There is a forthright description of the events in Europe in the 1930s, including some fairly trenchant observations on what might have happened if Britain had been more obdurate and hawkish during the crisis over Czechoslovakia.
I really enjoyed the passages which commented on the major leaders, and their assorted virtues and frailties. I was (pleasantly) surprised by much of the appraisal of the respective parts played by Roosevelt and Churchill, in that it went against the grain of much of the hackneyed "wisdom" to be found in modern-day accounts. Throughout the relevant parts of the book, the interaction between the "Big Three" is assessed conscientiously. I was interested in the observations about "the race to Berlin" in 1945, and the prominence of Allied military leaders in the decision-making process.
There are superb and sobering chapters focusing on how the Nazis treated and administered occupied Europe, and how these policies affected people and the course and conduct of the overall war. Loyalties often converged and diverged due to the vicissitudes of the war. Grievances and suspicions, which were often fuelled by emotion and propaganda in the heat of conflict, are weighed in some detail.
The complex and fluid dynamics of France, from the perspective of Vichy, de Gaulle and the Resistance, is explored in a clear, compassionate and enlightening fashion. The equally elaborate and byzantine scenario in Italy is accorded similar treatment.
Where this formidable tome differs from other similar efforts is in the weight of emphasis placed on the war in Asia and the Pacific, and its origins in China and Japan. Indeed, the revised edition is effectively divided into two parts, the first dealing with European and related theatres, the second the Far East. Great care is taken to document the process by which Japan arrived at the state of affairs which triggered its conquests in the 1930s and early 1940s, with dissections of its alliances with Great Britain, and the ramifications of the war against Russia in 1904/05.
We see how Japan's embarkation on a certain course tied in with, and was affected by, developments in Europe and elsewhere, and how the imperial ambitions of the other Powers in the Far East contributed in determining Japan's approach and mentality.
The importance of China is stressed to a degree uncommon in many latter-day accounts. This is all explained with coherence and confidence, especially how the respective Japanese and Western attitudes to China helped to bring about the eventual catastrophe.
The reasons for Japan's gradual estrangement from the West in the years following the First World War are outlined, as is the manner in which the military influence became stronger and more embedded. Some insight is provided into the ethos of the armed forces, and the peculiar way in which they at times related to the population at large. Of interest to me was the sense that although Japanese society developed on the surface along Western lines, imitating institutions and policies followed by Europe and America, the outlook and practices which developed were distinctive and unusual.
The chronicles of military campaigns and other episodes are unpretentious and uncluttered, occasionally balanced out by raw statistics to illustrate points, especially dealing with the war economies and grand strategic matters. There are also some pointed and perceptive commentaries on the societal impacts of the conflict and its aftermath.
To summarise, for a slightly different perspective on this vast, complicated and emotive subject, this book comes highly recommended.
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