The Second World War by John
Keegan
A Great History
The best one-volume treatment available, The Second World War by John
Keegan is an outstanding synthesis of an enormous amount of material on
the largest single event in human history. The book proceeds
chronologically through the war, but chapters appearing at appropriate
moments focus on particular themes, such as war production, occupation,
bombing, resistance, and espionage. Keegans ability to translate the wars
grand strategies is impressive, and the battle descriptions are superb.
Generals obviously play a key role in this narrative, but ordinary soldiers
also receive proper credit, as do the often-overlooked merchant marines
whose heroic efforts to supply Great Britain made the Allied victory
possible. Keegan, author of the landmark book The Face of Battle, is
without doubt one of our greatest military historians, and here his
analytical powers and skilled writing are on full display.
Personal Review: The Second World War by John Keegan

This is an excellent one volume telling of the Second World War, within its
historical context, with a heavy emphasis on the strategic questions and
decisions faced by the political and military high commands of the five
major powers (Keegan doesn't consider Italy a major power). A long-time
instructor at Sandhurst in Britain, Keegan brings to this work an ability to
link the conflict within the historical flow of Europe and modern Asia, going
as far back as time of Charlemagne, but especially emphasizing how the
rise of Prussia in the 1700's led to the awful events of 1939 - 1945.
The center of the conflict, for Keegan, especially to the awful nature that
led all sides to jump all in the worst war in human history, was with Hitler.
While German militarism and its failure after World War I was the fuel for
WWII, it simply would not have happened were it not for Hitler's fantasies
of German expansion and superiority. Told in about 600 pages, the writing
is tight and points, loaded with meaning are made so quickly and often so
well, that the reader does not notice until later. That the Nazi's rose so
quickly and led a populace so willing seemed surprising at the time, but in
the context that Keegan puts it into, does not seem surprising at all.
The book is divided into five sections, with initial section chapters about the
strategic dilemmas faced by the leaders of the five great powers at
different phases of the war. As a result, Keegan places a heavy emphasis
on strategy, command and control, supply chain management and home
front economics and he makes all of that very interesting. So the reader
will not get a shot by shot retelling of every battle. For example, the month
long blood bath on Iwo Jima gets just a couple of paragraphs, but the
reader will come away with a greater understanding of why Iwo Jima was
fought, and what its fall to the Americans meant to the rest of the war.
Some reviewers have criticized Keegan for writing too much about the
European War, in comparison to the Pacific War, and in a one volume, six
hundred page book, choices did have to be made. But in this case, it
seems a proportional emphasis on Europe, especially the Eastern front
war between the Soviets and the Germans was right. Over 600 armed
divisions fought between 1941 and 1945 in the east, with over 10 million
dead. Excluding the Japanese military occupation of China, less than 20
total armed divisions fought the Pacific War, not including naval forces.
For a reader wanting a well-written, one volume account of World War II,
where the conflict is placed in historical conflict, Keegan's book cannot be
more highly recommended.
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