Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World

by Giles Milton

Overview

From a master of popular history, the lively, immersive story of the race to seize Berlin in the aftermath of World War II as it’s never been told before

BERLIN’S FATE WAS SEALED AT THE 1945 YALTA CONFERENCE: the city, along with the rest of Germany, was to be carved up among the victorious powers— the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. On paper, it seemed a pragmatic solution. In reality, once the four powers were no longer united by the common purpose of defeating Germany, they wasted little time reverting to their prewar hostility toward—and suspicion of—one another. The veneer of civility between the Western allies and the Soviets was to break down in spectacular fashion in Berlin. Rival systems, rival ideologies, and rival personalities ensured that the German capital became an explosive battleground.

The warring leaders who ran Berlin’s four sectors were charismatic, mercurial men, and Giles Milton brings them all to rich and thrilling life here. We meet unforgettable individuals like America’s explosive Frank “Howlin’ Mad” Howley, a brusque sharp-tongued colonel with a relish for mischief and a loathing for all Russians. Appointed commandant of the city’s American sector, Howley fought an intensely personal battle against his wily nemesis, General Alexander Kotikov, commandant of the Soviet sector. Kotikov oozed charm as he proposed vodka toasts at his alcohol-fueled parties, but Howley correctly suspected his Soviet rival was Stalin’s agent, appointed to evict the Western allies from Berlin and ultimately from Germany as well.

Throughout, Checkmate in Berlin recounts the first battle of the Cold War as we’ve never before seen it. An exhilarating tale of intense rivalry and raw power, it is above all a story of flawed individuals who were determined to win, and Milton does a masterful job of weaving between all the key players’ motivations and thinking at every turn. A story of unprecedented human drama, it’s one that had a profound, and often underestimated, shaping force on the modern world – one that’s still felt today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250247568
Publisher:	Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	07/13/2021
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	229,227
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Giles Milton is the internationally bestselling author of eleven works of narrative history, including Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy: How the Allies Won on D-Day. His previous work, Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, is currently being developed into a major TV series. Milton’s works—published in twenty-five languages—include Nathaniel’s Nutmeg, serialized by the BBC. He lives in London and Burgundy.

Table of Contents

Principal Characters
Prologue

PART ONE: UNEASY ALLIES
The Road to Berlin
Flag on the Reichstag
Red Berlin
Loot

PART TWO: TROUBLED WATERS
Arrival of the Allies
Life on the Edge
Dividing the Spoils
Let Battle Commence
Enter the Overlords

PART THREE: BREAKDOWN
The Iron Curtain
Ministry of Lies
Crime and Punishment
Playing Dirty
Shifting Sands
Breaking Point

PART FOUR: THE SIEGE
The Perfect Siege
Flying High
The Sky’s the Limit
Checkmate
Fruits of Victory

Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index

Editorial Reviews

05/03/2021

Historian Milton (Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy) captures in this immersive account the drama and intrigue of Berlin in the immediate aftermath of WWII. At the 1945 Yalta conference, Berlin was divided into three zones of occupation to be controlled by the U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. However, the border of Soviet-controlled East Germany was drawn 110 miles west of Berlin, which meant that the American and British sectors of the city would be surrounded by the Red Army. The Allies hoped that any difficulties could be overcome by diplomacy, but problems arose from the beginning. Soviet troops entered Berlin first and began a program of rape, violence, and plunder; by the time the Allies were allowed in, the Russians had looted everything of value from the Western sectors. Milton notes that the basic ration card providing Berliners with only 1,504 calories per day was known as the “death card,” and documents high-level Soviet defections that brought to light Russian infiltration of U.S. and British atomic research programs, Stalin’s rigging of local elections, the kidnapping of German scientists by the Soviets, the diplomatic tensions leading up to the 1948–1949 Soviet blockade of the city’s western half, and the resulting airlift that helped bring the siege to an end. Full of vivid details and intriguing personalities, this is a page-turning chronicle of a noteworthy period in world history. (July)

Publishers Weekly

[A] meticulously researched and crisply written account of those pivotal early years in divided Berlin...Popular narrative history at its very best.”
—Wall Street Journal

“A lively story...Milton raises an interesting question that evokes the great film The Third Man: Who really ran Berlin in the late 1940s — was it the Americans, Russians, British and French in their sectors, or was it the black marketeers playing the sectors against one another?”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Truly unputdownable...Milton’s history is not meant to be economic as much as it aims to inform readers about what happened not terribly long ago. His history is once again fascinating.”
—Forbes

“As gripping as any thriller...a wonderfully clear and digestible account.”
—Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

“Expertly told...Milton has spun good yarn...”
—The Times

“Brilliantly recapturing the febrile atmosphere of Berlin in the first four years after the Second World War, Giles Milton reminds us what an excellent story-teller he is, and how often and easily the Cold War could have grown red hot. From the major decision-makers in the four Allied Governments who ran the former Nazi capital, right down to the spooks, soldiers, crooks, and civilians at street level, he has an unerring sense for the revealing incident and hitherto-untold story.”
—Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

