Winston Churchill's comprehensive recounting of the World War II based on his remembrances continues with this, the third edition of six. It almost entirely involves the tumultuous year of 1941, when Great Britain was fighting almost single-handedly against Germany and Italy in the Balkans, Greece, Cyprus and, far from least, in North Africa. Prime Minister Churchill must have felt the weight of the world on his shoulders as desperate measures were enacted by his government and armed forces to keep the nation from strangling under siege in the ocean by submarines; keep much-needed army divisions from the war front in order to defend the homeland against the ever-present threat of cross-channel invasion; attempt to bring Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey into the allied camp; and find a way to stretch the Royal Navy's presence to fight against German submarine and surface raiders in the North Atlantic, and keep a lifeline open to the British forces in Egypt while patrolling the Mediterranean. Several times the British army was rescued from imminent destruction after finding itself in disastrous situations as Greece fell to the Germans and Cyprus could not be defended against what Churchill characterized as a German willingness to expend soldiers and aircraft recklessly. The book proceeds chronologically but, as Churchill shows, there were times when hard decisions had to be made and worried about as multiple dangers had to be faced. One such situation was the ultimately successful but costly and stress-filled pursuit of the German battleship "Bismark". At the same time as the Admiralty had to devote extensive effort to apprehend the German battleship in the North Atlantic, naval resources had to be risked to rescue British soldiers and the Greek royal family from the disaster at Cyprus. Likewise, plans for fighting the Italians and Germans in North Africa had to share official attention to the need to keep Iraq and Syria from German control. Churchill was up to his elbows in minutae concerning every aspect of war strategy and the positioning and equipping of an ever-growing military force operating throughout Europe. He turned to President Franklin Roosevelt for more than moral encouragement. Roosevelt was the leader of a country which was determined to stay out of war, even at this late date, but he used his leadership skills to keep the public informed about the need to keep Great Britain supplied in its exertions against the fascists. Roosevelt could politically get away with assisting the British as long as the public perceived that only material aid was offered. He deftly escalated American involvement from supplying essential arms across the ocean to taking over the responsibility of naval security for the increasing number of convoys as far as Iceland, thus freeing many ships the British needed in the Mediterranean. After Hitler invaded Russia, making Stalin an essential but often difficult ally of the British, Churchill and Roosevelt met personally for the first historic time and produced the Atlantic Charter which formalized Anglo-American aims regarding cooperating to win the war, among many other features, and looking forward to the role of the United States and Great Britain in the post-war world. From now on, America was in an undeclared war with Germany, with its escort ships being attacked by U-Boats. The actual formation of a Grand Alliance to fight against the Axis powers didn't occur, of course, until after Japan attacked the United States on December Seventh, bringing the Americans formally into the war. The United States, Great Britain and Russia became the Big Three, joined by the British Dominions and numerous other signatory partners. It is no understatement to say that Pearl Harbor was felt as a great deliverance to Churchill, who knew that now significant involvement from America would greatly ease the pain of trying to keep British forces armed and equipped while diverting much essential arms to the voracious Russian needs. Things weren't all optimistic by the time the book ends late in 1941. The long-prepared British offensive against Rommel in the desert had begun in the Fall, and was running into serious obstacles. You can see the writing on the wall, concerning the erosion of faith in the commanding general, as Churchill provides copies of memoranda produced at that time, where he and the senior command supported their newer Mediterranean commander openly but were aware of his lack of ability to produce the timely and decisive results that was needed for success. The previous commander, General Wavell, also proved to be very competent in a military administrative sense but, ultimately, became overwhelmed by all of the challenges thrown at him constantly by the enemy and by the British Supreme Command. Wavell had then been given command of the forces in India but I found it surprising that Churchill was pressing hard to put Wavell in the newly created position of Supreme Allied Commander when he visited Roosevelt in Washington at the end of December. 1942 began with the British Navy suffering crippling losses in the Mediterranean, making it even more difficult to supply and protect the ground forces fighting in that theater; the entry of Japan into the war on the side of the Axis, attacking British, American and Dutch forces in much more rapid and devastating fashion than anyone had anticipated, with Britain's newest and proudest battleship at the bottom of the sea and Japanese forces making progress along the Malay Peninsula to threaten Singapore; the opening of a land route through Persia to add to the North Sea supply pipeline to Russia; and continuing questions on how to find and allocate forces for the still-to-be determined route to getting land forces on Europe and ultimately defeat Germany. In Russia, the German armies were at the doors of Moscow and Leningrad, and the ever-present concern was how Britain would survive the full weight of German aggression of they defeated the Russians and were free to turn all of their military forces against Britain. There are those in America who see the start of World War II as "the Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the fighting started here" but Churchill describes how, from the British perspective, that date was just the end of the first act of a long war. One more comment, regarding the book edition used in this review. The above cover art represents the e-book available for iPad on Amazon. I found it to be enjoyable to access the book this way, for my first such experience, except for the frequent (almost every page) frequency of typos.
