Author Description
At 5:40AM, 9/1/39, Hitler announced his invasion of Poland. During the next 72 hours, while French & British civilian & military leaders (Poland's sworn allies) equivocated & while the USA maintained neutrality, armored columns & the Luftwaffe gained the momentum which enabled them to conclusively roll over the antiquated Polish cavalry & infantry while driving its planes from the sky. By 9/28 Poland was theirs--abetted by Russian invasion on 9/17. This was the phony war, when no bombs were dropped on German soil (private property, a British Secretary of State for Air protested), when French troops took only defensive positions on the Maginot Line, when Mussolini & the Swedish businessman Birger Dahlerus moved between Berlin & the Allies as self-appointed saviors. Bethell's account of those weeks follows the opening of the British State Papers for the period & shows from inside how the political decisions were made, how opportunities were lost & allegiances broken, & how the necessity of war with Hitler gradually became reality. It describes behind-the-scenes maneuvers in Moscow & Berlin of Hitler, Ribbentrop, Stalin & Molotov; Roosevelt's attempt to awaken Americans to the danger; the distrustful bargaining between Paris & London; the vacillation of Daladier, Bonnet & Chamberlain; the bitter conflict, between the French & British politicians who favored peace at any price & those who realized the Nazi threat; & the heroic, terrible story of the Poles themselves, outflanked & outmachined in a new type of warfare. The War Hitler Won presents a fascinating picture of the crucial political & military events of WWII's opening days.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the political and military failures of the Allied powers that allowed Nazi Germany to secure a rapid victory over Poland in September 1939. Nicholas Bethell, a historian and peer, utilizes newly opened British State Papers to reconstruct the decision-making processes within London, Paris, Berlin, and Moscow. The book argues that the collapse of Poland was not merely a military defeat but the result of diplomatic vacillation, broken allegiances, and a fundamental misunderstanding of the Nazi threat by Western leadership.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Detailed analysis of the first 28 days of the invasion of Poland in 1939.
- Examination of the diplomatic maneuvers involving Hitler, Stalin, Chamberlain, and Daladier.
- Primary source evidence derived from British State Papers and contemporary political correspondence.
Scope Limits
- The text focuses primarily on the political and strategic level rather than granular tactical battlefield accounts.
- It does not provide a comprehensive history of the entire Second World War, remaining strictly confined to the opening weeks of the conflict.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Historians and researchers frequently cite this work for its detailed synthesis of the diplomatic failures that defined the early stages of the war. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous look at the behind-the-scenes political maneuvering of the period.
Page Count:
472
Publication Date:
1973-01-01
Publisher:
Holt Rinehart & Winston
ISBN-10:
0030013763
ISBN-13:
9780030013768
History
Military History
World War
Political History
European History