World War Two Heads Of State Politicians And Collaborators

Jack J. Kanski presents concise, illustrated books exploring the roles of the key personalities during the Second World War and their contributions in the conflict. Following on from the first five books in his A Concise Outline series, Kanski now offers readers information pertaining to the influential individuals from Great Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union, amongst others. In World War Two: Heads of State, Politicians and Collaborators Kanski divides the information into three parts: firstly describing heads of state such as Roosevelt and Emperor Hirohito, before moving on to other politicians such as Churchill and Reynaud, and finally concluding with important collaborators during the period. These books are designed as companion texts and when read together will give readers a good understanding of the important people and their contributions. Written in a reader-friendly bullet-point format accompanied by many colour images, Kanski’s latest book will act as a stepping stone for the general reader interested in World War Two.

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.

A book examining the strange terrain of Nazi sympathizers, nonintervention campaigners and other voices in America who advocated on behalf of Nazi Germany in the years before World War II. Americans who remember World War II reminisce about how it brought the country together. The less popular truth behind this warm nostalgia: until the attack on Pearl Harbor, America was deeply, dangerously divided. Bradley W. Hart's Hitler's American Friends exposes the homegrown antagonists who sought to protect and promote Hitler, leave Europeans (and especially European Jews) to fend for themselves, and elevate the Nazi regime. Some of these friends were Americans of German heritage who joined the Bund, whose leadership dreamed of installing a stateside Führer. Some were as bizarre and hair-raising as the Silver Shirt Legion, run by an eccentric who claimed that Hitler fulfilled a religious prophesy. Some were Midwestern Catholics like Father Charles Coughlin, an early right-wing radio star who broadcast anti-Semitic tirades. They were even members of Congress who used their franking privilege—sending mail at cost to American taxpayers—to distribute German propaganda. And celebrity pilot Charles Lindbergh ended up speaking for them all at the America First Committee. We try to tell ourselves it couldn't happen here, but Americans are not immune to the lure of fascism. Hitler's American Friends is a powerful look at how the forces of evil manipulate ordinary people, how we stepped back from the ledge, and the disturbing ease with which we could return to it.

In Priest, Politician, Collaborator, James Mace Ward offers the first comprehensive and scholarly English-language biography of the Catholic priest and Slovak nationalist Jozef Tiso (1887–1947). The first president of an independent Slovakia, established as a satellite of Nazi Germany, Tiso was ultimately hanged for treason and (in effect) crimes against humanity by a postwar reunified Czechoslovakia. Drawing on extensive archival research, Ward portrays Tiso as a devoutly religious man who came to privilege the maintenance of a Slovak state over all other concerns, helping thus to condemn Slovak Jewry to destruction. Ward, however, refuses to reduce Tiso to a mere opportunist, portraying him also as a man of principle and a victim of international circumstances. This potent mix, combined with an almost epic ability to deny the consequences of his own actions, ultimately led to Tiso’s undoing. Tiso began his career as a fervent priest seeking to defend the church and pursue social justice within the Kingdom of Hungary. With the breakup of Austria-Hungary in 1918 and the creation of a Czechoslovak Republic, these missions then fused with a parochial Slovak nationalist agenda, a complex process that is the core narrative of the book. Ward presents the strongest case yet for Tiso’s heavy responsibility in the Holocaust, crimes that he investigates as an outcome of the interplay between Tiso’s lifelong pattern of collaboration and the murderous international politics of Hitler’s Europe. To this day memories of Tiso divide opinion within Slovakia, burdening the country’s efforts to come to terms with its own history. As portrayed in this masterful biography, Tiso’s life not only illuminates the history of a small state but also supplies a missing piece of the larger puzzle that was interwar and wartime Europe.

The Nazi regime in Germany was terrible enough without even accounting for the policy of collaboration. So what extra does collaboration say about Hitler and his plans for Europe? Peter Davies explores the mindset and political attitudes of Hitler and also many other controversial pro-Nazi leaders in Western Europe, Scandanavia, Central and Eastern Europe, and also beyond. Delving into four different "types" of collaboration: political, financial, the Holocaust, and collaboration at a social level, he asks some difficult questions. The story of collaboration is brought up to date, assessing both the legacy and its contemporary parallels.

World War II defined the 20th century and shaped many events, from the decolonization of Africa to the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. This encyclopedia offers a focused overview of this complex and volatile era, the circumstances that led up to war, the underlying causes, its unfolding and consequences. Organized for quick and precise access More than 1300 entries by 150 experts are arranged in six sections for easy reference and consultation. All the key ideas, events, actions, weapons, individuals, and organizations that played vital roles in the war are covered, from the Axis Pact to the Arab League, from the OSS to the Africa Korps, from the Chetniks to the Jedburghs, from the battle of Kursk to Operation Mincemeat, from Bill Donovan to Otto Skorzeny, from Gestapo to SMERSH, from Georgi Zhukov to Jean Leclerc, from the 88 gun to the Norden Bombsight. Covers important neglected subjects The Encyclopedia puts special emphasis on the often-neglected operations in Eastern Europe and Russia. A key section inspects and rates all the major weapons, with handy tables for easy comparison. And in recognition of the first large-scale participation of women in the war, the volume thoroughly documents their individual and unit contributions to the Allied effort. Finally, the encyclopedia discusses battlefield realties that explain, for example, why the airborne drops at Normandy succeeded and the ones at Arnheim failed. A bibliography, glossary, maps, photographs, and weapons and data tables enhance the coverage. Also includes 16 maps.

Important new study of wartime industrial collaboration focussing on Ford Motor Company's French affiliate during the Second World War.

Europe on Trial explores the history of collaboration, retribution, and resistance during World War II. These three themes are examined through the experiences of people and countries under German occupation, as well as Soviet, Italian, and other military rule. Those under foreign rule faced innumerable moral and ethical dilemmas, including the question of whether to cooperate with their occupiers, try to survive the war without any political involvement, or risk their lives by becoming resisters. Many chose all three, depending on wartime conditions. Following the brutal war, the author discusses the purges of real or alleged war criminals and collaborators, through various acts of violence, deportations, and judicial proceedings at the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal as well as in thousands of local courts. Europe on Trial helps us to understand the many moral consequences both during and immediately following World War II.