Sealing Their Fate: The Twenty-two Days That Decided World War II: David Downing

Description

As the Japanese fleet prepared to sail from Japan to Pearl Harbor, the German army was launching its final desperate assault on Moscow, while the British were planning a decisive blow against Rommel in North Africa. The British conquered the desert, the Germans succumbed to Moscow’s winter, and the Japanese awakened the sleeping giant of American might. In just three weeks, from November 17 to December 8, the course of World War II was decided and the fate of Germany and Japan was sealed.With new insight and a fresh perspective, David Downing tells the story of these crucial days, shifting the riveting narrative from snowbound Russian villages to the stormy northern Pacific, from the North African desert to Europe’s warring capitals, and from Tokyo to Washington.
Summary: Decisions for Defeat
Rating: 5
I agree with the author that the turning point of World War II came earlier than the great battles of 1942 and 1943 (Midway, El Alamein, Guadalcanal and Stalingrad) as is generally assumed. As far as the war in Europe is concerned, however, I would move it back even further to the summer of 1940. It was, in my opinion, Hitler's failure to knock England out of the war in the Battle of Britain that ultimately doomed his enterprise to defeat. It meant an inevitable invasion of "Fortress Europe" from the British Isles. Hitler's inexplicable attack on The Soviet Union in June of 1941 precipitated the disaster of a two front war that should have been avoided at all costs (although recently published documents from the Soviet archives indicate that it may well have been a preemptive strike launched to forestall a planned Soviet attack on Germany's rear.) His mad declaration of war on the United States in the wake of Pear Harbor sealed his fate.
As for the Japanese, they launched their desperate gamble on December 7, 1941 having been pushed to the wall by Roosevelt's diplomacy of escalating non-negotiable demands, which ultimately left them no choice but war or surrender (i.e. defeat without a fight). Few Japanese leaders believed that they could defeat the United States in a prolonged conflict. Their only hope was to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet (and with it America's ability to make immediate war in the western Pacific), and to bring about a negotiated settlement that would leave Japan's Far Eastern Empire intact.
It might have been a better strategy for the Japanese to join Hitler in his invasion of the Soviet Union, leaving the United States on the side lines (although F.D.R. would, no doubt, have found another way into the fight). A Japanese attack on the Soviet East could have forced Stalin to divide his forces, thus making possible a German victory, or another truce with the Soviets. This was the only eventuality that might have secured Hitler's domination of Western Europe for the foreseeable future. It certainly would have made an Anglo-American invasion of the continent vastly more difficult.
But "might have beens" are not history. History is the study of what actually happened, how and why it happened, and the long term consequences of what did happen. Fate is what we call the outcome of the decisions we make.

Disclaimer:
Contents of this page are indexed from the Internet. All actions are under your responsability. Email us to report illegal contents or external links and we'll remove them immediately.

Please check the description for download links if any or do a search to find alternative books.

Can't Download?
Please search mirrors if you can't find download links for "Sealing Their Fate: The Twenty-two Days That Decided World War II: David Downing" in "Description" and someone else may update the links. Check the comments when back to find any updates.

Search Mirrors
Maybe some mirror pages will be helpful, search this book at top of this page or click here to find more info.

1. Ebooks list page : 3015
2. The World is Flat: The Globalized World in the Twenty-first Cent
3. Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World
4. The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World
5. The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World
6. The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World
7. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
8. Feeding the World: A Challenge for the Twenty-First Century
9. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
10. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
11. Fields of Faith : Theology and Religious Studies for the Twenty-first Century
12. The Bible & Flying Saucers by Barry H. Downing
13. [share_ebook] Fields of Faith: Theology and Religious Studies for the Twenty-first Century
14. [share_ebook] The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
15. The Global Negotiator: Making, Managing and Mending Deals Around the World in the Twenty-first Century
16. Hidden Champions of the Twenty-First Century: The Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders