A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

This comprehensive examination of the Second World War looks at grand strategy and diplomacy, as opposed to the gritty details of the combat experience. A World at Arms is written in a matter-of-fact tone, so don't expect a poetic narrative. Despite this, no other historian has presented such a sweeping overview. Weinberg performs the important task of reminding his readers in the West that much of the fighting--and perhaps the most decisive parts--was done in the East, between the Germans and the Russians. American readers, for their part, may appreciate Weinberg's treatment of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who is portrayed as a courageous wartime leader. This book is an essential part of any library on the Second World War.

At once accessible, concise, and comprehensive: a masterful overview of WW II. Drawing on previously unavailable archives as well as standard sources, historian Weinberg (Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany, etc.; Univ. of North Carolina) begins his chronicle of the great conflict with an analysis of the post-WW I events that led to a second world war. Getting down to business, he documents the fundamentally different intentions of latter-day belligerents like the Axis partners, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan, whose objectives encompassed a total reordering of territory, resources, and populations, while by contrast their WW I counterparts had fought mainly to preserve traditional balances of power. In pursuing his enormous theme, the author focuses on the strategic why rather than the tactical how of major clashes, leaving the details of such landmark engagements as the Battle of Britain to others with less lofty ambitions. This isn't to say that Weinberg shortchanges his readers in any substantive way. In addition to assessing the global implications of big-picture campaigns, for example, he offers short-take perspectives on action in hitherto neglected theaters. Cases in point range from the Allied seizure (from the Vichy French) of Madagascar on to so-called sideshows in Burma, Eastern Africa, and Iraq. Covered as well are the roles played by intelligence operatives, diplomats, Wehrmacht bureaucrats responsible for the Holocaust, civilians in scores of countries, and scientists recruited to develop the atomic bombs that helped hasten V-J Day. Weinberg's chronological narrative occasionally verges on the kaleidoscopic, but, this cavil apart, the author offers an authoritative survey of a huge conflict that, he suggests in an affecting afterword, might just have saved a weary world from even more destructive hostilities. The text has over 20 helpful maps. (Book-of-the-Month Dual Selection for March; Main Selection of the History Book Club) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

Weinberg's unrivaled command of archival sources combines with a smooth writing style to produce a definitive one-volume history of World War II. Weinberg balances well his coverage of the western theater and the Russian front; Europe and the Pacific; and land, sea, and air operations with equal facility. The focus of the work, however, is on the war's human factors. Weinberg is particularly critical of German and Japanese leaders for lacking a global perspective for a global war. Allied generals and leaders had significantly broader visions, which contributed significantly to their success in producing large, efficient citizen armies. Weinberg's conclusion that World War II demonstrated humankind's potential for organizing constructive programs and policies, as well as establishing its capacity for self-destruction, makes this work a signpost to the future as well as a guidebook to the past.
- D.E. Showalter, U.S. Air Force Acad., Colorado Springs
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

'Few historians could have taken on the daunting challenge of attempting a global history of the Second World War; but Gerhard Weinberg succeeds brilliantly. It is a masterly study which is unlikely to be surpassed.' Ian Kershaw, University of Sheffield

'Weinberg's book is a clearly-written account of events, with enormous … reliable encyclopaedic summaries of anything about which you need to know.' Norman Stone, The Times

'… a remarkable achievement … It certainly deserves to be placed alongside the war histories of John Keegan, Martin Gilbert and A. J. P. Taylor. As a sheer work of reference it outclasses even them.' Andrew Roberts, The Sunday Telegraph

'This is a tour de force; classical diplomatic history at its best. Weinberg's global view of the war pays dividends again and again … '. David Reynolds, New York Times

'This is an extraordinary book … an invaluable source for anyone needing in one place as many ideas as possible abut the Second World War … Moral and humane feelings underpin his copious scholarship at every point, giving admirable depth and dimension to this monumental intellectual performance.' The Washington Post

'… fully lives up to its subsidiary title and to the claims made by its publishers. This is a first class strategic history of the war.' The British Army Review

'… a coherent - in fact, hypnotic - narrative offered up in a single, handsome volume … surely the finest one-volume history we have of the most important event of the century.' American Heritage

'… a blockbuster of a survey, grounded, to a remarkable extent for so large a work, in primary sources and also in an evident mastery of the secondary literature. It is a joy to read: lively, vigorous, and...altogether a stylistic gem … [it] offers refreshingly forthright judgments on every major aspect of World War II strategy and policy.' Naval War College Review

This major new work is a general history of World War II which takes a global perspective, covering all theatres of war and illuminating their interrelations. Unlike other books on the war, this one is based on the archives – often containing hitherto unknown material - and looks at the war as the global catastrophe it was.

This major work is the first general history of World War II to be based both on the existing literature and on extensive work in British, American and German archives. It covers all the theatres of war, the weaponry used, and developments on the home front. Taking a global perspective, the work deals with all belligerents and relates events in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific to each other. The role of diplomacy and strategy, of intelligence and espionage, and the impact of war upon society are all dealt with, often on the basis of hitherto unknown material. New light is shed on the actions of great and small powers and on topics ranging from the beginning of the war to the dropping of the atomic bombs; the titanic battles on the Eastern Front are fitted into the war as a whole; the killing of six million Jews and millions of other civilians is placed into context; and the fighting at sea and in the air is included in a coherent view of the great conflict.

Widely hailed as a masterpiece, this is the first history of World War II to provide a truly global account of the war that encompassed six continents. Starting with the changes that restructured Europe and her colonies following the First World War, Gerhard Weinberg sheds new light on every facet of World War II. Actions of the Axis, the Allies, and the Neutrals are covered in every theater of the war. More importantly, the global nature of the war is examined, with new insight into how events in one corner of the world helped affect events in other distant parts. A World at Arms is a fascinating account of the Second World War and the world that the war reshaped. Gerhard L. Weinberg was born in Germany and spent the first year of World War II in England. After serving in the U.S. army of occupation in Japan, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Professor Weinberg worked on Columbia University's War Documentation project and directed the American Historical Association's program for the microfilming of captured German documents.

He is the author of numerous books and articles on the origins and the course of the war, including the prize-winning two-volume study The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany.