Author: Charles de Gaulle
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description

Author: Jerry Grafstien
Publisher: Mosaic Press
ISBN: 1771616822
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 524

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Book Description
A personal history of the fragmented 20th century that has careened from modern technology to barbarity in a complex and confusing spiral. The author is the son of immigrants who were born thirty kilometres from each other in southern Poland. Fortuitously, due to religious ties, they met in Toronto in 1927, fell in love, married and settled in London, Ontario in 1930. The author's father's life spanned the first half of the twentieth century until his tragic death in a street accident in 1950. His mother's life spanned the entire twentieth century, born in 1900, arriving in Canada in 1907, and she passed away in 2002, in Toronto, and remained lucid to the end.History repeats itself, while mistakes are little learned from errors, venality and endless brutality. At best, he witnessed the descent from principle to pragmatism. He is fortunate in encountering fascinating personalities in politics, religion, arts, academia, and sports all of whom left singular impressions on him and others in Canada and around the globe. Ultimately, he discovered that it is not the destination but the journey along the way that continues to astound and surprise him as the innards of the human condition revolves and evolves without rhyme or reason.

Author: Forrest C. Pogue
Publisher: Plunkett Lake Press
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
Covering the period between George C. Marshall becoming Chief of Staff in September 1939 and the first military successes in 1942 (Guadalcanal, El Alamein, Northwest Africa), this volume describes how Marshall built up an army and air corps of fewer than 200,000 in 1939 with key players such as Harry Hopkins, FDR’s confidant, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, President Roosevelt and Congress. “This work on Marshall continues to be the fine scholarly product that one expects from its author.” — C. P. Stacey, International Journal “Dr. Pogue has written a splendid account of the army high command in World War II. It makes an important contribution to the history of our times and complements previously-published memoirs and official histories. The military specialist will be impressed by the systematic coverage Dr. Pogue gives to the way in which Marshall used his staff and managed the war. General readers will be fascinated by the new information provided about the characters and wartime actions of such leaders as Roosevelt, Churchill, MacArthur, and Eisenhower... This is a thoroughly satisfying book and a splendid companion to the first volume.” — H. A. De Weerd, The Virginia Quarterly Review “The United States, [Sir John Dill] told General Brooke, ‘has not — repeat not — the slightest conception of what the war means, and their armed forces are more unready for war than it is possible to imagine.’ Mr. Pogue has as his subject the movement of the country from such material and spiritual limitation to the landings in North Africa and as his special thesis the contribution of General George C. Marshall in the production of this remarkable transition... What General Marshall did was to plan, negotiate, organize, and, above all, decide... [Mr. Pogue’s] narrative is lean, clear, and well controlled... What so often he is dealing with in these pages is the resolution of endless conflicts of prejudice and interest. His capacity to recognize and define the issues in debate, to expose with clinical balance the motives and feelings of the debaters, to weigh out honestly the merits and defects of the conclusions reached is impressive and a valuable aid to fuller understanding. Mr. Pogue succeeds as well in giving the reader a good feeling for the administrative situation in which General Marshall spent most of his time — how policies were developed, officers selected for special tasks, decisions taken, and all the rest of it... [A] solidly constructed, carefully developed book.” — Elting E. Morison, The Journal of Southern History “This second volume of Forrest Pogue’s long-awaited authorized biography of General George C. Marshall has reached the period of Marshall’s first three years as Chief of Staff... when [he] initiated the vast expansion of the US Army for World War II... Excellent footnotes and detailed appendixes, interviews, and bibliographical notes will ensure Pogue’s Marshall a permanent place in US military history and biography.” — Trumbull Higgins, The American Historical Review

Author: Loyd Lee
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313033145
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description
A broadly interdisciplinary work, this handbook discusses the best and most enduring literature related to the major topics and themes of World War II. Military historiography is treated in essays on the major theaters of military operations and the related themes of logistics and intelligence, while political and diplomatic history is covered in chapters on international relations, resistance movements, and collaboration. The volume analyzes themes of domestic history in essays on economic mobilization, the home fronts, and women in the military and civilian life. The book also covers the Holocaust. This handbook approaches each topic from a global viewpoint rather than focusing on individual national communities. Except for nonprint material, the literature, research, and sources surveyed are primarily those available in English. The volume is aimed at both experts on the war and the general academic community and will also be useful to students and serious laymen interested in the war.

