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)

My Amazon Review of William Walker's "If War Should Come:....."

 

War On

 

This is William Walker’s fourth novel about the banker/diplomat/spy Paul Muller, a man who moves in the highest circles of the Swiss government.( Shulmaven: My Amazon Review of William Walker's "A Spy in Vienna.....")  In prior novels we find Muller in Danzig, Vienna, France and Germany, this time we find him in Romania, Turkey, and Finland as he intersects with prewar crises and the start of World War II. Thus, we see those historic events through the eyes of neutral Switzerland. With the war on the great fear in Europe is that of the Russo-German de facto alliance created by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact would destroy the West.

 

The novel opens in September 1939 with Muller acting as a representative of the Bank for International Settlements where he takes possession of the Polish gold reserves being transported by train from the Polish/Romanian border to port of Costanza. This is sort of a follow-up to Alan Furst’s great novel “The Polish Officer.”

 

From Romania he gets caught up in the intrigue of Istanbul, Turkey where neutral Turkey is under pressure from Germany and Britain to enter the war on their respective sides. German Ambassador Franz von Papen and his wife who Muller had a dalliance with her in Vienna make a cameo appearance here.

 

The novel ends with Muller on the Finnish border fighting for the Finns in response to Russian aggression in November 1939. Quite a life telescoped into four months of 1939.

 

My quibble with Walker here is that he gets wrong the price of gold, the number of grams in a troy ounce and the price of jewelry in the Turkish bazaar of 1939. My sense is that he used today’s prices for 1939’s. Otherwise I found his latest novel to be a satisfying way to get a sense of Europe at war, but it is not quite as good as his earlier efforts.

For the full Amazon URL see: War On (amazon.com)