The Second World War: An Illustrated History

A.J.P. Taylor

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1975; Pages: 235

"Despite all the killing and destruction that accompanied it, the Second World War was a good war" (p. 234). With this controversial assessment concludes the lively short narrative that according to the author took 30 years to write. A.J.P. Taylor is no stranger to controversy and in fact it was his other work, THE ORIGINS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR that earned him the (undeserved) notoriety as a Hitler apologist. This lavishly illustrated history of the war itself is more of the same. The author provides an account highly, almost embarrassingly, critical of Britain's conduct before, during, and after the war. Taylor also goes after the Americans, especially with regard to their decision to use the A-bomb, but on the whole is very sympathetic to their European operations (which are seen as mostly saving the Brits from their incompetence). There is a lot of undisguised admiration of the German and Japanese wartime successes, especially in the early phases of the conflict. However, the greatest admiration, and even awe, are reserved for the Soviet participation.

To Americans, who are used to seeing the Second World War almost exclusively in terms of the Pacific theater (or maybe Normandy), and to the Western Europeans, who are usually quite preoccupied with the phony wars that France and Britain waged in 1940-1, the emphasis may come as a shock. However, given that at no time in the war the Soviets faced less than 80% of German military strength, it is no exaggeration to say that the Eastern Front was, as they say, IT. (There is some belated popular recognition to that effect if one is to judge by the number of EF books that have come out recently in the US.) Taylor has few kind words for the Allies, especially Churchill, but seems to think that FDR was doing well with respect to Stalin. He discounts allegations of the Communist menace repeatedly (somewhat excusable given his safe vantage point outside areas left under their rule).

The strongest point in the book is what I call the "muddling through" depiction of the war. Taylor sees the process as almost hopelessly confused, with people more reacting to events than directing them. Such was his main theme in the other book, and it is pursued here to its logical conclusion: in war, the greatest opportunist does best... as long as he commands the larger battalions. Given the import of the EF, however, Taylor somewhat puzzlingly dedicates more space to the other places (this is AFTER his own assertion about the primacy of the EF). Perhaps he is better qualified to describe those, who knows. One but cannot feel that much is missing from such an account. It is fun to quote Mussolini's girlfriend, but the sparse attention paid to Leningrad, Kursk, Operation Bagration, and any other epic engagement is strange.

To Taylor, W.W.II was about one thing only: save Europe from Nazism (and to a lesser extent Fascism), and save Asia from Japanese tyranny. In that, the Allies admirably succeeded, which is exactly what prompted the author to draw the conclusion quoted above.

June 20, 2001. BLS

@BOOK{taylor-75:ww2-illustrated,
    TITLE     = {The Second World War: An Illustrated History},
    AUTHOR    = {{A. J. P.} Taylor},
    YEAR      = {1975},
    PUBLISHER = {G.P. Putnam's Sons},
    ADDRESS   = {New York},
    ISBN      = {0-241-89205-8},
    NOTE      = {Pp. 235, many photographs}
}