Very systematically explained and very well organized which explains the various events of that period.A very very good book.

This was a comprehensive, eagle-eyed overview of World War II. A few years back, I read Gilbert's "The First World War", which reads much the same way. Both books are chock full of information and statistics, both move at a rapid pace. I find his writing style to be highly readable, yet at the same time he also misses or barely mentions certain topics. This is understandable however, as this book is designed to be a one volume look at the world's greatest conflict.

Honestly, it was pretty difficult to get through, as every other line seemed to be about the atrocities the Nazis committed. This is a sobering read, to say the least. I've studied World War II my entire life, like so many, and yet I walked away from reading this book by not only learning new things, but also feeling the weight of the tragedy like I was learning about it for the first time again. Of course, unlike World War I, World War II is still just barely in living memory for us. There are a few folks alive today who remember it and who fought in it. If not, our parents and grandparents did, so I feel as though it just "hits differently" than reading about another conflict.

To summarize, I believe this is a solid book worthy of 5/5 stars. I, with a strong knowledge of World War II, walked away from it feeling that it was a a worthwhile read. Additionally, this would be a great single volume introduction to the war as well.

Additional reading required

I enjoyed the book very much. However it felt that a complete overview is lacking. The book lacks a deeper analysis of soviet war crimes, hence it does not pretendend that there were none.

A difficult, but important work of the history of World War Two. On the positive side, the author spends a large amount of time detailing the atrocities that occurred to the Jewish population of Europe. Week by week, in mind numbing details he follows the Nazi program to eliminate the Jewish population from Europe. It is difficult to read, difficult to understand and difficult to realize that people could possibly be so cruel. It is important that we try to do so.

As a history of the events of the war, it falls short - there didn't appear to be much regarding the strategy of the war, the marching out the events one after another gives the reader a window in which to peer through regarding the war on all fronts, but the overarching issues and strategy were never really discussed. The author also spends much time on the European theatre of the war, almost forgetting all the other fronts, particularly the war in the Pacific.

Wonderful book, but I think the British author underplays the American effect on the war. Patton is mentioned exactly twice, for example. One thing he does exceptionally well is bring the Holocaust to terms by reminding the reader that every day hundreds if not thousands of people died. In all, a wonderfully written book that is chock full of information.

A Fresh Look at the Second World War

This book looked at all the theaters of the war day by day. And day by day the book reported the toll in human life, often by name. This book also elucidated the critical role played by the code breakers in a way that integrated that role into the bigger picture. For me,this was a welcomed difference and a new point of view.

The Second World War by Martin Gilbert gives an overall impression of human suffering and death. The war tolls were astronomical and the details horrifying. Gilbert emphasizes the Jews loss--the Holocaust--and exact details and myriad of accounts that confirm the torture of the human race. Hitler, Hirohito, Roosevelt, Churchill, Mousslini, and Stalin played the faces of the nations during the WWII. However, Gilbert recognized the business of the WWII remains a long,deep echo that today's humanity continues to repay, heal, mourn, and fight in the Cold War. Plus, the Soviet scare and implications at the end of the book personify the grabs of power from other dictatorial and socialist leadership in Eastern Europe. Gilbert left the door open for inquiry and reflection on themes, politics, trends, and value of life from the shadows of WWII.

As with all of Martin Gilbert's works, this is an accomplished and polished history of World War II, looking both from a bird's eye view of events, to a closer more intimate picture of so many of those involved.

It details the war in Europe, from the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, to then effects of the War even today.
The millitary conflict, is set against the backdrop of the genocide by the Nazis of millions of Jews, Gypsies, Poles, Russians , Serbs, 'anti-social elements' and others.

Even before the war, Hitler had boasted that the result of the war, would be the total destruction of European Jewry
In response to Hitler's persecution of the Jews, Dr Chaim Weizmann, the elder statesman of the Zionist movement, wrote to the British Prime Minister, to declare that the Jews would fight on the side of the democracies against Nazi Germany- his letter was published in The Times on September 6.
The human cost is recorded in harrowing detail. On September 25, the Germans launched Operation Coast. a massive air attack on Warsaw, which dropped a total of seventy incendiary tons on the Polish capital. A Polish officer's wife, Jadwiga Sosnkowska, who later escaped to the West recalled the horrors of that night. Also recorded by Gilbert was the bombing of Belgrade, in which 17 000 civilians were killed in one day.
Gilbert covers the Soviet connivance in the rape of Poland, and quotes from a variety of sources on the Holocaust, such as the diaries of Chaim Kaplan and Emanuel Ringleblum.
The power of the German occupation authorities to tyrannize through hunger, fear and terror was unlimited.
We can take inspiration from the words of Winston Churchill to the members of his new government: 'You ask what is our policy? I will say it is to wage war by sea, land and air, with all our might, and with all the strength that G-D can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime.'

Roosevelt also gave us some wisdom on how to deal with totalitarian states by 'resistance, not appeasement'.
There were always propagandists for Nazi Germany and her aggression, such as the propagandist William Joyce, known as Lor Haw Haw, who broadcast pro-Axis messages from Radio Bremen, into Britain.
Gilbert covers antisemitic filth, which has poured from Nazi faucets, which made the holocaust possible, indeed moral denigration encourages physical elimination.
'Even the world of film and entertainment had been dragooned to serve the cause of race hatred.'
This is mirrored in the propaganda against the Jews of Israel, by the extreme Left, the international media, the United Nations, much of the European Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, Third World regimes, universities and leftist academics.


The book highlights heroes such as the Jewish volunteers from the Land of Israel- Peretz Rosenberg, Hannah Szenes , Enzo Sereni, French heros such as Jean Moulin, British heros such as Noor Inayat Khan, Norwegian heroes such as Arne Dahl, and those brave Germans who opposed the Nazis such as Hans Scholl, his sister Sophie Scholl of the White Rose, Pastor Niemoller, Bernhard Letterhaus and Gertrude Seele. And Tito's Yugoslav Partisans.
Also villains such as Himmler, Eichmann, Mengele, Stroop , Hans Frank, the Mufti Haj Amin El Husseini and Ante Pavelic.
The scale of human cruelty is mind-blowing. Even after it was clear that all was over for Hitler and the Nazis, 20 Jewish children were hung on Hitler's birthday, ranging in age from five to twelve years.
The basic message of remembering thse events is that totalitarian evil must be fought without quarter, and that the forces of good must never surrender.

Incredibly well researched

I like that Gilbert didn't focus so much in the details of the battles, but tried to tell the human side of the war. That is, how it affected the non combatants, as well as the frontline soldiers. The atrocities documented be are far worse than anything I've read before. It you are a fan of history, this book is a must read.

One of the best books I've read.

Not much details on the individual battles, but does offer great detail on anti-partisan campaigns and the Holocaust

A very detailed work indeed! But maybe a little bit too detailed for someone that wants to know what happened (like me). After a while the chapters start talking at the same time of what was happening at the western, eastern front, in the war on the pacific on Africa and at the same time referring all the small stories of the countless people that were murdered in the lands occupied by the Nazis.

All in all, I find this structure very difficult to follow