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The Second World Wars

How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won

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A definitive account of World War II by America's preeminent military historian.

World War II was the most lethal conflict in human history. Never before had a war been fought on so many diverse landscapes and in so many different ways, from rocket attacks in London to jungle fighting in Burma to armor strikes in Libya.

The Second World Wars examines how combat unfolded in the air, at sea, and on land to show how distinct conflicts among disparate combatants coalesced into one interconnected global war. Drawing on 3,000 years of military history, Victor Davis Hanson argues that despite its novel industrial barbarity, neither the war's origins nor its geography were unusual. Nor was its ultimate outcome surprising. The Axis powers were well prepared to win limited border conflicts, but once they blundered into global war, they had no hope of victory.

An authoritative new history of astonishing breadth, The Second World Wars, offers a stunning reinterpretation of history's deadliest conflict.

©2017 Victor Davis Hanson (P)2018 Tantor 20th Century Military Modern Wars & Conflicts War Interwar Period Imperialism Middle Ages Africa Royalty Winston Churchill Imperial Japan Submarine Russia Socialism Holocaust Air Force Franklin D Roosevelt World History
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WW II is an amazing history where the USA, Canada & Great Britain United the free world to defeat evil. VDH gives pride to the services of my father who served on HMS Summerside as a sparked on a Corvette on Convoy duty at stark of the war, participated on Operation Touch, and finished out the war in Operation headquarters in Halifax due his as signal proceser at 60 + words per minute

VDH is person I respect his character and intent.

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The Second World Wars is a military history that does not spend a great deal of time mired in the weeds of politics. As such, you will need other sources for that. It is also divided into topics, not chronology or geography. It is an excellent second book, perhaps, for building a foundation to the subject, as it assumes some understanding of the course of the war.

As already stated, this book is broken into topics: air power, sea power, land power, industrial production, and so forth. The discussion is very erudite; it is packed full of detail and expert opinion. A prevailing theme is the critical importance of military deterrence. This is a compelling argument and, in the days of waning hegemony, a warning to nations who wish to avoid war.

The narrator did a good job overall, but the pacing was too quick. This necessitates reviewing sections, sometimes multiple times, to fully absorb the material as you are thinking about it. He also had a habit of making rather massive nasal inhales after reading a section. It is a little distracting and could have been easily edited out, but I did not score it against him.

A fine military overview to supplement other works

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