Twelve Turning Points Of The Second World War

In this gripping new look at the 20th century's most crucial conflict, historian Bell analyzes 12 unique turning points that determined the character and the ultimate outcome of the Second World War.

In this look at the 20th century's most crucial conflict, historian P.M.H. Bell analyses twelve unique turning points that determined the character and the ultimate outcome of the Second World War.

World War II Turning Points is an alternative history of mankind's most crucial military struggle. As such, it does not regurgitate the same, all-too-familiar versions of the past, consistently repeated by mainstream scholars since 1945. Instead, this unconventional revision is the result of newly-discovered and often neglected information about the sometimes obscure men, bizarre weapons, under-appreciated decisions, forgotten blunders and near misses that really determined the course and outcome of the Second World War. The author, a U.S. Department of Defense feature writer, whose published articles have appeared in military magazines here and abroad, combines a lifetime of research and world travels to offer an unprecedented panorama of the 20th Century's pivotal conflict. It opens with the war's single most fateful factor; namely, Allied success in breaking the Axis diplomatic and military codes. From the opening of hostilities in 1939 until the death of Reinhard Heydrich, more than three years later, Wehrmacht forces were everywhere victorious. But with the killing of their security chief, British cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, in southeast England, finally gained unrestrained access for all top secret transmissions in the Third Reich. Results were immediately forthcoming. These previously unknown events were the real if invisible turning points behind the more famous battles at places like Midway or Stalingrad. Accordingly, World War Two Turning Points shows how the international conflict was a contrast, even a struggle between Allied inevitabilities and Axis lost opportunities. Less of one or more of another by so much as a subtle degree could have decided hostilities different from their historic conclusion.

Days of Decision spans a century of American foreign policymaking, from the Spanish- American War of 1898 to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Michael J. Nojeim and David P. Kilroy carefully examine twelve foreign-policy landmarks, each of which played a crucial role in shaping world history and led to profound changes in U.S. foreign policy. Devoting one chapter to each turning point, they place it in its proper historical context, explore its political consequences--primarily the debates and divisions that arose among policymakers--and discuss the aftermath, focusing on its lasting influence on world affairs and the conduct of American diplomacy and foreign affairs. This accessible, introductory text provides students of foreign policy and international relations a deeper understanding of these disciplines' processes and of America's place in the world.

A masterful and comprehensive chronicle of World War II, by internationally bestselling historian Antony Beevor. Over the past two decades, Antony Beevor has established himself as one of the world's premier historians of WWII. His multi-award winning books have included Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945. Now, in his newest and most ambitious book, he turns his focus to one of the bloodiest and most tragic events of the twentieth century, the Second World War. In this searing narrative that takes us from Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939 to V-J day on August 14, 1945 and the war's aftermath, Beevor describes the conflict and its global reach -- one that included every major power. The result is a dramatic and breathtaking single-volume history that provides a remarkably intimate account of the war that, more than any other, still commands attention and an audience. Thrillingly written and brilliantly researched, Beevor's grand and provocative account is destined to become the definitive work on this complex, tragic, and endlessly fascinating period in world history, and confirms once more that he is a military historian of the first rank.

Outlines events on the Eastern Front of World War II from the 1941 German the invasion of the Soviet Union to Stalin's declaration of war with Japan in 1945

PMH Bell's famous book is a comprehensive study of the period and debates surrounding the European origins of the Second World War. He approaches the subject from three different angles: describing the various explanations that have been offered for the war and the historiographical debates that have arisen from them, analysing the ideological, economic and strategic forces at work in Europe during the 1930s, and tracing the course of events from peace in 1932, via the initial outbreak of hostilities in 1939, through to the climactic German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 which marked the descent into general conflict. Written in a lucid, accessible style, this is an indispensable guide to the complex origins of the Second World War.

An important new history of air and sea power in World War II and its decisive role in Allied victory.