Because of his immense output, Winston Churchill may be described as an old-fashioned writer. Fortunately for us he does not read as such. There is very little archaic about the expressions he uses or the grammar he employs, in volume after volume after volume. It remains immensely readable, and this is the strength of a good writer, it seems to me. As a boy, Churchill was held up to me as an example of a person with a very full command of English. I was told, although I have never been able to verify it, that Churchill employed one of the largest vocabularies of any individual writing in English. It is ironic to think that, although the use of English is becoming ever more widespread, it is not generally being put to anything like the kind of use a man like Churchill made of it."The Grand Alliance" takes us to the point in the Second World War when the Americans finally declared their intentions. In a sense, it announced the end to hesitation, the end to British doubts about whether they could possibly win out against Hitler alone. Of course, America had participated in the war to a very large extent already, having agreed to set up the famous "Lend-Lease" program, whereby first Britain, and later Russia, were given material support in a way which satisfied the neutral and isolationist U.S. congress. It was also something of a victory for Churchill at the same time, since he had worked doggedly at bringing the Americans around, and although Pearl harbour did tip the balance, it was partly due to Churchill having prepared the ground.Churchill himself states that, from the moment of the U.S. entry into the conflict, no matter how long it might take, he was certain of victory. From his point of view at the top, he could see that the sheer weight of numbers (tonnage, armament production etc.,), added to the geographical reality of Germany, meant they could never hope to win against the combined industrial might of Britain and the U.S. It was this absolute faith which sustained him during the reverses of 1941 and 1942.
What do You think about The Grand Alliance (2008)?
Sir Winston Churchill - The Second World War The Grand Alliance. This is the third book in a four book series. It's extremely good because it's first hand from Churchill. I read the past two books in order and the third series gets even better. I started this book overnight and woke up early to finish it. In this book, Churchill explains more about the battles of the field. My only sad face is that I need to wait until my credits renew to listen to the fourth and last book, Triumph and Tragedy. There is a great review on the fourth book and due to the respect to the reviewer, I won't be writing my own review on Triumph and Tragedy, because they did an superb job at reviewing the book. I can't wait.
—Tim Jin
A turning point in WWII to be sure. Germany gets greedy and decides to turn on Russia-to their ultimate detriment-although many people don't realize that Russia actually lost the most people during WWII because of this action by Hitler. The Russian people truly suffered for Stalin's hubris, and continued to after the war. Churchill realizes the ungrateful devil he's dealing with (Stalin), who petulantly complains and makes demands of England and the US without acknowledging that he is only siding with the Allies because he was betrayed by the Axis....prophetic to be sure of Russia's continued relationship with the Allies-well after WWII. However, Churchill recognizes the necessity of keeping Hitler distracted in the East, while they build forces in the West-as well as the unfortunate action by Japan at Pearl Harbor finally bringing America into the war to aid a weary England. I'm fascinated by Churchill's thoughts during the time, and the dispassionate manner in which he recorded them for us to read today. Truly a statesman and genius strategist.
—Pamela Mckinnon
Winston Churchill's third installment in his history of World War 2 carries on with the same style of writing, the same attention to detail, and the same chronological organization as the first two volumes. The Grand Alliance covers the time period when first Russia and then the United States joined Britain in the fight against the Axis powers. This was my least favorite of the three books in the series I've read so far.Firstly, as with the other books, there is the paradoxical issue of feeling as if Churchill is leaving something out. This is paradoxical because the book itself, all eight hundred dense pages of it, seems to list every character, every telegram, every memo, that streamed through Churchill's life at this time. But in this instance, the thing that feels left out is some explanation of what is going on with Japan. After Pearl Harbor, Churchill devotes a chapter to Japan, and before that there is constant reference to the "Japanese Menace." But why was it a menace? And why did the United States build up an increasingly antagonistic relationship with Japan? It's not that there aren't legitimate answers to these questions. But Churchill doesn't do more than sketch out a vague outline of an explanation.Secondly, the book is a series of losses on the English side, punctuated by the entry into the war of Russia and the United States. However, Russia's entry into the war is not at all positive, foreboding as are their actions, petulant as are their demands and complaints, and shady as are the circumstances they were in before Hitler actually turned and attacked them. I mean, they were content to divide up England on paper with Hitler. Then, after they were attacked, they immediately began to demand ever increasing supplies from England and acted like it was their right to get everything that England had been building for her own war effort.In short, Russia's behavior (at least as described by Churchill) is really depressing, Japan's behavior makes little sense, Germany's behavior is odious as always, and England suffers a series of losses that just seem to pile on top of each other, and this with most of Germany's army occupied on the Russian front. Unlike with the other books, there may be larger philosophical issues here, but they never really seem to be present at the forefront. The vaunted character of the alliance between Churchill and Roosevelt is just about the only positive part of the book. But as with the rest of the series, Churchill's writing is just about devoid of personal anecdotes, so even with something positive, all you get is a vague series of preparations, not any actual victories or solid plans. In summary, the third book of Churchill's series feels a little flat. Who knows, though? It may be an accurate emotional representation of the time it describes.
—Tim
