A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II, New Edition


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    • Author : Gerhard L. Weinberg
    • Binding : Paperback
    • Dewey Decimal Number : 940.54
    • EAN : 9780521618267
    • Edition : 2
    • ISBN : 0521618266
    • Is Eligible For Trade In? : Yes
    • Label : Cambridge University Press
    • List Price : $34.99 (USD)
    • Manufacturer : Cambridge University Press
    • Number Of Items : 1
    • Number Of Pages : 1208
    • Package Dimensions : 2.10 inches (Height) x 9.20 inches (Length) x 3.60 pounds (Weight) x 6.10 inches (Width)
    • Publication Date : 2005-03-28
    • Publisher : Cambridge University Press
    • Studio : Cambridge University Press

    This comprehensive examination of the Second World War looks at grand strategy and diplomacy, as opposed to the gritty details of the combat experience. A World at Arms is written in a matter-of-fact tone, so don't expect a poetic narrative. Despite this, no other historian has presented such a sweeping overview. Weinberg performs the important task of reminding his readers in the West that much of the fighting--and perhaps the most decisive parts--was done in the East, between the Germans and the Russians. American readers, for their part, may appreciate Weinberg's treatment of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who is portrayed as a courageous wartime leader. This book is an essential part of any library on the Second World War.

    - Amazon.com Review

    In a new edition featuring a new preface, A World of Arms remains a classic of global history. Widely hailed as a masterpiece, this volume remains the first history of World War II to provide a truly global account of the war that encompassed six continents. Starting with the changes that restructured Europe and its colonies following the First World War, Gerhard Weinberg sheds new light on every aspect of World War II. Actions of the Axis, the Allies, and the Neutrals are covered in every theater of the war. More importantly, the global nature of the war is examined, with new insights into how events in one corner of the world helped affect events in often distant areas.

    - Product Description

    Widely hailed as a masterpiece, this is the first history of World War II to provide a truly global account of the war that encompassed six continents. Starting with the changes that restructured Europe and her colonies following the First World War, Gerhard Weinberg sheds new light on every aspect of World War II. Actions of the Axis, the Allies, and the Neutrals are covered in every theater of the war. More importantly, the global nature of the war is examined, with new insights into how events in one corner of the world helped affect events in other distant parts.

    - Book Description

    Customer Reviews:

    Rated 4.5 stars Customers rated A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II, New Edition 4.5 stars out of 5.0 based on 62 reviews:

    • A World at Arms review

      by E. Cresswell (Warrenton, VA United States) - 2010-08-22  Rated 5 stars
      An outstanding and thorough summary of WW II. I have read several books on WW II, but this was the most complete coverage I have found. I had intended using it as a reference book where I could look up specific battles and other events, but once I started it I kept reading to the end.

    • A Panoramic, Nuanced, and Deft treatment of a Familiar topic

      by Herbert L Calhoun (Falls Church, VA USA) - 2009-06-09  Rated 5 stars
      This is a panoramic, nuanced, and deft treatment of an all too familiar subject, WW-II. In one of the rarest and most refreshing presentations of history I have ever seen, this author takes "looking at the big picture" about as seriously as it can be taken, and then gives us the unique benefits of a grand tour of a history we thought we already knew everything there was to know. Even the strategy class at the National War College did not have such a singular laser like focus on the "big picture" as did this author. His primary concern and his unit of analysis in this narrative was "World War-II history as an organic historical whole." Said somewhat differently, although all of the familiar personalities and events that appear routinely in other versions of WW-II history - often as the very centerpiece of those stories - are included here, no matter how big they may be, here they are allowed to make only cameo appearances. Big events and big personalities are just never allowed to overwhelm or get in the way of the larger purpose of telling an integrated story. Big ticket items are never allowed to dominate an analysis whose job is to weave together the various disparate parts into an integrated whole that is larger than the sum of the parts. If that was the author's goal, then he accomplished it admirably. Taking advantage of recently declassified documents added immense value in rounding out the details of an already rich and robust picture. The author used these new revelations like an artist uses various tints on his palette, to add color in the proper places to his narrative and to give surprises to his analysis backed up with extensive citations. But again, even here, the author continues to maintain the same sense of balance and proportion as he introduces new and important information on economic, political, diplomatic, intelligence and even military dimensions: On the surface these all seemed like so many innocent facts, separate strains to be covered in proportion to their value in telling the larger story, a story that to the bitter end of all 900 pages, remained "tightly integrated" and always larger than the sum of any of its component parts. This resolute focus on the bigger picture did not mean however, that Weinberg's presentation was dull, or predictable or even academic or pedantic, just the opposite in fact. This sweeping story is chocked full of surprising revelations, twists and spins that altogether constitute interesting side trips paved with new facts, yet they are all carefully woven into the fabric of the overall narrative. As but one such example among many, the author gives appropriate time and space to the quality of the planning and strategic thinking abilities of the leaders of the Axis powers. This point is not only interesting, but raises knew questions about Hitler, Tojo and Mussolini and their respective general staffs as being only slightly better than flawed strategic thinkers and planners. With several examples of a kind of endemic "groupthink," that at least up through 1944 had afflicted the general staffs of the axis powers, the author reveals them all as having been "rank" amateur thinkers, virtually asleep at the switch: sleep waking through some of the major decisions of the war. All were revealed as just as likely as not, to see and accept the sounder strategic choices often recommended by their smarter but lower echelon staffs. Not only did this erratic, capricious inability to see good choices lead to colossal mistakes, mistakes that the weaker Allied forces exploited repeatedly, but they also raise new questions about the thinness of the margin the Allied forces actually had in winning the war. Clearly, a great deal of Allied success hinged on the whims of the Axis leaders colossal mistakes. Had they made better choices in even just a few of the botched cases, and had we not had the superior intelligence that revealed them doing so at the time, we may not have won the war. Seeing the war as an integrated whole picture is an entirely new experience and vantage point for the reader, a new height from which to view all of the strains of a familiar subject as they come together. What a memory aid! What a way to stimulate the mind! What a template for future storytelling! Easily five stars.

