by Richard Overy
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Product Description
Richard Overy's bold book begins by throwing out the stock answers to this great question: Germany doomed itself to defeat by fighting a two-front war; the Allies won by "sheer weight of material strength." In fact, by 1942 Germany controlled almost the entire resources of continental Europe and was poised to move into the Middle East. The Soviet Union had lost the heart of its industry, and the United States was not yet armed. The Allied victory in 1945 was not inevitable. Overy shows us exactly how the Allies regained military superiority and why they were able to do it. He recounts the decisive campaigns: the war at sea, the crucial battles on the eastern front, the air war, and the vast amphibious assault on Europe. He then explores the deeper factors affecting military success and failure: industrial strength, fighting ability, the quality of leadership, and the moral dimensions of the war.
Amazon.com Review
Having won an unprecedented series of victories and acquired huge new territories in 1942, Germany and Japan seemed poised to dominate most of the world. A year later both empires were reeling back in the face of Allied assaults. The rapid turnaround, King's College history professor Richard Overy writes, came about largely as a result of technological innovation and structural responsiveness. The Allies were able to convert their economies to a war footing with few institutional fetters, while the Axis powers imposed layers of bureaucracy that often competed internally. In fact, Overy writes, at one point during the war, the Luftwaffe had more than 425 different aircraft models in production, the result of different state agencies' and manufacturers' vying to push their models into the order of battle. The defeated Axis powers' conversion to their foes' economic model enabled them, according to Overy, to become technological leaders in the postwar years. His study is full of detail, and it makes for very good reading.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 It's Not Over until It's Over!, 2008-11-27
As we look back on World War II, I think we all take for granted the Allied victory of 1945.
What Mr. Overy maintains is that the balance between victory and defeat was very fragile indeed. In the beginning of this great global conflict, all these later victories and accolades were not set in cement. One can still hear the trepidation and quiet courage of Winston Churchill in his speeches given to his British constituency in 1941, when Great Britain was all alone in its struggle with the Nazi menace.
Recent theories and analysis have may historians writing of the great efforts and sacrifices of the USSR. In restating this history, these rewriters have a tendency in giving far too much credit to the Soviet war effort. While it is quite true that without the Soviet effort the results of the conflict would have indeed been different, one must realize that if it were not for Great Britain's persistence, the Soviet Union would have been crushed with Germany fighting a one front war. If Great Britain had not provided that second front along with the economic stimulus from the Lend Lease Act providing shipments of food and supplies at Archangel, the Soviet Union would have been doomed to defeat.
The best trained Army belonged to Germany. It is in fact that this superior fighting force was bogged down by the second rate strategies of Adolph Hitler. If these strategies were played out with more foresight and intelligence, the results could have been a Nazi victory.
Richard Overy has written a wonderful recap of this great world conflict. His take on the Russian front and the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk are well researched and written.
Also Overy's take on Allied bombing is non-traditional. Allied bombing was always considered a major disappointment in Europe. Ironically Churchill never thought it a disappointment. It is Overy's take that the bombings performed a major assistance to the war effort in that it depleted the Luftwaffe and established later air superiority. Indeed the use of these bombing campaigns led to the attrition of the Luftwaffe capabilities.
Overy's thesis on the battle of the Atlantic states his key take on the turning of the tide of the world conflict in 1943.
The Author goes into the war in the Pacific and states the turning point as the Battle of Midway. This is the rather traditional theory. He also points to America's technical and strategic superiority in the Pacific Theater.
It is the Author's thesis that Germany and Japan held formidable advantages in 1941 and 1942. What happened? Overy argues that the Allies learned to correct their mistakes and weaknesses. Japan and Germany, who were elated by early success continued in their hubris and eventually became legends in their own minds.
Good read, which gives a different slant of World War II.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Engaging and readable history of WWII, 2008-10-13
Others have offered good reviews of content here, and I'm not up to date on my sources and numbers so I can't critique the book on that front as many of the negative reviews do, so I will limit my review to my experience of it:
It's a great read and I didn't want to put it down. It is a great source for either the question in its title, or simply as a history of WWII, or even just as engaging reading.
