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A 1989 novel by Ralph Peters, often counted among the techno-thriller genre thanks to its subject matter -- a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. Unlike other techno-thrillers, however, Peters wrote the entire story from the Soviet point of view, then went on to commit the faux pas of having the Soviets actually win, something other American writers would never dream of.

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  • Red Army (novel)
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  • A 1989 novel by Ralph Peters, often counted among the techno-thriller genre thanks to its subject matter -- a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. Unlike other techno-thrillers, however, Peters wrote the entire story from the Soviet point of view, then went on to commit the faux pas of having the Soviets actually win, something other American writers would never dream of.
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  • A 1989 novel by Ralph Peters, often counted among the techno-thriller genre thanks to its subject matter -- a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. Unlike other techno-thrillers, however, Peters wrote the entire story from the Soviet point of view, then went on to commit the faux pas of having the Soviets actually win, something other American writers would never dream of. As the story opens, World War III has already started (Peters never does mention what started it) and the Red Army under General Malinsky is about to attack across the plains of northern Germany. What follows is the theater-strategic operation NATO so feared during the Cold War, the mechanized Soviet armies splitting the alliance’s front and pouring across Germany too fast for their shocked high command to react. Like Red Storm Rising, it’s a highly educational read, and is surprisingly easy going since Peters avoids geeky details (he talks about 'tanks' and 'anti-air units' instead of 'T-80s' and 'ZSU-23-4s') and focuses squarely on the characters, every one of whom is properly fleshed-out and three-dimensional. Despite this, Red Army was mostly dissed by the critics who apparently couldn’t forgive Peters for letting the bad guys win. It also had the misfortune to be released at the end of the Cold War and thus became Hilarious in Hindsight when the mighty Soviet Union broke up and the Gulf War occured, meaning that Peters was accused of overhyping the strength of America’s enemies. Make no mistake, however: at the time this was Serious Business. To be fair, Peters acknowledges in his afterword that his novels assumed a complete 'best case' scenario for the Soviets, and indicates that he wrote the novel in part because most of the other writers of World War III technothrillers at the time relied on a best-case scenario for NATO. While Red Army fails the history test, it more than passes as a human drama, and it details the workings of a modern army far better than any of its rivals, including Red Storm Rising. Forget the romantic image of the brilliant general having a Napoleonic flash of inspiration that wins the pitched battle, deploying modern armies is a matter of march tables and proper mathematical planning. Ironically, war as Peters envisioned it has been carried out since the novel was written… by the U.S. Army on its march to Baghdad.
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