    • The Best Single-Volume Work on WWII

      by Philip Draper (Honolulu, HI USA) - 2009-03-10  Rated 5 stars
      An incredible book, that is in my mind the best single-volume political, diplomatic, and military history of the Second World War, and possibly the best history book I have ever read. Widely acclaimed and rightfully so, as others have done here. My only note would be that someone seeking an introduction to the Second World War would best be served by becoming familiar with the subject before tackling this book. Otherwise, my highest recommendation and one of my absolute favorites.

    • Muddy Reading

      by Greg Goebel (Loveland, CO USA) - 2008-12-28  Rated 2 stars
      I was very attracted to this book because I am interested in World War II as a global struggle, and I was somewhat puzzled as to why this book wasn't better known. After wading into it, I understand why. The author has the tendency to talk about things instead of show the reader things, commenting in a general way about events instead of trying to paint a picture of them, rarely even citing important comments by the major players. It's like listening to a scholar rambling on at length in a dull monotone as he bores the audience. The author is also inclined to write with a suspicious level of certainty that makes it hard to sort out whether the reader is being handed well-established facts or just the author's own opinions on matters. Overall, the end result is, if by no means a terrible or useless book, one that is muddy and unexciting reading, lacking in edge and vividness. John Keegan's THE SECOND WORLD WAR is a much more readable book and is better recommended to someone after a comprehensive history of the conflict.

    • Important, One Of A Kind

      by David M. Dougherty (Arkansas) - 2008-08-22  Rated 4 stars
      Certainly the premier one-volume work on the Send World War, this tome by Professor Weinberg sets a daunting standard by which to judge other such works. But caution! This is a book covering the political, diplomatic and high-level aspect of the war, not the military part (although it is included as necessary.) So why only four stars? Several reasons: Although the author makes extensive use of end notes, they support his facts, not his opinions or generalizations from analysis. These remain his own. Statements such as, "As it became increasingly obvious to the Germans ... they..." are hardly scholarly. What Germans? Who are "they?" Hitler? OKW? OKH? Weinberg also makes very controversial statements such as, "The American President hoped to avoid open warfare with Germany altogether." His support for that contention is weak, and the proof offered by using the Enigma intercepts to avoid German submarines is hardly convincing. Roosevelt knew full well that American anti-submarine capabilities were less than adaquate at the time, and indeed heavy losses were incurred in 1942. On the contrary, Roosevelt tightened the screws on the Japanese coincident with the German invasion of Russia, and he became increasingly desperate to bring the US into the war while the Soviet Union was still a viable ally. When the Wehrmacht approached Moscow in November, 1941, Roosevelt literally forced Japan to take action of some kind knowing that such action would commit a reluctant US population to entering the war and motivate it to win a long term conflict. In fact, this is the type of global approach and analysis that has made Weinberg famous, but here it is lacking. Even some of the comments that Weinberg backs up with end notes are questionable. An example would be his statement, "Unlike the Germans,... ...the Americans had a real appreciation for the quality of Soviet armor." This statement was based on the Sherman Miles memorandum of June 19, 1941 as given in the end notes. Nice to find that buried in the files, but the Americans were hardly that prescient. The US produced a woefully inadaquate tank in 1942 (the Sherman), and had the Miles memo been taken seriously, one would assume that a heavier and more capable tank would have been produced. In addition, Miles did not know what advances the Germans had made since defeating France in 1940 in either tanks, anti-tank guns or tactics to truly estimate the capabilities of Soviet armor against the Germans. It was left to the battlefield for clarification to occur. Other reviewers have noted what they feel is an anti-British bias in Weinberg's writing. I disagree here since it is well documented that British leaders (other than Churchill) arrogantly looked down on American generals and especially American troops as inferior. The British had an unfortunate habit of winning battles only when given overwhelming resources from the Americans and when using British Empire troops in the assault phases when casualties were likely to be heaviest. Alamein was a perfect example of this. It is important to note some of these aspects of the British leadership and is hardly bias. With respect to an anti-German bias being present, I must reluctantly agree. German Field-Marshals and Generals were not bribed as the author claimed, but were motivated mainly by the sense of doing their duty. In fact, that was the overwhelming reason for German men at all levels to fight so well (it was their duty), a factor that was not present in American or British armies to the same degree. I must recommend the reader turn to the 10 volume series "Das Deutsche Reich Und Der Zweite Weltkrieg," now fully available, for the comprehensive presentation of the German side. It also features a high-level political, diplomatic, economic and global treatise like Weinberg. In short, this is the best available one-volume work to my knowledge in the English language. However, it must be supplemented by materials from the German and Soviet side that have become recently available, and much research needs to be conducted by the specialist on many individual assertions by Weinberg before forming an opinion on many of his points, either agreeing or disagreeing. I would caution the reader from too often taking Weinberg's generalizations at face value and running with them.

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