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Allies at War: How the Struggles Between the Allied Powers Shaped the War and the World
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About This Book
A fascinating look at the complex relationships between the Allied powers—far more fraught than we understood-- that defined the course of World War II and the world beyond, from critically acclaimed author of AppeasementTim Bouverie's Winning the War offers a ground-breaking exploration of the complex relations between the Allied powers during World War II. Far from the lockstep agreement depicted in popular culture or the cozy "special relationship" of the United States and Britain today, Bouverie shows how the wartime alliance was at every turn threatened by mistrust, rivalry, hypocrisy, and deceit, as well as how all the allies, from the very start of the war, were intensely focused on the world that would emerge once hostilities had ceased.At the center of the book is the relationship between the three principal Allies—the British Empire, the Soviet Union and the United States. Beginning with the brief Anglo-French Alliance of 1939-1940 and the tragic consequences of its disintegration, Bouverie follows Britain's desperate quest to acquire allies following the fall of France, and then the functioning of the Grand Alliance after the United States and the Soviet Union joined in 1941. Though the alliance was dominated by the major powers, Bouverie also shows the powerful impact of smaller countries on the course of the war—of the twenty neutral European states at the outbreak of fighting, only six managed to stay out of the war. Featuring a remarkable cast of characters that goes beyond the so-called "Big Three"—Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Josef Stalin—to the lieutenants and diplomats whose advice was at turns welcomed and rejected, Winning the War offers a remarkable 360 degree view of this tumultuous period. Drawing on sixty-five private archives in Britain and the United States—several of which have never before been accessed by historians—, Bouverie reveals an untold story at the heart of World War II, one that had a profound shape on the world to come.
Reviews
"Bouverie offers readers drama, intrigue, and mordant wit as he recounts 'the politics and diplomacy of the incongruous alliance that ultimately defeated Hitler.' With vivid writing and diligent research—hobbled by confusingly microscopic asterisks to footnotes—Bouverie examines the alliances and rivalries of all Allied and neutral nations during WWII, going beyond the UK, the U.S., and the Soviet Union ..."
"Though he has obviously undertaken a vast amount of research, he never becomes overwhelmed by his material."
"Allies at War is not perfect ...."
"Bouverie has not only been diligent in covering all the publicly available sources concerning the major players, but he has also worked in the papers from 100 private collections, those of foreign ministers, ambassadors, civil servants, emissaries, translators and observers ..."
"Fascinating history of a time that is fading from living memory."
"Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin, 'the triumvirate that won the war and shaped the peace.' But the author also illuminates other lesser-known aspects of wartime diplomacy, including relations with Nationalist China and Vichy France, the vexatious issue of neutral Ireland, and the contributions of diplomats and other officials who served the Big Three."
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