“From the Yalta Conference to the birth of NATO, Checkmate in Berlin balances the sweep of history against a group of truly extraordinary personalities. Brilliantly written and completely absorbing, this is Milton’s masterpiece.”
—Anthony Horowitz, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Alex Rider series

“Giles Milton never disappoints. The man who helped to turn narrative history into one of the most popular genres in modern publishing, Checkmate in Berlin is up there with his best. Milton paints characters so vividly, and his writing has the momentum of a novel - only better, because it’s all true.”
—Dan Snow, host of the History Hit podcast

“A sparkling account...the triumph of the book is its depiction of the men who ran things on the ground in Berlin...Milton has the John le Carré-esque ability to make meetings fascinating...told with a dark, ironic humour that makes the unedifying events thoroughly entertaining.”
—The Daily Telegraph

"Historian Milton...captures in this immersive account the drama...of Berlin in the immediate aftermath of WWII....Full of vivid details and intriguing personalities, this is a page-turning chronicle of a noteworthy period in world history."
—Publishers Weekly

"...Enlightens both avid readers and practicing historians with sketches of the foreign military leaders...Weaving together archival transcripts and an incredible array of secondary sources, this book satisfies on many levels...holds readers’ attention from start to finish."
—Library Journal

Praise for Giles Milton

“In [Big Chief Elizabeth], an exceptionally pungent, amusing, and accessible historical account, Giles Milton brings readers right into the midst of these colonists and their daunting American adventure…there’s no question that Mr. Milton’s research has been prodigious and that it yields an entertaining, richly informative look at the past.”
—New York Times

“Giles Milton is a man who can take an event from history and make it come alive....He has a genius for lively prose and an appreciation for historical credibility. With Samurai William, he has crafted an inspiration for those of us who believe that history can be exciting and entertaining.”
—The Times

"Milton is a meticulous researcher and masterful storyteller. Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, with its ghastly details and dollops of droll British humor, will reward readers who appreciate military history and good writing."
—USA Today (3.5 star out of 4)

“White Gold is lively and diligently researched, a chronicle of cruelty on a grand scale. An unfailingly entertaining piece of popular history.”
—Sunday Telegraph

From the Publisher

06/01/2021

Recognizing that Berlin was a center of attention throughout the Cold War, historian Milton (Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy) enlightens both avid readers and practicing historians with sketches of the foreign military leaders who, from 1945 to 1949, presided over occupied Berlin's four sectors and interacted with each other and their countries' commanders in Germany. These lesser-known figures include American colonel Frank "Howlin' Mad" Howley; Soviet military commander Alexander Kotikov; British general Brian Robertson; and French general Charles Lançon, among others. Expertly employing candid vignettes, Milton also recognizes the roles played by U.S. air force officers William Tunner and Curtis LeMay during World War II, as well as the influence of Soviet general Georgy Zhukov. Although the Cold War ended in 1991, it still influences the relationship between Russia and the United States, Milton deftly argues. VERDICT Weaving together archival transcripts and an incredible array of secondary sources, this book satisfies on many levels and will engage fans of military history, as well as readers looking for fresh takes on World War II. As in his previous books, Milton's writing here is accessible and holds readers' attention from start to finish.—Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Lib. of Congress, Washington, DC

Library Journal

2021-04-29
An account of the stormy Allied-Soviet relations in Berlin after Germany’s 1945 surrender.

Most histories of this period emphasize Allied leaders (Truman, Churchill, Stalin) or generals (Eisenhower, Montgomery). In his latest World War II history, however, Milton moves down the hierarchy to focus on Berlin’s four military governors, especially American colonel Frank Howley and his bitter rival, Soviet general Alexander Kotikov. A civil affairs specialist, Howley impressed superiors in governing and feeding Cherbourg and then Paris before he was promoted to command the American sector of Berlin. On June 17, 1945, his unit moved toward Berlin only to be stopped and harassed at the border of Soviet-occupied Germany. It was not until July 1 that he entered a city stripped bare after two months of Soviet looting, with communists in control of the police as well as road and rail traffic. Howley arrived with written orders to cooperate; however, confronted with Soviet policy aimed at expelling the three Western occupiers, he disobeyed. It helped that, unlike his British and French colleagues, he was both pugnacious and enterprising. Milton devotes two-thirds of the book to shouting matches, political skulduggery, and violent confrontation that might be called “comic-opera” if it weren’t for the Soviet willingness to engage in kidnapping, sabotage, and murder. Perhaps the high note was the 1946 Berlin city council election. Free elections were never a Soviet strength, but they deluged the electorate with food, privileges, propaganda, and promises only to be horrified at their landslide defeat with less than 20% of the vote. Finally exasperated, in 1948 they cut off all supplies, resulting in the iconic Berlin airlift. Many popular histories treat that operation as a dazzling triumph, but Milton’s detailed account reveals that Berliners starved and suffered intensely before Stalin called off the Soviet blockade. The author ends in 1949, with Berlin firmly divided, an outcome acceptable to the West but a persistent drain on the Soviet Union that ultimately contributed to its collapse.

Entertaining if unedifying fireworks in postwar Berlin.

Kirkus Reviews