Customer Reviews

Time Capsule / 1940 A History of the Year Condensed from the Pages of Time (The Fall of France; Hemingway's "For Whom The Bell Tolls"; The Assassination of Trotsky; Third Term for FDR; Retreat at Dunkirk)

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If anyone other than Winston Churchill had been on the cover of this book it would have been an affront to history. By the end of 1940, the German military machine had either conquered or rendered as allies all but largely insignificant parts of Western Europe. The speed of the German victories was astonishing, all executed in a matter of weeks. The only bastion of resistance was the British Empire and their leader was the dynamic Churchill.
To me, there is no better way to quickly review the events of a year than to read books like this. One of the things I enjoy is to randomly open these books and read several pages. In this case, my first opening was to a section on Sweden and the first paragraph described the deaths of the first group of Swedish volunteers fighting for Finland in their war against the Soviet Union. There were a great many significant actions in World War II; however it is hard to overstate the significance of that sideshow. The strength of the Finnish opposition to the Soviet armies helped convince Hitler that now was the time to launch an attack against the Soviet Union. Another sadly laughable entry is on page 123, where League of Nations Secretary General Joseph Louis Anne Avenol announced that the League of Nations offices were closing.
Even the section on religion has material about the war. There is a feature about Pastor Martin Niemoller, former U-boat captain and now a religious man. He stood up to the Nazi brainwashing and along with many other people of deep faith, was placed in a concentration camp.
The year was certainly one where "great" events took place. With almost no exception, you can open this book and encounter the description of something that had a significant effect on the outcome of World War II. While there is no great historical depth, as a recapitulation of the events of that year, there are few publications that can match it.