Always with Honor: The Memoirs of General Wrangel - by Pyotr (Paperback)

About the Book

The memoirs of General Pyotr Wrangel

Book Synopsis

Always with Honor is the gripping memoir of General Pyotr Wrangel, the last commander of the White Army during the Russian Civil War. In this vivid and unflinching account, Wrangel chronicles the chaos, courage, and tragedy of his struggle against the Bolsheviks--a fight for the soul of Russia amid the collapse of an empire. From the brutal battlefields of the Civil War to the harrowing retreat of his forces into exile, Wrangel reflects on the virtues of duty, loyalty, and the cost of honor in an era of revolution. With keen insight into the political and military strategies that defined the White movement, he provides a rare, firsthand perspective on one of the 20th century's most tumultuous periods. This Passage Classics release features updated maps and place names, as well as additional appendix material, including a letter from Wrangel to General Denikin written shortly after the war and excerpts from Wrangel's father's post-war memoir, From Serfdom to Bolshevism. This is the definitive English-language edition of Wrangel's memoir.

Review Quotes

This is really excellent stuff, though it is so sad to think how things could have been so different. I really do think Wrangel could have won, and - to use Churchill's phrase - strangled the Bolshevik baby in its cradle, thus saving Russia and the world from oceans of suffering. The treachery and betrayal of the British - largely due to my namesake and distant kinsman General George Milne - is particularly painful for me to read.

Wrangel's tone is fair, dispassionate, and measured. The military action is explained in clear and fascinating detail, especially the key battles around Tsaritsyn - which, of course, is the city which under its (temporary) name of Stalingrad would later be the scene for equally decisive conflict on a far greater scale. Political matters are given their due too - especially Wrangel's determined attempt to introduce democracy and land reform. Tragically, all his reforms were undone when the Bolsheviks won. One of the inevitable consequences of undoing all Wrangel's sensible agrarian policies and imposing Bolshevik policies instead was a devastating famine in which millions died - and yet that was only the first of many famines, all either caused or exacerbated by Bolshevism, which would poison the land for decades to come.