Author: Max Hastings
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307593126
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 609

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Book Description
A vivid and incisive portrait of Winston Churchill during wartime from acclaimed historian Max Hastings, Winston’s War captures the full range of Churchill’s endlessly fascinating character. At once brilliant and infuriating, self-important and courageous, Hastings’s Churchill comes brashly to life as never before. Beginning in 1940, when popular demand elevated Churchill to the role of prime minister, and concluding with the end of the war, Hastings shows us Churchill at his most intrepid and essential, when, by sheer force of will, he kept Britain from collapsing in the face of what looked like certain defeat. Later, we see his significance ebb as the United States enters the war and the Soviets turn the tide on the Eastern Front. But Churchill, Hastings reminds us, knew as well as anyone that the war would be dominated by others, and he managed his relationships with the other Allied leaders strategically, so as to maintain Britain’s influence and limit Stalin’s gains. At the same time, Churchill faced political peril at home, a situation for which he himself was largely to blame. Hastings shows how Churchill nearly squandered the miraculous escape of the British troops at Dunkirk and failed to address fundamental flaws in the British Army. His tactical inaptitude and departmental meddling won him few friends in the military, and by 1942, many were calling for him to cede operational control. Nevertheless, Churchill managed to exude a public confidence that brought the nation through the bitter war. Hastings rejects the traditional Churchill hagiography while still managing to capture what he calls Churchill’s “appetite for the fray.” Certain to be a classic, Winston’s War is a riveting profile of one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century.

Author: Philip Nord
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300190689
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
In this revisionist account of France’s crushing defeat in 1940, a world authority on French history argues that the nation’s downfall has long been misunderstood. Philip Nord assesses France’s diplomatic and military preparations for war with Germany, its conduct of the war once the fighting began, and the political consequences of defeat on the battlefield. He also tracks attitudes among French leaders once defeat seemed a likelihood, identifying who among them took advantage of the nation’s misfortunes to sabotage democratic institutions and plot an authoritarian way forward. Nord finds that the longstanding view that France’s collapse was due to military unpreparedeness and a decadent national character is unsupported by fact. Instead, he reveals that the Third Republic was no worse prepared and its military failings no less dramatic than those of the United States and other Allies in the early years of the war. What was unique in France was the betrayal by military and political elites who abandoned the Republic and supported the reprehensible Vichy takeover. Why then have historians and politicians ever since interpreted the defeat as a judgment on the nation as a whole? Why has the focus been on the failings of the Third Republic and not on elite betrayal? The author examines these questions in a fascinating conclusion.

Author: Gerhard L. Weinberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521852548
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Visions of Victory, first published in 2005, explores the views of eight leaders of the major powers of World War II - Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Chiang Kai-shek, Stalin, Churchill, de Gaulle, and Roosevelt. He compares their visions of the future in the event of victory. While the leaders primarily focused on fighting and winning the war, their decisions were often shaped by their aspirations for the future. What emerges is a startling picture of postwar worlds. After exterminating the Jews, Hitler intended for all Slavs to die so Germans could inhabit Eastern Europe. Mussolini and Hitler wanted extensive colonies in Africa. Churchill hoped for the re-emergence of British and French empires. De Gaulle wanted to annex the northwest corner of Italy. Stalin wanted to control Eastern Europe. Roosevelt's vision included establishing the United Nations. Weinberg's comparison of the individual portraits of the war-time leaders is a highly original and compelling study of history that might have been.

Author: Eliot A. Cohen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439135487
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Why do competent armies fail? Eliot Cohen and John Gooch explore answers to this question throughout this extensive analysis of unsuccessful military operations. Since it was first published in 1990, Military Misfortunes has become the classic analysis of the unexpected catastrophes that befall competent militaries. Now with a new Afterword discussing America's missteps in Iraq, Somalia, and the War on Terror, Eliot A. Cohen and John Gooch's gripping battlefield narratives and groundbreaking explanations of the hidden factors that undermine armies are brought thoroughly up to date. As recent events prove, Military Misfortunes will be required reading for as long as armies go to war.

Author: J. C. Hurewitz
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300022032
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 888

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Book Description

Author: Richard James
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1925520935
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
1941: Great Britain is fighting for its very existence. France has surrendered and installed Marshal Pétain, an ageing reactionary, as head of a hostile new government at Vichy. The Allied outpost in Egypt, and the Suez Canal—its strategic jewel—are threatened on both sizes. To the west, Rommel is rampaging through North Africa. To the east, the Germans are arming rebels and fostering an uprising in British Iraq. Churchill’s cabinet is reeling after disastrous campaign in Greece. There are fears of a German takeover in Vichy-controlled Syria and Lebanon, where a languishing French colonial army may fall in line with the Nazis. Churchill orders a disgruntled General Wavell to take the offensive, assuming that the French will not put up a fight against an Allied show of force. The only troops available are a division of Australians, the 7th: untested recruits, digging ditches in the Egyptian desert. This is the story of how the 7th Division came to fight against the Army of the Levant—Australia against France—in the rocky hills of Lebanon and the barren wastes of Syria. Contrary to Churchill’s expectations, the French resisted viciously. The Australians won the war, but at the price of more than 400 young men, sons of Anzacs who had fought to defend France in the trenches of the western Front. The British were embarrassed, the campaign was forgotten, and the Australians who fought were dubbed ‘the silent men.’ No contemporary Australian historian has studied the conflict. British and French accounts exist, but fail to do justice to the Australian contribution. Through interviews with the veterans, archival records, and on-the-ground research, this book seeks to understand a neglected campaign and give it a proper place in Australian history.