The Second World War: A Complete History

Although overwhelming in its detail, Gilbert's book brilliantly captures the day-by-day evolution of the war on all fronts, which nicely supplements other, more "themed" presentations (such as Keegan's outstanding book). The two running themes that do emerge from the piling on of detail after detail are: 1) the Germans' relentless persecution of the Jews, despite military setbacks and setbacks in prosecuting the war, and 2) the vital role of the codebreakers in helping win specific battles and, ultimately, the war itself. The book must be read in small doses; its cumulative effect is too depressing.

Martin Gilbert is one of the foremost living authorities on the Second World War. This classic work represents the culmination and distillation of that expertise. Gilbert, a noted Churchillian, mixes a "just the facts" style with a profound sense of compassion for the war's victims, particularly those who died in the Holocaust. Gilbert, a British writer, is obviously stronger when dealing with the European theater, but unlike many Western writers he has a sure grasp of the Russian and Balkan campaigns - as well as the weird diplomatic manoeverings of such states as Hungary and Roumania. The accounts of the European front's last days are so good that Gilbert spun them into a separate tome, "The Day the War Ended." Interspersed with the Gotterdamerung of Hitler's bunker are bizarre details, such as the (neutral) Irish president's condolences to the German ambassador on the day after the Fuhrer's suicide, and the latecoming combatants who declared war in the last hours. For blazing-gun military history, try another author, but for the human and political history, Gilbert is matchless.

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.

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 narrativ

Martin Gilbert has really achieved something great in this book. He has captured the true horror of WW II, not only from the soldiers stand-point, but also from the view of the millions of civilians who lost their lives. He shows the world the true nature of Hitler's regime. His descriptions of major battles take up about a paragraph each. This is not good for the military historians, but it does show how battle fit into the larger story of genocide and a war against pure evil. All in all, a great read.