My Amazon Review of Richard Overy's "Blood and Ruins: The Last Imperial War, 1931-1945"

 

A Long Slog

 

Reading “Blood and Ruins” is a long slog vaguely reminiscent of the German Army’s long retreat from Stalingrad to Berlin from 1943-1945. Richard Overy, a distinguished British historian, has written an encyclopedic history of World War II which he rightly starts with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. However, with the book running 1040 pages in the print version, it is way too long for the average lay reader interested in the history of that time.

 

He makes up excuses for German, Italian and Japanese aggression in arguing that they were frozen out of the international trading system by colonial preferences of the British and the French. Other countries were frozen out, but they did not start aggressive wars. He also argues that the British and French motivations were to preserve their empires. True, but they were also out to save their own necks in Europe.

 

Overy is a distinguished historian, and I am the rankest of amateurs. Nevertheless, I think he wrong on two major points. He characterizes Chamberlain’s appeasement policy as “containment.” Give me a break. If it were a containment policy, it failed disastrously. He refuses to characterize Soviet Russia as an imperial power. That is flat out wrong. Starting with the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact the goal of the Soviets was to create an empire in Eastern Europe which they succeeded in implementing with the advancing Red Army. He also ignores that the Soviets had designs on the West with the Communist parties it controlled. In many respects the Soviets were as much as an aggressor as Hitler.

 

Where Overy shines is his discussion of the horrors of the Pacific war and life under the Japanese occupation. Having known someone who fought in the Battle of Tarawa as a 17-year-old Marine, Overy brings that battle to life. He is also correct in noting that the war resulted in ending the imperial system that had to give way to new nation states in Africa and Asia.

 

There is much in this book, but as I noted at the outset, it is a slog.

For the full amazon URL see: A Long Slog (amazon.com)