It might have more easily come out and given its answer right up front - even now, several weeks later, I'm challenged to repeat it exactly, but perhaps that's because he offers a complex explanation which takes into account not only technological factors, but the interplay between the relative strengths of the Axis and Allies (Axis starting to lose by late 1942 and Allies starting to get going by then), as well as the moral dimension.
Perhaps the best compliment I could give it, is that it is just good reading: for a great and engaging story, for a history of WWII, or to assess why the allies won.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Uma visão histórica e complexa, 2008-08-11
O livro do historiador inglês Richard Overy trabalha com as principais razões pelas quais os aliados (ingleses, russos e americanos principalmente) conseguiram derrotar os países do Eixo durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Embora seja uma publicação relativamente recente (1995) ela permite obter uma visão geral do que foi o conflito e, mais ainda, enumerar de uma forma complexa as razões pelas quais os aliados conseguiram, após um início vacilante, tomar a iniciativa e combater com eficácia.
Embora o livro se perca um pouco no início quando o autor retoma as prinicpais campanhas durante o conflito, a partir do capítulo 6 (A Genius for Mass Production: Economies at War) o desenvolvimento do pensamento do autor fica mais interessante, trabalhando em pontos principais dos aliados em comparação aos dos alemães, japoneses e italianos.
É interessante notar também que o autor trabalha com a perspectiva de explicar a vitória aliada pelos aspectos econômicos, políticos e morais, mostrando que essa aliança, se por um lado apresentava conceitos dúbios (que mais tarde iriam se tornar explícitos durante a Guerra Fria), por outro mostrava a racionalização do poder de produção na construção de um arsenal bélico que os tornava praticamente indestrutíveis. E é interessante perceber, principalmente pelo lado americano, como o gerenciamento das Forças Armadas passava por uma série de soldados e oficiais os quais tinham na vida civil (e não na militar) a sua formação original.
O pesar fica para o final. Se o autor consegue mostrar um texto de fácil compreensão, infelizmente ele poderia ter aprofundado um pouco mais na análise final, que culmina com todo o levantamento de informações cobrindo seis anos de conflito. Acredito que, com uma análise mais profunda, o livro poderia trazer à luz mais questões importantes que, de uma maneira ou de outra, tem seus reflexos ainda no dia-a-dia mundial.
Afora isso, recomendo o livro principalmente no capítulo que trata sobre o bombardeamento estratégico aliado, o qual ainda levanta muitas controvérsias sobre a sua real eficácia durante a guerra.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
A WWII Veteran's Opinion, 2008-06-26
As a WWII veteran so many of the WWII histories I have read were written within 10 or 20 years of the war. "Why The Allies Won" offered more insight and was more thoroughly researched than any I have read. Yet it was very readable and contained many facts and explanations I had not thought about before.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Mr. Overy has a great analytical mind, 2008-03-24
This book is a jewel. Mr. Overy was able to thoroughly explain why the Allies won. The reasons are manifold; we can point out some of them.
- Hitler's one man show at the helm of the German Armed Forces proved to be disastrous. His approach was amateurish and he was just not competent enough for the momentous task at hand.
- The German Armed Forces fastidious insistence on weapons that were finished with a high grade of precision impeded the mass production of standardized weapons that could match the weapon's output of the Allies.
- Japan's industrial production and supply system could not match America's.
- The Axis powers lacked sufficient oil and its derivates.
- Allied Armed Forces were able to learn from their mistakes and made the necessary adjustments to match the Axis powers' proficiency at the art of war, conversely, Germany's and Japan's Armed Forces did not improve their performance apreciably after their initial successes.
- The Allies had the "moral high ground" which spurred them on to victory.
- The Allies were successful at curbing the effectiveness of the German U-boats.
- The Allies were able to wear down the Luftwaffe and thus achieve air superiority.
- The Allies were able to keep the Germans guessing where the invasion force would land on continental Europe.
- The Germans never mechanized their supply lines and their troop transport the way the Allies did.
Mr. Overy is a word-Meister; he writes with clarity and elegance. It was a pleasure to read this book.
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