Table of Contents
This book is dedicated to my wife and fellow idiot, Marcela Kogan, whose dedication to her work and family is an inspiration, and to my children, Ariel and Daniel, who I hope will forgive their parents for working too much.
Foreword
This is an ideal beginners book on World War II, for it is both succinct and comprehensive. The Complete Idiots Guide to World War II, Third Edition, begins just where it shouldwith World War I. Many historians consider World War I and World War II to be one conflict. During the peaceful twenty-one-year respite, the exhausted combatants grew another generation of cannon fodder. This view is corroborated by many of the participants, including Adolf Hitler and his nemesis, Winston Churchill. Hitlers unremitting goal was to avenge the infamous (to him) Treaty of Versailles and restore Germanys honor. Churchill conducted Great Britains World War II operation with the killing fields of World War I always uppermost in his mind. Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, not content with the easy wealth reaped by Japan from their spoils of World War I, undoubtedly anticipated an even richer reward as he steadily moved his nation toward World War II.
The peacetime events of 1918-1939 are depicted by the author, Dr. Mitchell Bard, in a concise manner, painting the canvas of that turbulent time in broad strokes, while peppering the book with informative and often amusing sidebars. They cause us to reflect upon our present situation, where, relaxed somewhat from the exhausting tensions of the Cold War, we now realize that we are faced with the threat of global terrorism.
World War II was an immense conflict, embracing all the major nations in the world, and raging across all the oceans and almost every continent. Dr. Bard moves chronologically through all the theaters, with adroit depictions of the most significant events. His descriptions of the war are enhanced by the crisp portraits of the greatand not-so-greatleaders of the time, including Churchill, Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, and others.
It is difficult to describe major battles, especially when there were so many crucial to the outcome of World War II. Dr. Bard touches briefly and effectively upon each of them, most notably with his description of the terrible carnage at Stalingrad. This technique allows him to introduce quick snapshots of the most famous weapon systems and their decisive roles during specific conflicts throughout the war.
World War II was far more than just shooting and bombing, and the books description of the immense efforts of the United States to move from the depths of depression to becoming a first-rate military power are deftly outlined.
The Complete Idiots Guide to World War II, Third Edition, also sets out the post-war events, including the Nuremberg Trials that revealed the criminal depravity of the Nazi system. It goes on to more hopeful subjects, including the Marshall Plan, one of the most compassionate, wisest, and least appreciated acts of generosity in history.
This book will intrigue people. Dr. Bard thoughtfully provides a good bibliography and several interesting appendixes. However, perhaps the most important function of The Complete Idiots Guide to World War II, Third Edition, will be to make people think to analyze current events, and to note that while there may be many differences between the conditions prevalent in 1939 and today, there also are some haunting similarities that we should be concerned about.
The knowledgeable Dr. Bard makes this easy to do, for he writes in a lively manner that enhances his deep familiarity with the subject and provides the reader with an incentive to learn more.
Walter J. Boyne
Alpha Bravo Delta series editor Walter J. Boyne, USA (Ret.), is the best-selling author of Weapons of Desert Storm, Silver Wings, Clash of Titans, and many other award-winning works of fiction and nonfiction. A career Air Force officer, he has also served as a consultant to publishers, television, museums, and aerospace firms. He was director of the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institute and founder of Air and Space magazine. He was editor of the Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times, and Encyclopedia of Modern U.S. Military Weapons.
Introduction
World War II was the most destructive human endeavor in history. Battles were fought on almost every continent and involved more than 60 countries, affecting roughly three quarters of the worlds population. At least 57 million people were killed, more than half of them civilians.
Everything about the war was on a grand scale. The villains, from Adolf Hitler to Adolf Eichmann, were more evil than most. The feats of heroism of people such as Audie Murphy, Raoul Wallenberg, and the men who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima were truly extraordinary. The atrocities, from the Rape of Nanking to the Malmdy Massacre to the death camps, were more heinous than the crimes in any other wars. The destruction, from the firebombing of Dresden to the razing of Warsaw to the incineration of Hiroshima, was more devastating than in any conflict before or since.
Its no wonder that World War II is the subject of hundreds of books and movies. The fascination with the war is also reflected in the popularity of both, with several books hitting the bestseller lists and films topping the box office charts and winning Oscars. Still, a mere half century since the end of the war, the memory of the conflict is fading fast. The generation that fought for our freedom, witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust, and influenced our history will soon be gone, and we will have to rely on the evidence they left behind.
For those of us who grew up in the Vietnam era or later, it is hard to conceive of a time when Americans willingly went to war and truly believed they were fighting for democracy and against evil. Not everyone was anxious to go to war, but the majority did not try to avoid service. Some of Americas peacetime heroes, such as baseballs Ted Williams and Hollywoods Jimmy Stewart, volunteered at the height of their civilian careers to be a part of the war effort.
Like every war, controversy also surrounds World War II. Historians disagree on the causes of the war. People debate whether the Holocaust could have been prevented. A national brouhaha erupted recently over an exhibition of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb, and whether the accompanying text should present evidence that the United States did not have to drop the bomb to defeat Japan and emphasize the destruction the bomb caused. Veterans groups wanted more of the focus to be on the lives the bomb likely saved by quickly ending the war and the death and destruction caused by the Japanese, which prompted the use of the bomb.
The Complete Idiots Guide to World War II, Third Edition, will take you from the depths of the ocean in Hitlers submarine wolf packs to the skies above England, from the deserts of Egypt to the Hawaiian Islands, from the horrors of the gas chambers to the euphoria of V-E Day, and from the Manhattan Project to Operation Overlord. Well meet the famous and infamous characters of WW II.
This book cannot possibly cover every aspect of the war, but it will give you a good summary of what happened and why. Most general histories of the war do not spend much time on the treatment of prisoners of war or the Holocaust, but separate chapters on each are included here because those subjects are crucial to understanding the impact the war had on the lives of civilians and soldiers.
