Allies at War: The Bitter Rivalry Among Churchill, Roosevelt, and De Gaulle - Softcover

Based on the BBC/PBS television documentary series and selected by the History Book Club, this is the revelatory account of the plots and enmity behind the Allied leaders' united front. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle held the destiny of the Free World in their hands as Nazi forces stormed through Europe in the 1940s. Together, they stood firmly against Hitler. They inspired their troops; they gave their nations confidence in the prospect of an Allied victory. Yet the relations between these three preeminent statesmen, outside the public eye, were continually riven by rivalry, distrust, contention, and often ruthless duplicity, as this probing volume shows. With access to official archives never before available, Simon Berthon examines the antipathy that increasingly eroded the negotiations among three of the most powerful world leaders in the twentieth century and that significantly colored not only Allied policy during the war but also the relations of General Charles De Gaulle's France with Britain and America after it. For even as late as 1943, by virtue of misinformation being fed to him about De Gaulle, Roosevelt was still supporting the collaborative Vichy government in France. Yet, as Berthon's compelling chronicle demonstrates, De Gaulle would heroically hold his ground in the cause of a Free France and ultimately—in the eleven years of his presidency—would exact against the "Anglo-Saxon powers" his own revenge. Allies at War is indexed and illustrated with 8 pages of historical photographs. "Fascinating ... A readable and captivating glimpse into the personalities and goals of the three Allied giants."—Library Journal "A valuable reminder that even great statesmen can occasionally act according to foolish whims and pride."—Booklist