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Storm Of War (2009)

by Andrew Roberts(Favorite Author)

4.09 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1846143349 (ISBN13: 9781846143342)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Allen Lane

review 1: This is superb. You know those surveys that find that only three out of ten UK school children know who Churchill was? Well, to be honest, now I have read this brilliant, single-volume history, I realise how little I actually knew about the Second World War, and that what I did know comes from the likes of 'Dad's Army'. These were my sources: build up to war (Liza Minnelli in 'Cabaret'); Dunkirk ('Atonement', starring that bloke from Shameless); Battle of Britain (mainly beer ads); Battle of Atlantic (zilch, not even 'The Cruel Sea'); the Holocaust (the images that come to mind are Speilberg's, though I have read some of the survivor testimonies); the Russian front ('Stalingrad', the book and the re-interpretative work of Jude Law); the Pacific War (mainly Hollywood films,... more though am able to cheat by knowing a bit about Japan); the North African campaign (some war comics I read when I was a kid); battle for Italy (Spike Milligan's memoirs); D-Day (more Hollywood films, more Spielberg); final days of war ('Downfall', but only prompted to watch it after seeing the ranting-Hitler-as-football-manager spoofs on You Tube). So this book has helped a lot. It's also cured me of the idea that WW2-era Amercians were all like Tom Hanks and that myopic Yankee bombast is a modern phenomenon. Here is General Patton, communing with God in a chapel in Luxembourg on 23rd December 1944, six months after D-Day. "Sir, this is Patton talking. You have just got to make up Your mind whose side You're on. You must come to my assistance, so that I might dispatch the entire German army as a birthday present to Your Prince of Peace."
review 2: A highly insightful and thoroughly researched analysis of WWII from the Agitator's perspective: Nazi Germany, provided by the acclaimed military historian Andrew Roberts. His multi-faceted approach delves into areas political, social, economic, tactical and diplomatic, as experienced by leaders, civilians, soldiers; everyone in the chain of command. He considers all theaters of the war: by air, land, sea, communication and espionage, noting successes and failures among both Axis and Allied. He easily quenches a gear heads' thirst with statistics on arms, armor and personnel of all of the major nations conflicted. Roberts personally toured on foot the many strategic points, battlegrounds and causeways which backdrop this war. His strongest argument is that Hitler failed winning it because, as a Nazi, his ideology was unattainable and self-destructive. Hitler wrested away power from his top-tier generals, whom he should have allowed to run operations. As a result he often made unreasonable and unsound military decisions mishandling a double-headed encounter with the East and the West, while also simultaneously executing the Holocaust. What I most enjoyed taking from this work is how, during warfare, countries can collaborate to reach the best possible outcomes, and in other cases, how they can dismantle themselves entirely. From a purely objective standpoint as a reader, this is the 20th century's most spectacular drama and all the players are here: Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, Hirohito, Speer, Himmler, de Gaulle, Mussolini, etc. Humanity triumphs yet at a terrible cost. To the hell that war is, I quote: let cooler heads prevail. less

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