Valeri Danilov (also spelled: Valeriy;
Russian:Валерий Дмитриевич Данилов) is a Russian military historian and a retired officer (
Colonel
Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
). Danilov has a Candidate of History Sciences degree (''кандидат исторических наук'') and is a professor at the
Academy of Military Science in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
.
Findings
In the early 1990s, Soviet and Russian archives were made newly accessible to researchers from Russian and other nations. They have found previously unknown documents that have prompted new interpretations of 20th century Russia and Soviet history.
As an example, in 1993,
Yuri Gorkov and Valeri Danilov published the article, "Was Stalin Preparing a Preemptive Strike Against Hitler in 1941?" in ''Russian Studies in History,'' XXXVI, Nr.3, 1997/98, S. 22-46. It was based on their interpretation of a previously classified document, titled "Considerations to the plan of the strategic development of the armed forces of the Soviet Union" and dated May 15, 1941, which proposed a strike on Germany. The paper was purportedly composed by
Georgy Zhukov
Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( 189618 June 1974) was a Soviet military leader who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During World War II, Zhukov served as deputy commander-in-ch ...
, defense commissar, and
Semyon Timoshenko, chief of staff, and presented to
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
. The publication of this plan has generated much discussion among Russian historians (both in and outside Russia) about Stalin's intended strategy in 1941.
Gorkov and Danilov argued that, taking into account Stalin's control of Soviet life, it is highly unlikely that these two high-ranking men would have had such a document prepared without Stalin's explicit authorization. The 1937 purges had decimated the ranks of the higher officers. Danilov suggests that this draft by Zhukov was the basis for Soviet military planning in 1941, and that Stalin intended to strike Germany before the Nazis'
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
took place.
[Данилов.В.Д. Сталинская стратегия начала войны: планы и реальность—Другая война. 1939-1945 гг; or Danilоv V. Hat der Generalsstab der Roten Armee einen Praventiveschlag gegen Deutschland vorbereitet? // Österreichische Militarische Zeitschrift. 1993. №1. S. 41-51]
Online text in Russian
/ref>
References
Works
*Данилов Валерий ''Забывчивость или обман? О некоторых нестыковках в освещении преддверия Великой Отечественной войны''
*Валерий Данилов ''Сталин опоздал...'' - Родина, 1995, №7, с. 70-73
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danilov, Valeri
Living people
20th-century Russian historians
Year of birth missing (living people)
Russian military historians