The Day the War Ended PDF Download

Author: Martin Gilbert
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
ISBN: 1429900377
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 527

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Book Description
One of Britain's most acclaimed historians presents the experiences and ramifications of the last day of World War II in Europe May 8, 1945, 23:30 hours: With war still raging in the Pacific, peace comes at last to Europe as the German High Command in Berlin signs the final instrument of surrender. After five years and eight months, the war in Europe is officially over. This is the story of that single day and of the days leading up to it. Hour by hour, place by place, this masterly history recounts the final spasms of a continent in turmoil. Here are the stories of combat soldiers and ordinary civilians, collaborators and resistance fighters, statesmen and war criminals, all recounted in vivid, dramatic detail. But this is more than a moment-by-moment account, for Sir Martin Gilbert uses every event as a point of departure, linking each to its long-term consequences over the following half century. In our attempts to understand the world we inherited in 1945, there is no better starting point than The Day the War Ended.

Author: Norman Davies
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 0330472291
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 596

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Book Description
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

Author: Norman Davies
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1440651124
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
One of the world's leading historians re-examines World War II and its outcome A clear-eyed reappraisal of World War II that offers new insight by reevaluating well-established facts and pointing out lesser-known ones, No Simple Victory asks readers to reconsider what they know about the war, and how that knowledge might be biased or incorrect. Norman Davies poses simple questions that have unexpected answers: Can you name the five biggest battles of the war? What were the main political ideologies that were contending for supremacy? The answers to these questions will surprise even those who feel that they are experts on the subject. Davies has established himself as a preeminent scholar of World War II. No Simple Victory is an invaluable contribution to twentieth-century history and an illuminating portrait of a conflict that continues to provoke debate.

Author: Gerhard L. Weinberg
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191008761
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
The enormous loss of life and physical destruction caused by the First World War led people to hope that there would never be another such catastrophe. How then did it come about that there was a Second World War causing twice the 30 million deaths and many times more destruction as had been caused in the previous conflict? In this Very Short Introduction, Gerhard L. Weinberg provides an introduction to the origins, course, and impact of the war on those who fought and the ordinary citizens who lived through it. Starting by looking at the inter-war years and the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, he examines how the war progressed by examining a number of key events, including the war in the West in 1940, Barbarossa, The German Invasion of the Soviet Union, the expansion of Japan's war with China, developments on the home front, and the Allied victory from 1944-45. Exploring the costs and effects of the war, Weinberg concludes by considering the long-lasting mark World War II has left on society today. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Author: Kim Lockwood
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781922178855
Category : V-E Day, 1945
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Tuesday, May 8, 1945: after more than five years at war, the Allied Powers had defeated Nazi Germany. VE Day tells the story of those momentous days, when Victory in Europe was announced and celebrated across the continent. Authors Kim Lockwood and Sam Wilkinson describe the final days of the war as the Allied powers wrested control of Europe back from the Nazis, and raced towards Berlin. Read how cities across the UK and Europe celebrated the announcement it was over--in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Paris, and Moscow.

Author: Phillips Payson O'Brien
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107014751
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 655

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Book Description
An important new history of air and sea power in World War II and its decisive role in Allied victory.

Author: Rick Atkinson
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 142994367X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 897

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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The magnificent conclusion to Rick Atkinson's acclaimed Liberation Trilogy about the Allied triumph in Europe during World War II It is the twentieth century's unrivaled epic: at a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how the American-led coalition fought through North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now, in The Guns at Last Light, he tells the most dramatic story of all—the titanic battle for Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the final campaign of the European war, and Atkinson's riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Operation Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich—all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters. Atkinson tells the tale from the perspective of participants at every level, from presidents and generals to war-weary lieutenants and terrified teenage riflemen. When Germany at last surrenders, we understand anew both the devastating cost of this global conflagration and the enormous effort required to win the Allied victory. With the stirring final volume of this monumental trilogy, Atkinson's accomplishment is manifest. He has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West. One of The Washington Post's Top 10 Books of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013

Author: Julian Thompson
Publisher: Carlton Publishing Group
ISBN: 9781844425099
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book, published to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of VE Day, is a graphic account of the storming and taking of Hitler's Festung Europa ("Fortress Europe") by the Allies during the final eleven months of the Second World War. The book shows spread-by-spread the relentless progress of the epic war in the European Theater of Operations, and focuses on the world-famous engagements such as Operation Market-Garden (immortalized in the film A Bridge too Far), the Battle of the Bulge, the bombing of Dresden and other German cities, the fall of Berlin, and VE Day itself. Written by a leading military historian and including a wealth of first-hand accounts on an audio CD, the Imperial War Museum's WW2 Victory in Europe Experience contains 30 facsimile items of memorabilia integrated into the pages of the book. The reader can re-live this momentous period of history by examining maps, diaries, letters, and other items which up till now have remained filed or exhibited in the Imperial War Museum and other museum collections in Northern Europe.

Author: Mirrorpix
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780750993326
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The end of the Second World War - after six years of horror - was met with a frenzy of celebration and euphoria. But in that end was a beginning; a chance to rebuild Britain and its people, and to shape it into the country we know today.With over 100 images from Mirrorpix, one of the world's biggest photo libraries, Victory 1945 takes a step back in time to the end of the war, alongside the people who experienced it.

Author: Stanley Weintraub
Publisher: Plume Books
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 784

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Book Description
From the inner councils of the Japanese to the fateful decisions to atom-bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Stanley Weintraub brings to life this watershed month in which empires fell, old orders passed away, and a new age began. "The best account yet of the war's final month".--Newsweek. photos. 3 maps.