Customer Reviews

the Second World War (2) Europe 1939-1943

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the second entry in the 6-volume series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) from Essential Histories focused on the Second World War. Robin Havers does an excellent job of distilling down the hugely-complicated politics and military action of the early European theatre into a 96-page format. Detailed enough that you feel sure you're getting most of the pertinent information, but brief enough to make it a quick and easy read, this edition succeeds in finding the balance so crucial for an Essential Histories book. Havers focuses more on the causes, politics, and setting of the conflict than the actual battles, but that is common for Essential Histories and works very well here. Actually, I would rank this as one of the very best Essential Histories I've read, mostly because of Havers' well-executed approach to presenting this material. Succinct and to-the-point, but full of interesting tidbits like short quotes, Havers is able to keep the reader entertained, while being quite thorough on getting the point across.

From Neville Chamberlain's bumbling at the outbreak of the war, to the rise of Hitler, to the success of the RAF and their strategic bombing campaigns of occupied Europe, this volume chronicles some of the most important and famous moments of the second world war. German technical and strategic advantages are outlined with great clarity. With the Luftwaffe and Panzer divisions being utilized in never-before-seen strategies to surprise the world with the rapidity of their offensive, and the embarrassing ineffectualness of the Maginot Line and the route of the French, the war seemed to be going Germany's way during most of the period covered here. As the USA got involved, the British economy mobilized to support the RAF, and the Germans hit a wall in Stalingrad, however, the tides began to turn. By the end of this book, Germany is on its heels, the Allies are preparing for the invasion of Normandy, and America is ready to fully support the war.

This is an excellent overview of one of our world's most important periods. Stands out as being outstanding even in the very good Essential Histories series. Very highly recommended for history fans.

Robin Havers has written clear and engaging description of the Second World War in Europe. It is ideal for readers looking for well-rounded account of the events from 1939 to 1943. Furthermore, Dr. Havers blows up several of the myths of the period while teasing out the key strategic lessons.

This volume is the second of six covering the Second World War. (There are 70 volumes in the EH series covering wars from 400 BC to the present day.) The volumes in EH are incredibly well laid out. The pictures are stunning and the full colour maps draw you into the action. My only complaint of the series is that they do not offer tables and charts for numerical data (weapons comparisons, etc. see ¡°The Visual Display of Information¡± by Tufte.) The content is laid out the same way in each volume, with chapters discussing the chronology, combatants and how the war ended. There are also chapters discussing the daily lives of soldiers and citizens.

This volume, in particular, is well worth the read. Dr. Havers gives a lucid account of the events without straying into pedantic descriptions of daily events. The book is most exciting when it dispels the myths of period (i.e. the numerical/technical superiority of German tanks) and focuses on the real reasons for the Germans success (cunning, communications and leadership style). As such, it is an excellent case study in strategy both for the military and non-military audience.

No war is fought without its share of pride and folly. The author takes all the participants to task for their oversights and hubris. This schadenfreude would be all the more delightful were the consequences not so tragic.

Dr. Havers, unlike many academic historians, has a light touch with personal stories in the ¡°Portrait of a Soldier¡± and ¡°Portrait of a Citizen¡± chapters. He rounds out the story of the period with a sympathetic and amusing accounts of everyday life for combatants and civilians.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in an overview of the period. I would also recommend it to general fans of strategy as it provides excellent lessons in leadership and innovation.

Really like the way this book was written- both very accessible yet quite sophisticated and well expressed. Main weakness is that that author had been asked to write on too many subjects in too short a volume and therefore many topics don't get sufficient coverage. As a good basic guide to this part of WWII it's pretty good!

World War 2

The book was about why and how the world war started. It also shows the conflicts and the reason they built the "Iron curtain". It shows some of the people who were involved in the world war. It shows many of the reasons that Japan attack us. It also shows the problems that many different countries had with us and others. It shows why the United States got involved in the world war. The book shows how long the war took and how many presidents their were during the world war. It also shows the first rocket that Russia sent in to space to spy on us it was called "Spudneck". It shows the first atomic bombs and how the Soviet Union used Spudneck to find out how to make a nuclear bomb. It shows how the iron curtain affected the United States and the Soviet Union it affected them because the Soviet Union couldn't control on half and it affected the United States because the couldn't help the people on the west side because the Soviet Union thought that the United States was going to attack Russia so they went Germany and built the iron curtain so that the United States couldn't attack them. It also shows this plan to help the west side with their food and their water and they had planes flying in and out with food for the people in West Germany. The book also talks about when and where the two first ever used atomic bombs it shows what plane took the two atomic bombs it shows who drove it and who created the two atomic bombs. I would give the book four and a half stars because one the book is boring in some parts and others it's exiting.

Some of the Osprey Essential History books are excellent, some mediocre and some poor. Unfortunately, despite the fact that this is a very well researched volume, this is one of the latter ones. This book has only 86 pages of text, maps and photographs. The first 33 pages have 4 different chapters on the introduction and the prelude to 1939. A further 4 pages deal with 1943 to 1945 with 7 pages dealing with a portrait of a soldier and a civilian. This only gives 42 pages to the campaigns between 1939 and 1941. Because of this, some of the most important campaigns are either only mentioned in passing (Greece, Yugoslavia, etc.) or they are so short they should not have even bothered. The campaign in Norway consists of only 3 short paragraphs, likewise the Russo-Finnish War has 5 very short paragraphs. The rest of the book examines the Blitzkrieg launched upon Poland and the Low Countries, which the reader should expect to be covered in some detail.
However, if the book did not have such a large (not to mention overlong) introduction, it could have covered all of these campaigns far more comprehensively. As it was, the book could not really do more than to provide a broad-brush overview at Army level. The book repeats itself continuously throughout the different chapters and, unfortunately, contradicts itself in several places. For example, on page 25 the BEF is 160,000, yet in page 45 the BEF is 140,000 men. The British seemed to have lost 20,000 men somewhere---most careless! On page 57, it states that except for tanks, both sides, the Allies and the Germans, were roughly equal. Yet in the next sentence, it states that the allies had almost 2:1 advantage in artillery, and that they had more aircraft than the Luftwaffe!
This book gives a good background to the run-up to the Second World War, but if you want a comprehensive book for all of the campaigns between 1939 and 1943---look elsewhere!