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Martin Gilbert

The Second World War Paperback – 20 Aug. 2009

by Sir Martin Gilbert (Author)

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A striking new edition of the most authoritative account of the Second World War by one of the greatest living military historians.

A history of the Second World War that covers all the war fronts, the fighting on land, at sea and in the air, the activities of resistance and partisan groups, espionage, secret intelligence, strategy and tactics, war leaders, generals, admirals and air marshals, individual acts of heroism on all the war fronts and behind the lines, the fate of prisoners of war, the bombing of cities, the submarine war, and the aftermath of the war.

Print length

928 pages
Language

English
Publisher

W&N
Publication date

20 Aug. 2009
Dimensions

15.29 x 5 x 23.39 cm
ISBN-10

0753826763
ISBN-13

978-0753826768
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Product description

Review

Alongside his account of the First World War, this classic book belongs on every bookshelf ― NORTHERN ECHO

Sir Martin's great acheivement is his ability never to lose sight of the individual in a history of mass war and mass suffering. ― CONTEMPORARY REVIEW

Book Description

A striking new edition of the most authoritative account of the Second World War by one of the greatest living military historians.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W&N; UK ed. edition (20 Aug. 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 928 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0753826763
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0753826768
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.29 x 5 x 23.39 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 139,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 71 in History of Prisoners of War in World War II
- 113 in Military History of War Crimes
- 480 in Military History of World War I

Customer reviews:
351 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		70%
4 star		19%
3 star		4%
2 star		4%
1 star		2%

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Andy Pusey

Brilliant, but for one omission.......

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 August 2018

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There are many reviews of this book , more eloquent than I can be. It’s a fine book, with one failing I wish to note.
He rightly enough dwells on the many atrocities committed by the Germans , not least in Russia where they murdered and starved 100s of thousands.
However, when Russia became dominant as they broke into Russia , they committed rape on a massive scale, and he mentions this not at all. Stalin himself said his men had earned the right , confirming my view Stalin was as bad as Hitler .
But that omission is a mystery to me and is the only reason I don’t give this brilliant book 5 stars.

19 people found this helpful

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CongleJohn

Not sure what to make of this!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 August 2019

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I have read other accounts of WW2. This book presents things I've not come across before and things at variance with what I've read elsewhere.
Among the issues I have is that the book can be a little shallow - inundating the reader with facts and figures about casualties and the odd name of some poor victim. The figures begin to detract from the account of the war. The extent of war crimes was truly horrible! But I'm not sure if labouring the point about exact numbers of killings adds to the book. I'd rather figures be rounded so that the horrow is still appreciated but the story is more flowing. I have also read elsewhere that though we had broken enigma it was a significant help but the real difference was the efforts of the guys on the ground. This book, however, suggests that the Germans never had a chance, the allies knew there (almost) every move. The book seems to skirt over many events. However, it does achieve one thing! I want to know more! More books here I come!!

6 people found this helpful

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Mr. A. Pomeroy

The Grand Sweep of History

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 April 2015

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Several years ago I read an old-fashioned paper version of Martin Gilbert's First World War, and I was always curious about the sequel. Not curious enough to buy it until it came out as an eBook. I ended up reading it whilst on holiday in Budapest, which was an odd experience because Budapest has a small guest appearance towards the end of the book - it is demolished. Almost every location that appears in Second World War is demolished.

First World War was a straightforward and relatively conventional narrative history. Gilbert's treatment of the sequel is a lot more direct. On a pragmatic level he was probably just short of space, but the spartan narrative mirrors the brutal, mechanistic nature of the war itself. The Nazi war aims were unsubtle; the conduct of the war began with some deft military footwork but quickly turned into a series of bludgeoning hammer blows; by 1945 the Nazis were simply killing people for no reason at all, the Japanese were stuffing a generation of young men into a meat grinder for nothing, and it only ended with the obliteration of entire cities, the deaths of millions, the atomic hellfire of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the total upsetting of the existing world order. In the process Europe was crushed like a bug and the modern world was made.

Gilbert begins on page one with the invasion of Poland and continues chronologically thereafter. No boxouts, no diversions, no thematic essays. He leaps from one theatre to the other seamlessly, although this does get repetitive; it goes military action - civilian atrocities - military action - atrocities for page after page. Hundreds, thousands die on every page and I occasionally wondered which paragraph had the highest death toll.

Gilbert continues the narrative for several decades after the end of the war, and I'm not the first reviewer who wishes he could have filled in a bit of context before the beginning, and of course there's nothing about the Japanese occupation of China in the 1930s or the rise of the Nazis or the general rise of Fascism as a mass movement. Nonetheless I found the book an extraordinary, shattering experience. Almost numbing. For six years human lives were less valuable than a box of bullets or a can of petrol. Every few pages there is a striking detail, most of which I have forgotten (consults book) the March 1945 Granville raid, in which the Germans successfully sallied from the Channel Islands to the French port of Granville, taking the Allied defenders by surprise just as the war was ending; Dr Eberl, the first commandant of Treblinka, who is dismissed after a month because he disposed of the bodies too slowly; SS Lance-Corporal Libesis, who is not squeamish about shooting Russians. Did these people expect to grow old? Death seems to be a matter of random chance.

