The Second World War: A Complete History [Paperback]

Martin Gilbert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0805076239 | ISBN-13: 978-0805076233 | Edition: Revised and Updated

It began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. By the time it came to an end on V-J Day--August 14, 1945--it had involved every major power and become global in its reach. In the final accounting, it would turn out to be, in both human terms and material resources, the costliest war in history, taking the lives of forty million people. In this complete one-volume account of the war, Gilbert weaves together political, military, diplomatic, and civilian elements to provide a global perspective on the war, creating a work that is both a treasure trove of information and a dramatic narrative.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This volume has an "astonishingly broad" scope, revealing the impact of major campaigns on soldiers and civilians worldwide. "Masterful," said PW . "Though the military aspect is told with noteworthy clarity and narrative power, most impressive is Gilbert's presentation of WW II as primarily a matter of organized evil and mass madness." Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Though few one-volume histories of World War II have been published in the last ten years, the 50th anniversary of the war's start has inspired new works: Gilbert's book and John Keegan's The Second World War (reviewed in this issue, p. 102) are two of them. Gilbert's is less a battle history than Keegan's. For Gilbert (biographer of Churchill and Holocaust historian, author of the massive The Holocaust, LJ 2/1/86) the movements of armies and the decisions of statesmen were ultimately the consequences of Nazi and Japanese racial policies. Thus the struggles and fates of Axis victims are essential to the complete history of war, which inflicted such unprecedented suffering on innocent parties. Gilbert uses this perspective to present the war from an original angle. Accounts of campaigns and conferences are directly juxtaposed to descriptions of atrocities and resistance. Gilbert draws his human interest not from battlefields and home fronts, as do most histories of the war, but from concentration camps and ghettoes. In so doing he reminds us that World War II was a "good war," because it was fought against tyrannies that perpetuated obscenities as a matter of principle. Recommended for all collections.
- Dennis E. Showalter, Colorado Coll., Colorado Springs
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 928 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; Revised and Updated edition (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805076239
• ISBN-13: 978-0805076233
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sir Martin Gilbert is one of the leading historians of his generation. An Honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford - of which he was a fellow for thirty years - he is the official biographer of Churchill and the author of eighty books, among them Churchill - A Life and The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust. For more information please visit http://www.martingilbert

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Terrific Overview Of The Second World War! August 6, 2000

By Barron Laycock HALL OF FAME

Format:Paperback

No one has been more acclaimed or prolific in writing about the total scope of twentieth century history than British author and historian Sir Martin Gilbert, who sometimes seems to represent a kind of one-man revival in British historical publication. Here he focuses impressively on the total scope of World War Two, from the opening shots fired in Poland to the surrender of the Japanese in Tokyo Bay. He brings impressive credentials to the task; as the foremost biographer and authority on Winston Churchill (with an 8 volume biography already published), he is obviously well versed on the particulars of the European theater of the conflict, and in this volume he displays how comprehensive his knowledge of the other theaters of wars, especially the Pacific campaign, is as well.

Readers looking for specific orders of battle or "blow by blow" detailed accounts of particular engagements are likely to be disappointed, but even die-hard military huffs like me sometimes tire of such endlessly specifics, and it is refreshing to have an approach like Gilbert's which concentrates more on the context and connections of such engagements to use to get a better and perhaps more complete appreciation for what was happening in the same time or in the local area that materially affected the progress and eventual outcome of a particular battle. After all, this war was indeed global, and it is indeed useful to recognize that events transpiring in Stalingrad were materially affected by the dispositions of troops and airplanes dedicated to other Nazi commitments in the Mediterranean theater or to defend the skies of Berlin against British and American air raids....

Gilbert's sweeping prose style and selection of topics makes for entertaining and informative reading; he masterfully weaves together a meaningful context in which the political, military, and diplomatic aspects of the conflict are connected in a perspective that always pays compassionate heed to the civilian impact of the bloody struggle. As one of the foremost authorities on the Holocaust, Gilbert blends the particulars of the "Final Solution" into the history as part of the ongoing narrative, placing it in context and offering the opinion that it seemed more the result of exigent circumstance and expediency that it evolved the way it did rather than as a calculated and well-organized campaign of deliberate mass extermination. This isn't to say the Nazis didn't mean to solve their so-called "Jewish Question" violently; it just means that the particular way this was accomplished owed much more to happenstance than to contrived evil brilliance.

