The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War II, 2E

by Bard, Ph.D., Mitchell G.

• ISBN13: 9781592572045
• ISBN10: 1592572049
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780028627359, 9781615640249
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-03-02
• Publisher: DK Publishing, Inc.
• More Book Details

Summary

You're no idiot, of course. You know that World War II involved more nations and combatants than any war before or since. And although the Allies defeated the Axis more than 50 years ago, the causes of the war are still debated -- and its ramifications continue to affect world policy. The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War II, Second Edition, follows the Allied and Axis powers through the major campaigns to the new world order. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Mitchell Bard, Ph.D., authored Forgotten Victims: The Abandonment of Americans in Hitler's Camps, among other books. The executive director of the nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, he is also the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide(r) to Middle East Conflict, Second Edition.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Dark Clouds Form Over Europe	1	(63)
Past Is Prologue	3	(10)
Those Who Repeat the Past	4	(1)
A Different Kind of Boom	4	(1)
Black Hats, White Hats, and Stalin	5	(3)
The Front Lines	8	(1)
War Is Hell	9	(1)
Dante's Soldiers	10	(1)
The Allies' Skeletons	11	(1)
True Freedom Fighters	11	(1)
From Abyssinia to Zyklon	12	(1)
The War That Didn't End All Wars	13	(14)
The Fuse Is Lit	14	(2)
Battle of the Trenches	15	(1)
War Grows More Hellish	15	(1)
Winners and Losers	16	(1)
No Garden Party at Versailles	17	(1)
Needed: An International Police Officer	18	(1)
A World Government for an Ungovernable World	19	(1)
The Senate Spurns Wilson's Baby	19	(1)
A League of Their Own	20	(1)
A Hindenburg Without the Hot Air	21	(1)
A Law Against War	22	(1)
Brothers, Can You Spare a Billion?	22	(1)
Depressing Depression	23	(1)
People Don't Kill, Guns Do	24	(1)
A Wolf at the Door	25	(2)
The Little Artist Seeks a Bigger Canvas	27	(14)
Picture Imperfect	28	(1)
A Portrait of the Artist	28	(1)
Years in the Service	29	(1)
A Nazi Is Born	29	(1)
A Room with a Viewpoint	30	(1)
From Democrat to Dictator	31	(2)
America Crashes the Party	31	(1)
A Democrat in Name Only	32	(1)
Citizen Hitler	32	(1)
Strange Bedfellows	33	(1)
The Terror Begins	33	(4)
Long Knives of the Gestapo	34	(1)
Marked for Persecution	34	(1)
The Master Race	35	(2)
Hitler Goes for the Gold	37	(1)
Follow the ``Leader''	38	(1)
Might Makes Reich	38	(3)
The Bell Tolls for War	41	(10)
Oiling the War Machine	42	(1)
Lies and Allies	42	(1)
Drawing a Line at the Rhine	43	(1)
Americans Are Stuck in Neutral	44	(1)
Making Fascism Fashionable	45	(1)
Tanks Versus Spears	46	(1)
The Red Sun Also Rises	47	(1)
What Hemingway Missed	48	(3)
Peace in Whose Time?	51	(12)
The Anschluss Was No Sound of Music	52	(2)
One Happy German Family	52	(1)
Freud Takes His Couch to the United States	53	(1)
``I Have No More Territorial Demands''	54	(2)
The Czechs Stand Alone	54	(1)
``Peace For Our Time''	55	(1)
The Night of the Broken Glass	56	(1)
Czech Mate	57	(1)
Poles Apart	58	(1)
Entangling Alliances	59	(1)
Totalitarians Unite!	60	(1)
It Must Be War	61	(2)
Part 2: Blitzkrieg	63	(62)
Goose-Stepping Across Europe	65	(10)
The Nazis Roll Over the Poles	66	(1)
Britain Mounts a Confetti Campaign	66	(1)
A Merciless Victor	67	(1)
War Without Rules	67	(1)
Spy Versus Spy	68	(1)
Interested Spectators	69	(1)
The Winter of Stalin's Discontent	70	(5)
Massacre in the Forest	72	(3)
The Not So Phony War	75	(16)
The U-Boats	76	(1)
Hunting in Packs	76	(1)
Magnetic Mines	76	(1)
The Doomed Danes	77	(1)
The Allies Start to Fight	77	(2)
