Rising '44

Rising '44 is a brilliant narrative account of one of the most dramatic episodes in 20th century history, drawing on Davies' unique understanding of the issues and characters involved. In August 1944 Warsaw offered the Wehrmacht the last line of defence against the Red Army's march from Moscow to Berlin. When the Red Army reached the river Vistula, the people of Warsaw believed that liberation had come. The Resistance took to the streets in celebration, but the Soviets remained where they were, allowing the Wehrmacht time to regroup and Hitler to order that the city of Warsaw be razed to the ground. For 63 days the Resistance fought on in the cellars and the sewers. Defenceless citizens were slaughtered in their tens of thousands. One by one the City's monuments were reduced to rubble, watched by Soviet troops on the other bank of the river. The Allies expressed regret but decided that there was nothing to be done, Poland would not be allowed to be governed by Poles. The sacrifice was in vain and the Soviet tanks rolled in to the flattened city. It is a hugely dramatic story, vividly and authoritatively told by one of our greatest historians.

“[His] knowledge and his passion are displayed in this notable book. His research among Polish and Soviet sources is exhaustive”

-- Max Hastings Sunday Telegraph
Davies reveals a comprehensive design, tremendous narrative power, a remarkable gift for compression, and a shrewd sense of overall balance The New York Review of Books
Davies has been widely recognised as the historian of that benighted country. Now he has used the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the uprising not only to provide a comprehensive account but to make us rethink the central trauma of the 20th century - the conflict between democracies and the totalitarian fantasies of fascism and communism. Guardian
Much more than the story of the Warsaw uprising. It is one of the most savage indictments of Allied malfeasance yet leveled by a historian. Unsparing in his depictions of the slaughter of the Polish fighters and the destruction of their capital, Davies challenges the popular assumption that World War II was entirely the triumph of good over evil. New York Times

Norman Davies was for many years Professor of History at the School of Slavonic Studies, University of London. He is the author of the acclaimed Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe and the Number One bestseller Europe: A History. His previous books, which include Rising '44:The Battle for Warsaw, The Isles: A History and God's Playground: A History of Poland, have been translated worldwide. From 1997 to 2004 he was Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford; he is now Professor at the Jagiellonian University at Kraków, and an Honorary Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford. He is also a Fellow of the British Academy. He lives in Oxford and Kraków.

'Norman Davies knows more about Poland than any other historian in the West . . . a moving elegy for those doomed romantics who fought so nobly, and to such tragic purpose, in Warsaw in the autumn of 1944' Max Hastings, Sunday Telegraph In August 1944 Warsaw offered the Wehrmacht the last line of defence against the Red Army's march from Moscow to Berlin. When the Red Army reached the river Vistula, the people of Warsaw believed that liberation had come. The Polish Home Army took to the streets in celebration, but the Soviets remained where they were, allowing the Nazi forces time to regroup and Hitler to order that the city of Warsaw be razed to the ground. For sixty-three days the Resistance fought on in the cellars and the sewers. Defenceless citizens were slaughtered in their tens of thousands. One by one the city's monuments were reduced to rubble, watched by Soviet troops on the other bank of the river. The Allies expressed regret but announced that there was nothing they could - or would - do. The Soviet tanks rolled in to the flattened city and Poland would be under the Russian yoke until 1989. Rising'44 tells the breathtaking story of one of the most dramatic episodes of the Second World War and it is vividly and authoritatively told by Norman Davies, one of our greatest historians.'A passionate and impressive indictment' John Crossland, Sunday Times 'An extraordinary story, and it is fairly and honestly told here. Davies is an intelligent and balanced guide through its intricacies, and he is always entertaining . . . one comes to realize that this powerful book is not so much about the Warsaw uprising as about the defeat of liberal democracy in the Second World War' Adam Zamoyski, Spectator

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