| Title | : | Ghosts of the Ostfront (Hardcore History, #27-30) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Audiobook |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | First published April 19, 2009 |
Ghosts of the Ostfront (Hardcore History, #27-30) Reviews
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Taken together, this series of podcasts has my vote for the greatest podcast ever produced.
This takes you into one of the darkest chapters of human history and tells it in an unforgettable way. Dan Carlin does an incredible job, and the beginning of the first episode may be the most memorable introduction to a historical account that I have ever seen or heard.
We hear so much about the rest of World War II that it's easy to forget that if it was separated from the rest of that war, the titanic struggle on the Eastern front between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia would still be the largest war in history. The cost in lives and human suffering was staggering. The world must never forget that the Holocaust wasn't the only holocaust that took place in Eastern Europe.
If you never got a chance to listen to these podcasts when they first came out, you can still purchase them at a reasonable price at the Hardcore History website. They are totally worth it. -
quote “do i shoot this guy before he shows me the picture of his family?” end quote.
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This Hardcore History must be a compelling series, if every new topic makes me feel as that specific period of time is the weirdest, craziest and perhaps the most awful time to be alive. The eastern front of WW2 is no different. Some tidbits:
1) Soviet Union mobilized 34 million soldiers during the war. It was also the only major power to mobilize both men and women to the front lines. A whopping 84% of the soldiers were lost as casualties (killed, wounded, lost, prisoners). Take a moment to let those numbers sink in.
2) Though American movies prefer to focus on the western front and the D-Day action, the Germans saw that as a minor theater compared to the struggle with the Soviets. 7 out of 8 German casualties were inflicted in the east, while the remaining 1 out of 8 is divided between the west and the south.
Ghosts of Ostfront is once again a masterpiece of history accessible both to a buff and a noob. It falls just short of some other modern history episodes (e.g Blueprint for Armageddon, Supernova in the East) for the only reason of covering a more mainstream part of history. Doesn't really affect the superb quality of the episode, but takes just a bit of from the holy-sh*t-did-that-really-happen-factor. -
Opnieuw een bloedstollend relaas van Dan Carlin over de vernietigingsoorlog tussen Nazi-Duitsland en de Sovjet-Unie tijdens WO II. Vooral de laatste aflevering (van 4 in totaal) over de wraak van het Rode Leger op de Duitse bevolking was een voor minder bekend aspect van dit brutaal conflict.
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I find it chilling to explore the Eastern front. General knowledge, high school history, video games, and Hollywood media really only captures things like D-Day, Pearl Harbour — basically anything to do with Western countries.
When you understand the horror, brutality, and sacrifice of the Eastern theatre, it really humbles you as a Westerner. There’s a feeling that “we” won the war. And we did. But there was a price paid many times larger, an unfathomable amount of civilian blood spilled between Russia and Germany. It really does seem like a time in history when two great evils clashed at such a colossal scale we may never… hopefully will never… see again.
Dan Carlin does such a great job at uncovering these intense chapters of history and presenting them in a way anyone can engage with. -
In many ways this shows humanity at its worst. The atrocities committed by both the Germans and the Soviets in WWII are unfathomable to most people alive today.
As always, Dan Carlin does a great job in telling us what happened. I started listening to “Ghosts of the Ostfront” this morning and I couldn’t stop until I had finished all episodes in the early afternoon. That’s how gripping it is. -
If you ask casual/moderately well-read ppl, they would have heard of terms like Normandy wrt WW2. And there have been zillions of books and movies on the Western Front. What about the much more horrifying and inhuman war on the Eastern Front ?
I read about it much later in
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin and from historical fiction here and there. And if you havent read much on it, Dan Carlin's superb, engaging "audiobook" podcast maybe a good place to start. -
(listened to on audiobook)
Not really sure if I'd call this a "book" as it's a series of podcasts, however it's on goodreads so why not. Very dark, gritty, and real look at the eastern front during World War II. Great to see primary resources from both sides. Really enjoy Dan Carlin's approach to history. Lots of hair raising moments. The background atmospheric sounds were nice too. Sometimes a bit rambling though, curious on how much he speaks off the cuff or from a script. Overall fascinating to learn about a part of the war I've never even really heard happened. -
Haunting, majestic, and grisly in ways that few others of his podcasts are, Carlin is spectacularly on point and informative in this series through the Ostfront of WWII.