Hitler Takes the Low Road	79	(3)
Misreading the Numbers	79	(1)
The Dike Breaks	80	(1)
The Dominoes Fall	81	(1)
``Conquer We Must''	82	(1)
The French Are Fried	83	(1)
Miracle at Dunkirk	84	(1)
Those Left Behind	85	(2)
A Stab in the Back	86	(1)
The Arc de Defeat	87	(4)
Puttin' on the Brits	91	(10)
America Takes a First Step	92	(1)
Wolves at Sea	92	(1)
Still Some Fight in the French	93	(1)
The Last Neutrals	93	(2)
The Scourge of the East	94	(1)
Germany's Art Thieves	94	(1)
The Battle of Britain	95	(1)
The Allies Turn on Each Other	96	(1)
The Blitz	96	(2)
Hitler Declares Victory	98	(1)
An Arsenal for Democracy	99	(2)
America Inches Closer to the Spreading War	101	(10)
The Giant Awakens	102	(1)
War Is as Easy as ABC	103	(1)
Arms on the Installment Plan	103	(1)
Hitler Won't Take ``No'' for an Answer	104	(1)
Mussolini's Greek Misadventure	105	(1)
Stalin Protects His Back	106	(1)
Mercury Conquers Crete	106	(1)
The Atlantic Is Not the Pacific	107	(1)
Italy's Brief Empire	108	(1)
Enter the Desert Fox	109	(2)
Adolf Turns on Joe	111	(14)
Shifting Alliances	112	(1)
Mindless Bolsheviks	113	(1)
Stalin Tries to Buy Time	114	(1)
Moving on East	115	(1)
America Arms the Commies	116	(1)
The War Is Won	116	(1)
Japan Threatens the West	117	(1)
The Atlantic Charter	118	(1)
The Sixth Man	119	(2)
Russians Dream of a White Christmas	121	(1)
So Close, Yet So Far	122	(3)
Part 3: The Yanks Are Coming!	125	(58)
The Day of Infamy Arrives	127	(12)
Grabbing Supplies to Meet Demand	128	(1)
No Surprise from Japan	128	(1)
Empire Versus Empire	129	(1)
Black Sunday	130	(3)
Maybe Yamamoto Wasn't So Smart	133	(1)
Island Paradises No More	134	(2)
Germany Jumps In	136	(3)
War in the Pacific	139	(12)
America's U-Boats	140	(1)
Britain's Humiliation	140	(1)
I Shall Return!	141	(1)
The Bataan Death March	142	(1)
Doolittle's Raiders	142	(2)
Corralled in the Coral Sea	144	(1)
Midway Tips the Balance	145	(2)
America Takes Offense	147	(4)
We're Coming for You, Adolf	151	(14)
Huns First, Japs Later	152	(1)
Slaves of the Reich	153	(1)
No Let-Up in the Atlantic	153	(1)
Bombs Away	154	(2)
The White Rose	156	(1)
Russia's Cold Winter	156	(3)
Rommel's Wild Ride	159	(2)
Torching the Germans	161	(4)
America at War	165	(18)
The War Machine Revs Up	166	(1)
Women Go to Work	167	(1)
Hollywood Commandos	168	(1)
The Actors Fight for Real	169	(1)
Celebrities Find a New Spotlight	170	(1)
Athletes Play on a Different Field	171	(1)
War Is Good Politics	171	(1)
All the News That's Censored to Fit	172	(3)
America Interns Its Own	175	(1)
The Great Patriotic War	175	(1)
WACs, WASPs, and WAVES	176	(2)
Segregation in the Army	178	(1)
The Tuskegee Airmen	179	(1)
Japanese-American GIs	180	(3)
Part 4: Allies Kick Axis	183	(48)
The Axis Goes in Reverse	185	(12)
Envisioning Victory	186	(1)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea	187	(1)
Better to Give Than Receive	188	(1)
They Sank My Boat	189	(1)
The Blood-Soaked Island of Tarawa	190	(1)
War Hits Home in Germany	191	(2)
Making Hamburger of Hamburg	193	(1)
Knocking Out Peenemunde's Rockets	194	(3)
Taking the War to Hitler	197	(10)
The Torch Is Passed	198	(1)
Fallout from the Fox's Fall	199	(1)
The Man Who Never Was	200	(1)
Sicily Is Rubbed Out	201	(1)
Benito Is Finito	202	(1)
Ike Takes Command	202	(1)
No Roman Holiday, Yet	203	(1)
Operation Shingle	204	(1)
Battle Royale at Cassino	205	(2)
The Eastern Front Falls Back	207	(12)
Hitler's Friends Urge Peace	208	(1)
The Red Army Rolls	208	(1)
Hitler's Blame Game	209	(1)
Foreshadowing a New Empire	209	(1)
Still Plenty of Fight in the Germans	210	(2)
Molotov's Diplomatic Cocktail	212	(1)
Here We Snow Again	213	(1)
The Big Three Finally Meet	213	(1)
Fend for Yourselves, Guys	214	(1)
Stalin's D Day	215	(4)
Pacific Island-Hopping	219	(12)
