatiyev. Генрих Лятиев. Два агрессора. - «Октябрь» 2001, №11. Online: http://magazines.russ.ru/october/2001/11/l.html. Accessed 23 November 2008.
  13. e.g. David Glantz Stumbling Colossus, 1998. p. 292
  14. e.g. Aleksandr Gogun. Two Books on Stalin's Wars - Александр Гогун. Две книги о сталинских войнах in: Правда Виктора Суворова. Переписывая историю Второй Мировой, сост. Дм. Хмельницкий. Article available at http://lib.oun-upa.org.ua/gogun/pub17.html. Accessed 23 November 2008.

Bibliography
  • М. И. Мельтюхов, Д. М. Проэктор Блицкриг в Европе, 1939 - 1941. Польша. AST, Terra Fantastica, 2004. ISBN 5-17-018623-1, 5-7921-0416-6
  • Современнная отечественнная историографии предистории Великой Отечественнной войны (1985–1995). Дисссертация. Москва, 1995
  • Канун Великой Отечественнной войны: дискуссия продолжается. Москва, 1995
  • Упущенный шанс Сталина. Советский Союз и борьба за Европу: 1939-1941 (Документы, факты, суждения). - М.: Вече, 2000 ISBN 5-7838-0590-4 (second edition was published in 2004)
  • Освободительный поход Сталина. Яуза, Эксмо, 2006. ISBN 5-699-17275-0
  • Преддверие Великой Отечественной войны 1939-1941 гг.: становление великой державы. in: Правда Виктора Суворова. Переписывая историю Второй Мировой. Яуза, 2006 c. 31-108. ISBN 5-87849-214-8
  • Великая Отечественная катастрофа. Трагедия 1941 года. 2007. (a collection of articles, authors: Meltyukhov, Solonin, Viktor Suvorov, M.Baryatinsky, Y.Mukhin)
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