The Struggle For Europe Essays - Communism In Russia,

The Struggle For Europe Though this student looked in Who's Who and Contemporary Authors, no information on Chester Wilmot could be found. One considered searching the Directory of American Scholars, but that would not be helpful since he is from Australia. In The Struggle for Europe, Wilmot seeks to explain several points. First, he explores and explains how the western allies succeeded militarily but failed politically during World War II. He then elaborates on how and why the western allies crushed the Nazi regime; yet, they allowed the Soviet Union to overtake Eastern Europe and block the Atlantic Charter from taking effect in those nations. Third, the author discusses Hitler's defeat and Stalin's victory. Fourthly, he endeavors on a mission to explain how the Soviet Union replaced Germany as the dominant European power. Beginning with the Battle of Britain, the book takes the reader through the war up to the surrender of Germany. In this process Wilmot touches on Hitler's alliance with Mussolini, Hitler's conquest of France, the Lowlands, and the Balkans, and the Nazi dictator's collapse in the expansion of the Soviet Union. The author strategically builds the Allied alliance, through the book's course, and he uses the Normandy invasion to illustrate its full effectiveness. Also included are discussions on the concessions granted to Stalin by the Allies in general, and Franklin D. Roosevelt in particular. President Roosevelt believed that Stalin wanted security for his country with no territorial acquisitions in mind. In order to give the Soviet leader his second front in Europe, FDR also put the Japanese problem in the Pacific aside. By providing the reader with first-hand quotes and writings from the Nazi war machine's hierarchy, Wilmot looks at the external and internal workings of the German Wehrmacht in meticulous detail. The U-boat campaign, the inadequacies of the Luftwaffe, and the shortcomings of the Panzer divisions are discussed. The war, from April 1940 to May 1945, is expertly covered. He details various meetings of Allied and Axis partners, various battles, and various strategies. In this study, the author used very readable and easily accessible language. Events are described in good detail and his ideas are well related. The emphasis of The Struggle for Europe seems to be on two major topics that are stated in the preface. The first topic deals exclusively with the defeat of Germany. The second topic deals with the alliance between the United States and Great Britain. By covering the defeat of the German armed forces on the western, eastern, and Mediterranean fronts, he gives reasons for their ever y failure. Throughout the book, statistics are given representing German war production in terms of tanks, planes, guns, vehicles, soldiers, and ships. The second topic is probed in almost as much detail as the first. Wilmot describes the western alliance from very near the book's beginning. He details Churchill and Roosevelt's close friendship and partnership during the war. He skillfully deals with the United States being the number two man in the alliance's beginning and how the U.S. slowly emerges as the premier partner toward the end of the hostilities. The reason these two topics come to the forefront is due to the fact that the struggle in the west engrossed the defeat of Germany by the western alliance along with the Soviet Union. The Struggle for Europe is very well organized. The book's organization develops along chronological lines beginning with the Battle of Britain. The author proceeds through the work hitting on all the key quotes, speeches, conferences, battles, and decisions that occurred during the war. Each chapter is organized along the same line as the course of events happened during the war. Background inform ation is insightfully given before and during most events described, so that even one with very little WWII knowledge can understand the event being discussed. The extra background also helps expand the knowledge of the most avid WWII followers. The Struggle for Europe deals fairly with both the Allied and Axis situations and decisions. Wilmot gives equal discussion time to both sides in regards to strategy, view point, and military standing. The book's overall organization exemplifies itself in terms of its thoroughness and readability. He touches on almost every aspect of the European theater in 717