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The Second World Wars

How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won

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The Second World Wars

By: Victor Davis Hanson
Narrated by: Bob Souer
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About this listen

A definitive account of World War II by America's preeminent military historian.

World War II was the most lethal conflict in human history. Never before had a war been fought on so many diverse landscapes and in so many different ways, from rocket attacks in London to jungle fighting in Burma to armor strikes in Libya.

The Second World Wars examines how combat unfolded in the air, at sea, and on land to show how distinct conflicts among disparate combatants coalesced into one interconnected global war. Drawing on 3,000 years of military history, Victor Davis Hanson argues that despite its novel industrial barbarity, neither the war's origins nor its geography were unusual. Nor was its ultimate outcome surprising. The Axis powers were well prepared to win limited border conflicts, but once they blundered into global war, they had no hope of victory.

An authoritative new history of astonishing breadth, The Second World Wars, offers a stunning reinterpretation of history's deadliest conflict.

©2017 Victor Davis Hanson (P)2018 Tantor 20th Century Military Modern War Interwar Period Imperialism Middle Ages Africa Royalty Winston Churchill Imperial Japan Submarine Russia Socialism Holocaust Air Force Franklin D Roosevelt World History

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All stars
Most relevant
Professor Hanson has produced an engossing world war history, with very detailed information and thoroughly researched personal accounts.

A great war history

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A well narrated breakdown of WW2, dividing the conflicts into theatres (air, sea, land) and geographies (East/West Europe, N Africa, Pacific) with a strategic lens, using empirical data and contemporary commentary on topics such as the effectiveness of weapons from machine guns to airplanes, logistical support, technological innovation, leadership, and ideologies to make judgements on how the war proceeded and concluded as it did. Victor Davis Hanson also attempts to answer questions on what was inevitable and what wasn’t as well as philosophical questions what exactly was won and lost. At no point did a I find listening to this book dry, as can be found with other non-fiction topics.

A methodological breakdown of the conflict

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Plenty of detail, especially of lesser known campaigns, eg Italy. Sometimes a little oddly structured - same material comes up in multiple sections. Narration generally ok, although some bizarre pronunciation. Eg. Dieppa (Dieppe). Cayenne (Caen), Lou-iss Mountbatten. General Wovell (Wavell).

Good overall description of what happened, when, and sometimes subjectively, why.

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I checked the author in Wiki before I began & when I read he was a Conservative hawk I didn't expect much. But I was pleasantly surprised due to what were mostly objective overviews providing plenty of insights although one handicap of audiobooks is that one has no way of knowing whether the author's claims are based on state-of-the-art research. Despite being a Conservative hawk, Hanson states that the Soviet system was very efficient both in producing the best tanks (T34s) and plenty of them despite the Commandist economic system. And the author is very complimentary about the often underestimated UK contribution which has been criticised by e.g. Colonel Robert Forczyk and Max Hastings (Audible has such books).
I would describe the approach as classicist, geographical. Hanson's original discipline is classics, and he makes many interesting comparisons with Ancient History especially Latin & Greek. Geographical in his comparative overviews of technological breakthroughs (e.g. re materiel) and their interaction with physical & economic geography.
Of course there are mistakes: e.g. he states Attlee was an Appeaser which would be deadly for his reputation if he were. Hanson doesn't know that by 1937 Labour had abandoned its pacifist position. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Attlee#Leader_of_the_Opposition) And V.D.H. ignores the fact that the US 'Arsenal of Democracy' stance was strictly cash up front forcing the UK to sell ALL its US holdings at fire-sale prices which is now accepted as the pump-priming that brought the US economy out of the post-Depression doldrums.
The reading is somewhat monotonous i.e. an impassive (good) bass US voice which does not distract from the message.

Mostly objective & insightful f/ Cold Warrior

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This book combines global breadth and depth of historical comparisons into an analytic perspective that keeps both the human and the material dimensions of the War continuously in view. I now feel the need to read it as well as to listen. My only critism of the reading is that brief pauses between paragraphs would have made for easier listening. Otherwise, excellent.

Comprehensive and analytic

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