The strategists : Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini and Hitler - how war made them, and how they made war
O'Brien, Phillips Payson, 1963-2025
Book
Churchill. Hitler. Stalin. Mussolini. Roosevelt. Five of the most impactful leaders of WW2, each with their own individualistic and idiosyncratic approach to warfare. But if we want to understand their military strategy, we must first understand the strategist. 'Entirely fresh, brilliantly insightful and utterly compelling ' James HollandChurchill. Hitler. Stalin. Mussolini. Roosevelt. Five of the most impactful leaders of WW2, each with their own individualistic and idiosyncratic approach to warfare. But if we want to understand their military strategy, we must first understand the strategist.In THE STRATEGISTS, Professor Phillips Payson O'Brien shows how the views these five leaders forged in WW1 are crucial to understanding how they fought WW2. For example, Churchill's experiences of facing the German Army in France in 1916 made him unwilling to send masses of British soldiers back there in the 1940s, while Hitler's mistakes on the Eastern Front were influenced by his reluctance to accept that conditions had changed since his own time fighting.The implications of the power of leaders remain with us to this day: to truly understand what is happening in Ukraine, for example, requires us to know what has influenced the leaders involved.This is a history in which leaders - and their choices - matter. For better or worse.
Main title:
Author:
O'Brien, Phillips Payson, 1963-, author
Imprint:
London : Penguin Books, 2025.
Collation:
xiv, 530 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (black and white) ; 20 cm
Notes:
Originally published: UK: Viking, 2024.Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9781405966597 (pbk)
Dewey class:
940.5401
LC class:
D743
Language:
English
Subject:
Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965 -- Military leadershipStalin, Joseph, 1878-1953 -- Military leadershipRoosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945 -- Military leadershipMussolini, Benito, 1883-1945 -- Military leadershipHitler, Adolf, 1889-1945 -- Military leadershipWorld War, 1939-1945 -- CampaignsWorld War, 1939-1945 -- Diplomatic historyStrategyWarfare and DefenceEuropean historyMilitary historyFirst World WarSecond World WarMilitary & defence strategyUnited Kingdom, Great BritainGermanyItalyUSSR, Soviet UnionUnited States of America, USA20th century, c 1900 to c 1999
BRN:
866111