Top World War I & II Histories by Algorithm List -
We all know that the second world war was bad but describing HOW bad was it is a challenge Carlin skillfully undertakes.
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Hardcore History #27-30
Ghosts of the Ostfront
Dan Carlin
I lived for about 30 years believing that the American, English, and western allies won the war – with some fighting going on in Soviet too. I am still surprised how brainwashed and misinformed I was.
Some lessons:
The German high command had good reason to believe that the Soviet would be easily defeated: The Russians preformed badly in WWI and the Soviets troops against small Finland.
Stalin and the Soviet population had faith in Hitler keeping the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, so much that he did not believe Hitler was attacking when the attack happened.
The purpose of the Siege of Leningrad was a systematic starvation of its civilian population.
An inhuman place to be: To get caught up in the front between two totalitarian regimes that put zero value on human lives.
Hitler took over control from his generals. Stalin gave more and more control to his generals.
The hardest challenge in understanding history is that we know their future. -
When reflecting on WWII, those of us in the West typically think of D-Day, Pearl Harbor, or the Holocaust. But did you know that 7 out of 8 German soldier deaths occurred on the Eastern Front (Ostfront) against the Soviet Union? The clash between Hitler and Stalin, two of the most evil men to have ever lived, cost the lives of roughly 30 million people.
4-5 million German soldiers
8-10 million Soviet soldiers
14-17 million Soviet civilians
By comparison, the US and UK lost about 400,000 soldiers each during the entire war. No doubt, both the US and UK played vital roles in the Allied victory, but the toll paid in blood was mostly borne by Eastern Europeans. Once again, Dan Carlin does an incredible job taking us through the brutal history. -
The war fought on the Eastern Front in WW2 was the most brutal and horrific war in human history by any measure. Carlin takes you through places like Stalingrad and Kursk as if you were there, while explaining why things happened as they did.
The descriptions of the end of the war when the Soviets are charging to Berlin was definitely the most haunting part.
No one really talks about this part of WW2, even though the losses sustained on this front dwarf anything in the Pacific or Western Europe. This was where WW2 was decided, and where it was at its absolute worst. -
An excellent overview of WWII and the Eastern Front. I didn't grow up learning a whole lot about the Eastern Front and the devastation that occurred there. Dan Carlin, as always, does an excellent job of taking you inside the major battles and small battles alike and dissecting them for the importance it played. As well, he gives you a true understanding of what it was like for the soldiers and civilians on the frontlines.
Definitely one of my favorite Hardcore History series. -
War, they say, is something that is fascinating to everyone who has never been involved in it. This rings true for the historical aspect of things as well. Carlin helps us find the middle ground here, looking at the interesting points of war, the planning, and the tactics. As well as the more gruesome points of war, the death, the suffering, and pain.
And as always, Carlin brings it in such a way that it is gripping and edge of your seat attention. -
It was great. This was relatively smaller series than latest Hardcore History episodes.
The scale of the eastern front and the battle at Stalingrad is simple felt through this. I never knew the Germans reached to Russian capital. I had though they were defeated by the natural elements. But that's hardly true, the Russians fought hard and suffered losses too.
Dan Carlin is great creator, check out his other episodes too. -
Interesting broad overview of the Eastern front of WWII and the boomerang of martial cruelty and momentum.
Would've been nice to have more of the perspective of the Russian actors involved.
Hard to mentally frame the scale of death and destruction involved when compared to the Western European front. -
Americans didn’t win the war…(they handled the pacific theatre on there own though)..
Russians paid the highest price..20 million..
They(russia) won the war..
It’s good that hitler was a bad leader..and failed the incredibly efficient Wehrmacht.. -
Whose narratives do we take on the Eastern Front, the Nazis or the Commies?
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“Russia’s War” by Richard Overy is a great book if you’re interested more in Soviet Eastern Front.
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Decent Dan Carlin, but just too short to really delve into the subject.
