Third Reich Victorious: Alternate Decisions of World War II - Hardcover

Tsouras, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1853674923 ISBN 13: 9781853674921

Publisher: Greenhill Books, 2002

Synopsis

This book is a stimulating and entirely plausible insight into how Hitler and his generals might have defeated the Allies, and a convincing sideways look at the Third Reich's bid at world domination in World War II. What would have happened if, for example, the Germans captured the whole of the BEF at Dunkirk? Or if the RAF had been defeated in the Battle of Britain? What if the U-Boats had strangled Britain with an impregnable blockade, if Rommel had been triumphant in North Africa or the Germans had beaten the Red Army at Kursk? The authors, writing as if these and other world-changing events had really happened, project realistic scenarios based on the true capabilities and circumstances of the opposing forces. Third Reich Victorious is a spirited and terrifying alternate history, and a telling insight into the dramatic possibilities of World War II.

About this title

About the Author

Peter G. Tsouras is noted military historian and a leading writer of alternative history with 22 titles to his credit on subjects ranging from Alexander the Great to the American Civil War and the Second World War. He recently retired from the US Government as a senior intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency. He served with the 1st Battalion 64th Armor on active duty with the US Army and subsequently retired as Lieutenant Colonel from the United States Army Reserve. He was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, and currently resides in Alexandria, Virginia.

Review

If you have an interest in the Second World War than this book is a must. It has a number of scenarios where various battles and campaigns that germany did badly in, went well for them. For example, what if Hitler had been in the German navy in WW1? For WW2, he might have realised that the key to making Britain keep out of the war was to cripple the Royal Navy. Or what if Hitler had made sure to keep all the German nuclear physicists that fled for Britain and the US? Might he have developed the atom bomb before he was defeated and used it on London and Moscow? What makes the book effective is that each scenario is written as if it were a history book and that is what happened. It never uses the words 'what if' - it pretends that the scenario is what happened. Only at the end does it say what really happened and how. A brilliant book in my opinion and a must-read for anyone with an interest in WW2 --By B. Taylor

As a history buff for some fifty years, I have until relatively recently avoided these 'alternative' histories on the basis that they are mere fantasy, often driven by the ideological sympathies of the writer, but a chance purchase of Sid Meier's splendid computer game [[ASIN:B0002LIAJK Civilization III Deluxe Gold Edition: Civilization III + Play The World + Conquests + Fan Kit changed my opinion completely. Having now spent several highly enjoyable years attempting to build a civilization (Roman, Greek, British Empire, Soviet etc... that will 'stand the test of time', I am now clearly aware that chance events have sometimes influenced human history enormously; just one real-life example being the discovery of steam power in Roman times, and its rejection as 'economically unviable' in the slave based economy of those times! When read from this viewpoint, 'Third Reich Victorious' raises some very interesting questions indeed. I now quote the summary printed on the cover:- "This book is a stimulating and entirely plausable insight into how Hitler and his generals might have defeated the Allies, and a convincing sideways look at the Third Reich's bid at global domination in World War II. What would have happened if, for example, the Germans had managed to capture the whole of the BEF at Dunkirk? Or if the RAF had been defeated in the Battle of Britain? What if the Red Army had really been shattered in the summer of 1941 or if Axis forces had achieved the conquest of North Africa?" The ten scenarios are:- 1. The Little Admiral, 1939. 2. Disaster at Dunkirk, 1940. 3. The Battle of Britain 1940. 4. The Storm and the Whirlwind. 5. The Hinge. 6. Into the Caucasus. 7. Known Enemies and Forced Allies. 8. Luftwaffe Triumphant. 9. Hitler's Bomb. 10.Rommel versus Zhukov. Obviously World War II was a highly industrialized war, and as other reviews make clear, long term strategic economic/production decisions taken during the 1930's were crucial, with Britain's development of the Spitfire fighter and long range bomber fleets, Russian research into tank design and America's construction of a 'two ocean navy' all being of major significance to it's course and outcome. This makes some scenarios more plausable than others, but each is followed by a section detailing 'the reality' on which it is based. To my mind the most plausable are 2, 3, 4 and 8; which back up the points made by David Hoffman in How Hitler Lost the War [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]. To conclude; this well written and highly entertaining book illustrates just how close Nazism came to emerging victorious from WWII; but Hitler and his generals misplayed the hand Fate had dealt them, with effects that have changed Western society irrevocably and for ever. --By C. W. Bradbury

An excellent collection of WWII what-ifs. If you have ever played Hearts of Iron you will recognize that many of the options from the Technology Tree. This basically allows you to change the strategy of the axis by changing their research emphasis to other areas such as Naval, Air and Nuclear. Most of the strategies in this book are built around changes in technology direction or changes in leadership. However having played loads of war games here are my tips for German Victory. 1. Don't Invade Russia - wait for them to come to you. 2. Build lots of fighter aircraft and naval bombers, take down the RAF and then bomb the royal navy to dust then invade, 3. give Rommel more troops in the desert and let him take the Middle East. --Lee Hanley

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenhill Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1853674923
• ISBN 13: 9781853674921
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256