Sean McMeekin's History's Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the PDF

Historians have by no means resolved a valuable secret of the Russian Revolution: How did the Bolsheviks, regardless of dealing with an international of enemies and leaving not anything yet financial disaster of their direction, be ready to remain in strength via 5 lengthy years of civil war?  during this penetrating booklet, Sean McMeekin attracts on formerly undiscovered fabrics from the Soviet Ministry of Finance and different ecu and American files to show the various darkest secrets and techniques of Russia’s early days of communism. construction on one archival revelation after one other, the writer unearths how the Bolsheviks financed their aggression via astonishingly wide thievery. Their looting integrated every thing from the money reductions of personal voters to gold, silver, diamonds, jewellery, icons, antiques, and artwork.

By monitoring illicit Soviet monetary transactions throughout Europe, McMeekin exhibits how Lenin’s regime finished history’s maximum heist among 1917 and 1922 and became centuries of gathered wealth into the sinews of sophistication struggle. McMeekin additionally names names, introducing for the 1st time the compliant bankers, attorneys, and middlemen who, for a value, helped the Bolsheviks launder their loot, impoverish Russia, and impose their brutal will on millions.