Of particular interest is the way Gilbert uses personal recollections and anecdotal details to humanize the epic struggle and to bring home the horrific and monstrous scale on which this war brought terror, death and destruction to much of the civilized world. He reminds us with compelling evidence and stirring narratives that people died horribly and needlessly every day during the disastrous, painful, and nearly six-year long struggle. If you want to better understand what happened during WWII and why it did, this wonderful and admirably comprehensive overview will serve you quite well. Enjoy Read more ›

180 of 210 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars a disappointment August 13, 2000

By Michael Spertus

Format:Paperback

I started this book with high hopes. Martin Gilbert is a famous historian and has done much to educate the world about the holocaust. I also feel the idea of a strictly chronological blow-by-blow history of World War II is a promising premise. However, the book provides little more than a collection of facts arranged chronologically.

There is absolutely no historical or political context--the invasion of Poland starts on page 1 and he never backtracks to fill it in. There is very little analysis, usually just a listing of what battles occurred each month and how many tanks, planes, and/or casualties on each side. Instead of forming an arresting narrative, it just becomes a mind-numbing list of events that are never tied together. The format could lend itself to a discussion of global strategy, being organized by time rather than region. However, this is never pursued.

The only reason I would look at this book again is if I needed to reference it for facts or dates. A great deal of scholarship was clearly involved in assembling these and, as such, it might be a useful reference, but from such a book I would expect much more.

Instead of reading this book, for a truly excellent history of WWII, read Weinberg's "A World at Arms".

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars ouch, ouch, ouch ... July 15, 2006

By David A. Baer VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

The great Churchill scholar Martin Gilbert's 'complete' history of the Second World War can perhaps be faulted on only one count: plodding.

This weakness in rhetorical strategy is also the virtue that sets this history of the Second War apart from others. A glimpse at the dated chapters in the table of contents is barely enough to prepare the reader for the cumulative impact of marching month by month through this great conflagration. One skips from one military theater to the next, always aligned with the same dates.

Thus, Gilbert allows the crushing burden of *world* war to settle upon the careful reader with devastating effect. One wonders how the world survived.

Survive it did, thanks in part - with apologies to doctrinaire oponents of 'great men' history-making - to decision-makers and opinion-shapers like Gilbert's beloved Churchill. Still, the bulk of this work's attention falls upon the generals. How could it be otherwise in a theater-movement-and-strategy approach? One follows the bloodied paths of armies who follow, to some degree at least, the edicts of generals who see dimly through their glasses and on their HQ maps. This, too, is a reality of war.

I highly recommend this book. It is not the view of the man in the foxhole or the nurse in the dressing station. It is, however, a bird's-eye view of how the world tore itself to pieces and then stopped just before there was nothing left.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Treatments of WW II December 9, 2000

By T. Parry

Format:Paperback

Martin Gilbert's volume on the Second World War is truly a complete history. It is not just a story of battles and great men, but also a story of unparalleled suffering. The Second World War was the most destructive conflict ever to afflict our planet, and Gilbert makes the reader realize this, with his relentlessness in reporting death. In an almost day by day account, Gilbert informs the reader that while all the great battles were taking place, while generals were winning fame, the people of Europe, especially the Jews, were suffering unimaginable horrors. This is the true legacy of World War Two, and Gilbert gets the point across well. As you read the book, you cannot help but feel sick at the awesome loss of life taking place in Hitler's concentration camps. The vivid descriptions of gassings, and the ovens working 24 hours a day, made me put the book down more than once.

Gilbert also talks about the battles, and his descriptions of these are just as vivid if not as detailed. You can imagine what it was like to be there, but don't know everything that happened. In the end you get the sense that Gilbert's focus was definitely not on the military aspects, but on the overall cost of life. He does not glorify this conflict in anyway, and he leaves you believing that maybe no one really won the war.

This is not a book I would tackle all at once, but maybe keep it by your bedside for those restless nights, although you may find you will not be able to put it down once you pick it up. I reccommend this for someone who knows a bit about the war and wants a good general overview. Someone who has done a lot of background reading may not find it as stimulating, but it is still worth reading.