Nov 5, 2006
Who Really Won the Second World War?
Not the Brits, theirs was a small contribution. The Americans—well, yes, in large part. But more than either of those, the Soviet Union made the greatest contribution. Norman Davies presents the revisionist case to a wider audience here.
"After talking at Cambridge recently about the preponderance of the eastern front and the scale of the Red Army’s triumph, I was accosted by an angry young British historian. 'Don't you realise that we were pinning down 56 German divisions in France alone,' he said. 'Without that the Red Army would have been heavily defeated.' What is less acknowledged is that without the Red Army pulverising 150 divisions, the allies would never have landed.
"The attack on the Third Reich was a joint effort. But it was not a joint effort of two equal parts. The lion's share of victory in Europe can be awarded only to Stalin’s forces and it is a fantasy to believe that he was fighting for justice and democracy."
Norman Davies' new book, Europe at War 1939-1945: No Simple Victory (Macmillan) has just been published in the UK. American readers will have to wait until next year for the book unless they order it from Britain. You can read extracts from an interview with Davies here and an extract from the book here.
Readers may also be interested to learn about Davies' other new book, Europe East and West (London: Jonathan Cape), a collection of essays, where he argues for a comprehensive view that challenges Western stereotypes and no longer ignores the history and experience of Eastern Europe. Among other issues, he proposes a revision of the misunderstood Allied victory in 1945 that parallels his Europe at War 1939-1945 discussed above.
"After talking at Cambridge recently about the preponderance of the eastern front and the scale of the Red Army’s triumph, I was accosted by an angry young British historian. 'Don't you realise that we were pinning down 56 German divisions in France alone,' he said. 'Without that the Red Army would have been heavily defeated.' What is less acknowledged is that without the Red Army pulverising 150 divisions, the allies would never have landed.
"The attack on the Third Reich was a joint effort. But it was not a joint effort of two equal parts. The lion's share of victory in Europe can be awarded only to Stalin’s forces and it is a fantasy to believe that he was fighting for justice and democracy."
Norman Davies' new book, Europe at War 1939-1945: No Simple Victory (Macmillan) has just been published in the UK. American readers will have to wait until next year for the book unless they order it from Britain. You can read extracts from an interview with Davies here and an extract from the book here.
Readers may also be interested to learn about Davies' other new book, Europe East and West (London: Jonathan Cape), a collection of essays, where he argues for a comprehensive view that challenges Western stereotypes and no longer ignores the history and experience of Eastern Europe. Among other issues, he proposes a revision of the misunderstood Allied victory in 1945 that parallels his Europe at War 1939-1945 discussed above.