Redstorm Rising Book Report Essay, Research Paper

Red Storm Rising is a book about the Soviet Union and Russia’s attempt to overtake the Atlantic so they can launch an offensive against the United States of America and maybe other NATO countries such as England and Germany.

The story begins in 1980 at a very productive but old, Soviet oil refinery in Nizhnevartovsk. The refinery is blown up by Islamic terrorists that hope to be ‘heard’ by their God Allah by commiting this violent action. The devestation of the refinery leads Russia into chaos with a much smaller supply of oil. The story escalates as the Russian army makes a push on Iraq to gain control over the precious oil fields to setup refineries and also an attack on Iceland. Conquering Iceland is an important step because this allows the Russians to reach farther into the Atlantic and possibly into North America with their aircraft. The Russian’s greed for land control is immense and they are desperate for more resources and materials to manage more war campaigns. The Soviet Union soon decides that to gain ultimate power, Russian military must first cripple NATO and start the worst non-nuclear war imaginable.

This book is unique because the story is told through many different character’s points of view.

Tom Clancy tells the story through eyes of NATO and Russian naval captains who command both surface and underwater boats. Most of the character’s actions would seem reasonable at war time, making the story realistic. Almost every chapter in the book takes place in a different location during the war, on both the Russian and NATO fronts of battle.

At the end of the book the Russians are defeated because they are severly outnumbered by NATO forces and are desperatly low on munitions, thus forcing them to retreat out of the countries they have occupied and return to their Soviet Union. Although the book is a long read, I enjoyed it because of the struggles between the two greatest military superpowers: the United States and Russia.