The storm of war : a new history of the Second World War

This history of World War II analyzes the factors that affected the war's outcome and the flawed Axis strategy that led to their defeat. It presents stories of many little-known individuals whose experiences displayed the epitome of courage and self-sacrifice. The Second World War lasted for 2,174 days, cost $1.5 trillion, and claimed the lives of more than 50 million people. What were the factors that affected the war's outcome? Why did the Axis lose? And could they, with a different strategy, have won? From the western front to North Africa, from the Baltic to the Far East, the author tells the story of the war, the grand strategy and the individual experience, the cruelty and the heroism. In researching this history, he walked many of the key battlefields and wartime sites in Russia, France, Italy, Germany, and the Far East, and drew on a number of never-before-published documents, such as a letter from Hitler's director of military operations explaining the reasoning behind the Fuhrer's order to halt the Panzers outside Dunkirk, a delay that enabled British forces to evacuate. He illuminates the principal actors on both sides and analyzes how they reached critical decisions. He also presents the tales of many little-known individuals whose experiences form a panoply of the extraordinary courage and self-sacrifice, as well as the terrible depravity and cruelty, of the Second World War. This book gives a dramatic account of this momentous event and shows in detail why the war took the course it did. Originally published: London: Allen Lane, 2009. lvi, 711 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 20 cm