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The conventional narrative of the Second World War is well known: after six years of brutal fighting on land, sea and in the air, the Allied Powers prevailed and the Nazi regime was defeated. But as in so many things, the truth is somewhat different. Bringing a fresh eye to bear on a story we think we know, Norman Davies.Davies forces us to look again at those six years and to discard the usual narrative of Allied good versus Nazi evil, reminding us that the war in Europe was dominated by two evil monsters - Hitler and Stalin - whose fight for supremacy consumed the best people in Germany and in the USSR . The outcome of the war was at best ambiguous, the victory of the West was only partial, its moral reputation severely tarnished and, for the greater part of the continent of Europe, ‘liberation’ was only the beginning of more than fifty years of totalitarian oppression. ‘Davies writes with real knowledge and passion.’ Michael Burleigh, Evening Standard ‘Punchy and compelling' Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph
'The Second World War, 1939-45' examines the causes of the war and details the course of conflict in Western Europe, the USSR, Africa and the Pacific. It also describes the experiences of civilians, resistance fighters, prisoners of war and Holocaust victims.
A magisterial, single-volume history of the greatest conflict the world has ever known by our foremost military historian. ***** The Second World War began in August 1939 on the edge of Manchuria and ended there exactly six years later with the Soviet invasion of northern China. The war in Europe appeared completely divorced from the war in the Pacific and China, and yet events on opposite sides of the world had profound effects. Using the most up-to-date scholarship and research, Beevor assembles the whole picture in a gripping narrative that extends from the North Atlantic to the South Pacific and from the snowbound steppe to the North African Desert. Although filling the broadest canvas on a heroic scale, Beevor's The Second World War never loses sight of the fate of the ordinary soldiers and civilians whose lives were crushed by the titanic forces unleashed in the most terrible war in history.
Ideal for use in school homework projects on World War II - packed with photographs and artworks, this book will help readers understand the bravery and sacrifice of ordinary people during World War II.
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This volume presents the results of a conference on the history of total war.
The Korean War is journalist and military historian Sir Max Hastings’ compelling account of the forgotten war. 'The best narrative history of the Korean conflict' – Guardian On 25 June 1950 the invasion of South Korea by the Communist North launched one of the bloodiest conflicts of the last century. The seemingly limitless power of the Chinese-backed North was thrown against the ferocious firepower of the UN-backed South in a war that can be seen today as the stark prelude to Vietnam. Max Hastings draws on first-hand accounts of those who fought on both sides to produce this vivid and incisive reassessment of the Korean War, bringing the military and human dimensions into sharp focus. Critically acclaimed on publication, republished with an introduction from the author, The Korean War remains the best narrative history of this conflict. 'A brilliant tour-de-force' – Times Literary Supplement 'Excellent, readable history by a master of the genre' – Daily Mail 'This book establishes him as one of the leading British military historians.' – New York Times
Women at War 1939-1945
The Second World War was, for Britain, a 'total war'; no section of society remained untouched by military conscription, air raids, the shipping crisis and the war economy. In this comprehensive and engrossing narrative Angus Calder presents not only the great events and leading figures but also the oddities and banalities of daily life on the Home Front, and in particular the parts played by ordinary people: air raid wardens and Home Guards, factory workers and farmers, housewives and pacifists. Above all this revisionist and important work reveals how, in those six years, the British people came closer to discarding their social conventions than at any time since Cromwell's republic. Winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys prize in 1970, The People’s War draws on oral testimony and a mass of neglected social documentation to question the popularised image of national unity in the fight for victory.
British General J. F. C. Fuller is one of the greatest military thinkers of this century, and has been called the Clausewitz of our time. This book is Fuller’s direct and clear-eyed account of the most terrible war of the modern era. When first published in 1948, it received notices such as these: “The strategic and tactical phases of the war are brilliantly expounded...on that score, the book stands as probably the best comprehensive work on the war to appear so far.”—The New Yorker “The narrative, valuable as it is, is not the most important part of General Fuller’s book. What really matters is the author’s comments on the events he describes, and these provide us with a clea...