The book has some weaknesses beyond the lack of context. It's not a people-book. Unlike for example Robert Massie's Castles of Steel I learned nothing at all about the personalities involved. The likes of Montgomery, Patton, and Zhukov are mentioned almost in passing (Montgomery barely appears). The little people who die in their droves are mostly names and an ethnicity or just part of a mass. Of the top Nazis only Goebbels makes an impression, because the book quotes extensively from his diaries. Whenever there is a British commando raid on Europe, however trivial, it gets a mention; American exploits are covered in much less detail. There's very little coverage of military strategy, which is understandable given that it's a general history, but without knowing more about the fighting it seems strange that the Axis collapses so quickly and thoroughly. Japan's military in particular transforms from a worldbeating force into a liability almost overnight. Japan didn't have a Stalingrad, and yet within two years every battle ends with absolute disaster for the Japanese. They routinely throw thousands of soldiers against the US Marines, who kill them all for the loss of a hundred Marines. How did the Soviets suddenly manage to become worldbeaters? Etc.

And it's neither a strength nor a weakness, but contrary to the modern style there are no personal interviews. The book deals with the grand sweep of events, not individual people. I'm not sure that the book would have benefited from personal reminiscences, they would seem trite. In this respect the book feels a little old-fashioned. It's not that it only covers the big people, it's that it doesn't cover people, it concentrates on events.

Atrocities. The book has an unusual focus on the mass murder of civilians; but perhaps it only seems unusual because I'm used to reading military histories in which wars are made of battles, and mass murder is something that isn't really war. On every page civilians are rounded up and shot, nine hundred here, ten thousand there, seventy here, a hundred there. Old men, mothers, children, women. Thousands, millions of people killed because they were in the way. By the end of the war the German military is rationing artillery shells while the well-equipped SS are given petrol to drive around in trucks killing the last few thousand Jews left in Romania and Lithuania, and for what? Gilbert's book generally avoids anaylsis and instead just presents the facts, which again is frustrating. It would be nice if an experienced historian could have explained the Nazis' motives (sadly Martin Gilbert died recently, so he can't do it).

Nonetheless the book is fairly clear in explaining that the Nazis wanted to use the chaos of war as cover for their ethnic cleansing, although again it would be nice to know why they felt the need to cover anything up; I had always assumed that the Nazis had ultimate power and could do whatever they wanted. The impression is of a political party with an unrealistic manifesto that suddenly found itself far out of its depth having to implement it, and because Hitler and the top Nazis had built up an image of strength, they were unwilling to put it off, which meant having to purge millions of people while simultaneously running a war, which was beyond them.

One thing struck me as I finished the book. If I had been a German soldier, returning from Russian captivity in 1955 to East Germany, and I had found out that Hitler and his cronies were more interested in rounding up civilians than providing me with winter gear, I would have wanted to put a bullet into him myself.

11 people found this helpful

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VANESSA GRIFFITH

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Tariki

Harrowing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 November 2014

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I had never read a complete account of the Second World War. I was looking for a book that would bring together all the various events that seemed in my own mind to define its progress. The Blitzkrieg of Poland, Dunkirk, Stalingrad, Pearl Harbour and so on towards D-day. I chose Martin Gilbert's book because of having read his history of WW1 and being impressed by his evident humanity and respect for all combatants and the recognition that all who died were individuals with loved ones. He does not disappoint here. The style is pure narrative and the larger events are interspersed with stories of individuals. There is very little judgement and Gilbert allows the events themselves to define "right" and "wrong" if we wish to try to define it beyond all the carnage and horror.

The text just became more and more harrowing, more and more gripping as the war unfolds. It became unrelenting in its record of shocking and virtually unbelievable horror. At times I was reduced to tears.

It has to be five stars. Or none.

6 people found this helpful

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C.J. MUTTON

This one volume history of WW2 is an acclaimed classic ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 August 2018

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This one volume history of WW2 is an acclaimed classic giving a virtually day-by-day, blow-by-blow account of the period. Although tactics and strategy are discussed, this is not just a catalogue of operations and battles; it examines the effect of war on the humanity of those caught up in it. The actions, the faults and failings, the triumphs and tragedies of both aggressor and transgressed are all presented and discussed dispassionately

3 people found this helpful

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Janine

Excellent as always

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 July 2020

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Reading books by Sir Martin Gilbert is always a pleasure and this one is no exception. He manages to give us the big picture of the historical events, at the same time as adding interesting details on an individual level. If I could recommend only ONE book on the subject, this would be it.

2 people found this helpful

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