Anthony Tucker-Jones

Churchill, Master and Commander (eBook, PDF)

Winston Churchill at War 1895-1945

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

'Masterful research, impeccable detail, with a beautifully flowing narrative of which Churchill himself would have been proud.' - Professor Peter Caddick-Adams

From his earliest days Winston Churchill was an extreme risk taker and he carried this into adulthood. Today he is widely hailed as Britain's greatest wartime leader and politician. Deep down though, he was foremost a warlord. Just like his ally Stalin, and his arch enemies Hitler and Mussolini, Churchill could not help himself and insisted on personally directing the strategic conduct of World War II. For better or worse he insisted on being political master and military commander.

Again like his wartime contemporaries, he had a habit of not heeding the advice of his generals. The results of this were disasters in Norway, North Africa, Greece and Crete during 1940-41. His fruitless Dodecanese campaign in 1943 also ended in defeat. Churchill's pig-headedness over supporting the Italian campaign in defiance of the Riviera landings culminated in him threatening to resign and bring down the British Government. Yet on occasions he got it just right: his refusal to surrender in 1940, the British miracle at Dunkirk and victory in the Battle of Britain, showed that he was a much-needed decisive leader. Nor did he shy away from difficult decisions, such as the destruction of the French Fleet to prevent it falling into German hands and his subsequent war against Vichy France.

In this fascinating new book, acclaimed historian Anthony Tucker-Jones explores the record of Winston Churchill as a military commander, assessing how the military experiences of his formative years shaped him for the difficult military decisions he took in office. This book assesses his choices in the some of the most controversial and high-profile campaigns of World War II, and how in high office his decision making was both right and wrong.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK
• Seitenzahl: 240
• Erscheinungstermin: 25. November 2021
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781472847362
• Artikelnr.: 62776243

Autorenporträt

Anthony Tucker-Jones, a former intelligence officer, is a highly prolific writer and military historian with well over 50 books to his name. His work has also been published in an array of magazines and online. He regularly appears on television and radio commenting on current and historical military matters.

Inhaltsangabe

Foreword by Andrew Roberts Introduction Prologue: Death or Glory List of
Maps List of Illustrations PART ONE: BAPTISM OF FIRE 1. Soldiers of the
Queen 2. Frontier Wars 3. Great Escape 4. The Sakabulas PART TWO: FALL AND
RISE 5. A Haunting Lesson 6. 'Cat on Hot Bricks' 7. Winston's Mercenaries
PART THREE: WORLD ORDER OR DISORDER 8. Flying Police 9. Troubled Emerald
Isle 10. Beneath the Sphinx 11. Nazism or Communism PART FOUR: THE WARLORD
RETURNS 12. Master and Commander 13. His Finest Hour 14. Strategic Dilemma
15. Old Foes 16. Hitting Back 17. 'Bands of Brothers' PART FIVE: GLOBAL
JUGGLING ACT 18. Mediterranean Showdown 19. An American Friend 20. Joan of
Arc 21. Courting the Red Czar 22. Loss of Faith 23. India in Revolt PART
SIX: WAR OF WILLS 24. Strained Relations 25. Second Front Now 26. 'Death
Wish' 27. Miracle of Deliverance 28. 'The Whole Scene' Epilogue: Gone
Painting Winston Churchill's Military Career at a Glance: 1895-1945 Notes
and References Bibliography Index

Rezensionen

This well-researched, well-written and soundly argued book is a real addition to the avalanche of books on Winston Churchill, illuminating where the military views came from that were so profoundly to affect the twentieth century and beyond.