China Breaks Free	220	(1)
Reopening the Burma Road	220	(2)
Merrill's Marauders	222	(1)
Small Islands, High Human Cost	222	(1)
A Turkey Shoot	223	(1)
Planning For Japan	224	(1)
MacArthur's Return	225	(2)
Kamikazes	227	(1)
The Battle of Bull's Run	228	(1)
Fighting the Japanese and the Elements	228	(1)
Japan Doesn't Know the War Is Over	229	(2)
Part 5: Let Freedom Ring	231	(78)
Invasion!	233	(20)
Hitler's Secret Weapons	234	(1)
The Atlantic Wall	235	(1)
Patton's Phantom Army	236	(1)
Why Normandy?	237	(1)
The Battle of Berlin	238	(1)
Massing the Troops	239	(2)
D Day	241	(2)
We'll Start the War from Right Here	243	(1)
No Day at the Beach	244	(3)
Going for the Gold	246	(1)
O Canada!	246	(1)
Sword Fight	246	(1)
A Momentous Day	246	(1)
While Hitler Slept	247	(1)
On to Paris!	248	(1)
Germany Gives Britain the Old V-1, 2	249	(1)
The Return of de Gaulle	250	(3)
For You the War Is Over	253	(16)
It Wasn't Hogan's Heroes	254	(1)
``H'' Is for Hebrew	255	(1)
The Soldiers of Berga	256	(1)
The Horrors of Buchenwald	257	(3)
Murder at Mauthausen	260	(2)
Massacre at Malmedy	262	(1)
The Great Escape	262	(2)
Special Treatment	264	(1)
Prisoners in the Pacific	265	(1)
German POWs in the United States	265	(1)
The Ones Left Behind	266	(3)
Hitler Cheats Death	269	(12)
The Mark of Caen	269	(2)
The Assassins' Plot Explodes	271	(1)
The Allies Take Offense	272	(1)
The Liberation of Paris	273	(1)
The Offensive Runs Out of Gas	274	(1)
No Picnics at Market-Garden	275	(2)
The Politics of War	277	(1)
The Battle of the Bulge	277	(3)
Hungry for Hungary	280	(1)
Victory in Europe	281	(12)
No Happy New Year for Germany	282	(1)
Yalta Sets the Agenda	282	(2)
Dresden Goes Up in Flames	284	(1)
Hitler's Last Stand	285	(1)
FDR's Death Stuns the World	286	(1)
The Siege of Berlin	286	(1)
Bunker Pill	287	(1)
Il Duce's Reward	288	(1)
Germany Surrenders	288	(1)
Dividing the Spoils at Potsdam	289	(4)
The Red Sun Sets	293	(16)
Unfinished Business in the Philippines	294	(1)
Uncommon Valor	294	(2)
The Last Battle	296	(1)
Firestorm!	297	(1)
Olympic and Coronet	297	(1)
The Power of a Particle	298	(1)
The Manhattan Project	299	(2)
Keeping the Weapon Secret	301	(1)
The Gadget Becomes a Reality	302	(1)
The Final Countdown	303	(2)
Ground Zero	305	(2)
Japan Surrenders	307	(2)
Part 6: The Smoke Clears, and the Reckoning Begins	309	(74)
Night and Fog	311	(16)
The Nuremberg Laws	312	(1)
Nowhere to Run	313	(1)
The Nazi Euthanasia Program	314	(1)
The Final Solution	315	(1)
Building Walls Around the Jews	315	(1)
The Model Ghetto	316	(1)
The Einsatzgruppen	317	(1)
The Camps	318	(3)
Medical Experiments	321	(1)
Gypsies, Gays, and Jehovah's Witnesses	321	(2)
Anne Frank	323	(1)
Americans Also Died in Camps	323	(2)
What's Different About the Jews?	325	(2)
Liberators, Rescuers, and Avengers	327	(20)
Liberation	328	(1)
Flying Around Auschwitz	329	(2)
The Danish Rescue	331	(1)
Righteous Persons	332	(2)
We Closed Our Eyes	334	(1)
Remembrance	335	(1)
``I Was Just Following Orders''	336	(6)
The Other Nuremberg Trials	340	(1)
The ``Bitch of Buchenwald''	340	(1)
Taylor's Revenge	341	(1)
Quisling and Quislings	342	(1)
The Japanese Face the Music	342	(1)
``Justice'' for the Victims of Berga	343	(1)
Still Hunting Nazis	344	(3)
Freedom's Heavy Price	347	(36)
Casualties of War	348	(1)
The People Behind the Statistics	349	(1)
Economies in Shambles	350	(1)
The Marshall Plan	351	(1)
Emerging from the Rubble	352	(1)
People Without a Country	353	(1)
Tools of War	354	(1)
A New Cold War Begins	355	(1)
The Nuclear Arms Race	356	(1)
The Disunited Nations	357	(1)
Telling the Story of World War II	358	(1)
Will World Wars End at Two?	359	(2)
Appendixes
A Roll Call	361	(2)
B Victims of the Holocaust	363	(2)
C Recommended Reading	365	(10)
D Marching in Time: A Chronology of World War II	375	(8)
Index	383