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Grand Alliance (The Second World War/Cassette)

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Because of his immense output, Winston Churchill may be described as an old-fashioned writer. Fortunately for us he does not read as such. There is very little archaic about the expressions he uses or the grammar he employs, in volume after volume after volume. It remains immensely readable, and this is the strength of a good writer, it seems to me. As a boy, Churchill was held up to me as an example of a person with a very full command of English. I was told, although I have never been able to verify it, that Churchill employed one of the largest vocabularies of any individual writing in English. It is ironic to think that, although the use of English is becoming ever more widespread, it is not generally being put to anything like the kind of use a man like Churchill made of it.

"The Grand Alliance" takes us to the point in the Second World War when the Americans finally declared their intentions. In a sense, it announced the end to hesitation, the end to British doubts about whether they could possibly win out against Hitler alone. Of course, America had participated in the war to a very large extent already, having agreed to set up the famous "Lend-Lease" program, whereby first Britain, and later Russia, were given material support in a way which satisfied the neutral and isolationist U.S. congress. It was also something of a victory for Churchill at the same time, since he had worked doggedly at bringing the Americans around, and although Pearl harbour did tip the balance, it was partly due to Churchill having prepared the ground.

Churchill himself states that, from the moment of the U.S. entry into the conflict, no matter how long it might take, he was certain of victory. From his point of view at the top, he could see that the sheer weight of numbers (tonnage, armament production etc.,), added to the geographical reality of Germany, meant they could never hope to win against the combined industrial might of Britain and the U.S. It was this absolute faith which sustained him during the reverses of 1941 and 1942.

The Grand Alliance represents Book three in Winston's epic documentary of World War II. It was first published by Cassell & Co. on January 1, 1950.
Winston goes into great detail of Great Britain's struggle with Germany in Northern Africa, the Nordic Countries and in Northern Africa along with the Battle of the Atlantic. He describes Britain and the U.S.A. effort to assist a struggling Soviet Government who was trying to repel the forces of a Teutonic invasion.
Mr. Churchill's description of the seeds of the Atlantic Charter aboard H.M.S. Prince of Wales is reason enough to read this book.
Winston describes the mounting strength of Great Britain's war effort in 1941. And along comes Pearl Harbor. This indeed represents the 9/11 of the Mid 20th Century to the U.S.A. I hate to say this but I do think Winston upon hearing this news secretly rejoiced in having a new Ally.
Upon having this news Mr. Churchill wasted no time and went directly to Washington to convince F.D.R. that Germany and not Japan should be the initial objective for defeat in this World Conflict.
Of course as usual, this book was well researched. It shows Winston in the light of the great World Patrician. It is of course a great read. Five Stars!!!

Churchill's Vol. 3, `The Grand Alliance' covers the time frame from Jan 1941 to Jan 1942 and what a time frame it was. The term `Grand Alliance' comes from Britain, America and Russia joining together to fight the triple-Axis Germany, Italy and Japan. During this time much was transpiring especially in the Mediterranean. Japan was watching and planning. Pearl Harbor fell on America with a vengeance and war had now awaked the sleeping giant. Germany was driving into Russia under operation `Barbarossa' and Rommel's tanks were moving in the North African desert. The Greece and Crete campaigns were breaking full upon Great Britain and the mighty Bismarck, with its' enormous structural strength, was out on the Atlantic. U-Boats were taking their toll on shipping and the oil fields of Iraq and Russia were being threatened.

It is interesting to read Churchill's correspondence now with victory and hindsight. He stood in the enviable position to see and write about the events that took place, and what could have happened if certain plans had or hadn't been implemented. His relationships and history, with Stalin and especially FDR, really make these volumes worth the read. He doesn't hold back the disasters that fell to all three of the Allies. Stalin's blindsided problems in trying to slow down Hitler until Allied supplies could get through. America and British combined Navy losses made for serious problems on the ocean. He writes about the curious events surrounding Rudolf Hess' flight to Scotland and gives his opinions about that incident. The disaster and triumph over the Bismarck certainly solved and created problems for the British Navy. While much relief came, with America's new found wartime role, much anxiety still lay ahead.

As he writes down this history, Churchill doesn't hide his enthusiasm about America now joining in the fight against the evil axis. This was one of the greatest joys of his wartime career. He now felt more than ever that victory `no matter how long' was sure. It is interesting to note how much influence the Atlantic Charter carries over into this day especially in policing the world. Well worth reading and adding to the history shelf.

Covering calendar year 1941, this third volume of Churchill's six volume Worl War Two history begins with Greece, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria falling to Germany, covers the Gernam invasion of the Soviet Union, and ends with the U.S. Mobilizing to join the battle after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

In between, England largely fought what was truly a world war without meaningful allies. England had to protect itself from invasion, as Germany relentlessly strengthened its armamaent of the French coastline; fought an ongoing desert battle in North Africa to hold/protect Egypt; joined in the defense of the Balkans; protected the Middle East's Eastern flank by invading Iraq and holding Iran as a partner; and had to wrry about Japanese attacks on Burma and other far east countries--not the least of which were Australia and New Zealand. At the same time, England was fighting the Battle of the Atlantic--securing its supply line from constant attacks by German submarines.

