1945: The War That Never Ended - Hardcover

Dallas, Gregor

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300109806 ISBN 13: 9780300109801

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2005

Synopsis

1945 is a monumental, multi-dimensional history of the end of World War II. Dallas narrates in meticulous detail the conflicts, contradictions, motives, and counter-motives that marked the end of the greatest military conflict in modern history and established lasting patterns of deceit, uncertainty, and distrust out of which the Cold War was born.

Beginning with the siege of Berlin, Dallas describes in simple human terms the interactions of Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Hitler, Zhukov, Truman, de Gaulle, Macmillan, along with others relatively unknown, vividly portraying the interpenetration of the daily with the epochal, the obscure with the great political events taking place on the world stage. A grand narrative of diplomatic mistakes, military accidents, and the chaos inherent in human affairs,1945 draws the reader into a profound reflection on the basic shaping forces of history, the arbitrary ways we objectify its conflicts, and the subtle, almost invisible filaments that enmesh public events with private passions.

About this title

About the Author:

Gregor Dallas is the author of 1918: War and Peace, 1815: The Roads to Waterloo,and other major histories.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* The cessation of hostilities in 1945 did not correspond with peace, a bitter paradox Dallas scrutinizes in this exacting history. Although the origin of the cold war may seem controversial, according to Dallas, its cause was simple: Stalin's determination to cash in his 1939 pact with Hitler--with or without Hitler himself. The Soviet dictator's success--it permanently set international boundaries and fueled the imposition of Communist regimes for decades--hinged, in hindsight, on August 1944, according to Dallas. For some euphoric few days, it seemed the war might end: Paris was in insurrection against the retreating Germans and so was Warsaw. However, Eisenhower decided against a rush on Berlin across the northern German plain; simultaneously, Stalin halted his armies to let the Nazis destroy the Polish anti-Communists. The ensuing protraction of the war into the following year, besides consuming millions more lives, permitted all manner of maneuvering over the shape of the postwar world. Telescoping his narrative from conference table to street rubble, Dallas embraces detail yet sustains remarkable dramatic focus. Superbly sensitive to the ground-level tragedy and the high-level politics of 1944-45, the readably fluent Dallas proves integral to understanding both what is known and unknown about the cataclysmic conclusion of World War II. Gilbert Taylor
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About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0300109806
• ISBN 13: 9780300109801
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 792