At the center of this entire conflict was Churchill, who held BOTH the posts of Prime Minister (Britain chief executive) AND Defense Minister (roughly equivalent to the american Secretary of Defense). This required that he make strategic decisions about the allocation of extremely scarce military resources, but at the same time was responsible for reorienting the entire British economy to not only support the war effort, but to ensure basic necessities were available for civilians living in the British Isles--which after all is a very small area, largely dependent on imports for food.

Reading Churchill's account, one can not help comparing the scope of his responsibilities with the current Global War on Terror, and the actions of our current President in pursuing that "war". During his trip accross the Atlantic to meet with Roosevelt immediately after Pearl Harbor, Churchill not only continued to coordinate far flung military and economic decisions, he produced a series of monograms, laying out the allied war strategy--which in fact became the blue print for ultimate victory. Contrast that with Bush's use of the two day retreat, with all Cabinet, to review the basic strategy in Iraq, which turned out to be nothing more than a cover for a photo-op with the new Iraqi President! How would WWII have ended had Bush been the PRime Minister of England in 1940?

Churchill writes spectacularly, yet I had to give this volume only 4 stars. Why? Because (like Vol. II, but unlike Vol. I), Churchill relies far too much on contemporaneous documents. While these are almost all written by him, they do not give his prose a chance to shine like it does in the first volume.

Churchill's series on World War II is engrossing. The depth and scope of the war itself were immense so reading this much detail about them in the voice of the person who had arguably the best understanding and greatest involvement is fascinating.

For a less capable writer, the detail of the material would be too meticulous to be interesting. That is not a problem with this book or this series. Deft handling of the language keeps the tension mounting and the interest building.

Personally, my favorite pieces of the book dealt with the communications between Churchill and FDR but there are certainly other highlights. As an American, most of my education regarding World War II dealt with the European theaters. This book puts a tremendous amount of focus on the conflict in North Africa which I found highly educational and engrossing.

"The Grand Alliance" is the third installment in Winston S. Churchill's six volume history of The Second World War. It is a strong link in that chain. This volume essentially covers 1941, a momentous year of transitions. As the book starts, Britain, the Dominions and its Empire are standing alone against Germany and Italy. The war is at something of a lull. France has fallen, the Battle of Britain has receded, because, unbeknownst at the time, Hitler was turning his attention to the East, leaving only a diminished air war, with active fighting largely confined to North Africa. The United States was maintaining its neutrality while President Roosevelt was working to guide America into a more active support of Britain. This period of diplomacy and relative quiet would soon be swept away.

As is customary in this series, Churchill reports the events in the war from his perspective in London. Through the year the tide of war in North Africa ebbed and flowed, leaving Tobruk at times a base for operations and at other times an enclave encroaching on a German-Italian desert empire. I found the Australian insistence on withdrawal of its troops from Tobruk to be a surprising break in Allied cooperation. The Spring brought the breakout and sinking of "Bismarck" along with war and anxious diplomatic maneuvering in the Balkans and Greece, including a desperate, but unsuccessful, British intervention. Amidst all of this, Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland on his own bizarre peace mission.

The first really big story of this book is Operation Barbarossa, the June German invasion of Russia, as Churchill always called the Soviet Union. Providing his own insight, Churchill records the British warning of German troop movements made to Stalin in April.

August was the month of the Atlantic Charter that grew out of the off-shore Newfoundland meeting of Churchill and Roosevelt in Placentia Bay.

December brought the answer to Churchill's prayers, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that brought America into the war "up to the neck and to the death." That night Churchill "went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful." The Arcadia conference in Washington later that month brought forth the plan for Joint Command that would direct American-British relations for the rest of the war.

That is, in short, the story told in this volume. As is always the case, Churchillian prose is witty and gives the reader the sense of being involved in the conferences and communications that shaped history. I have long viewed Churchill's series as the starting point for a thorough understanding of World War II. "The Grand Alliance" covers its assigned year in splendid fashion.

I am collecting these works written by Winston Churchill and published in hard cover over 40 years ago. This one was advertised as being in very good condition and it was. The price was a steal in my opinion. I would definitely do business with Mediabazaar again.

I want to thank Amazon for bringing so many honest vendors onto their website. It has saved me days of searching for these books, and I've been 100% satisfied with every purchase so far.

These six volumes should be, in my opinion, MANDATORY reading for anyone interested in (a) WW II (b) HISTORY (c)increasing their knowledge of the English language. Having read the entire set over 50-60 times, I am still fascinated by new material I discover with each re-reading. It comes as no surprise that Sir Winston was awarded the NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE for this masterpiece.

This book was an amazing read. I recommend that anyone that likes reading should read it. I'm normally a very slow reader, but this book was so good that it only took me an hour to read.