The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War - Hardcover

On 2 August 1944, in the wake of the complete destruction of the German Army Group Centre in Belorussia, Winston Churchill mocked Adolf Hitler in the House of Commons by the rank he had reached in the First World War. 'Russian success has been somewhat aided by the strategy of Herr Hitler, of Corporal Hitler,' Churchill jibed. 'Even military idiots find it difficult not to see some faults in his actions.'

Andrew Roberts's previous book Masters and Commanders studied the creation of Allied grand strategy; The Storm of War now analyses how Axis strategy evolved. Examining the Second World War on every front, Roberts asks whether, with a different decision-making process and a different strategy, the Axis might even have won. Were those German generals who blamed everything on Hitler after the war correct, or were they merely scapegoating their former Führer once he was safely beyond defending himself?

In researching this uniquely vivid history of the Second World War Roberts has walked many of the key battlefield and wartime sites of Russia, France, Italy, Germany and the Far East. The book is full of illuminating sidelights on the principle actors that bring their characters and the ways in which they reached decisions into fresh focus.

'Magnificent ... Poignant and haunting' Economist

'Moving, thought-provoking, enlightening, profound ... open it at any page and it would not fail to draw you in' Roger Moorhouse, Independent

The Second World War lasted for 2,174 days and claimed the lives of over 50 million people. Why did it take the course that it did? Why did the Axis lose? And could they, with a different strategy, have won? Andrew Roberts's acclaimed new history has been hailed as one of the finest single-volume accounts of this epic conflict. Ranging from the Western front to North Africa, from the Baltic to the Far East, he brings the story of the war - and those who fought it - into fresh focus as never before.

'One of the greatest historians of our time ... His masterpiece' Oliver Marre, Observer

'An exceptional accomplishment ... the definitive single volume history of the war ... Essential' Peter Watts, Time Out

'Stunning ... Captures the essence of the Second World War' Keith Lowe, Daily Telegraph

'His most spellbinding book thus far' Christopher Silvester, Express

'In what might be his best book yet, Roberts gives us the war as seen from the other side of the hill - the German Reich' Nigel Jones, Sunday Telegraph

'Every page is packed with terse comment, well organised facts and often telling details. Engrossing' Paul Johnson, Spectator

Andrew Roberts's previous books include The Holy Fox, a biography of Churchill's Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax (1991) Salisbury: Victorian Titan (1999), which won the Wolfson History Prize and the James Stern Silver Pen Award for Non-Fiction; Napoleon and Wellington (2001), Hitler and Churchill: Secrets of Leadership (2003), which coincided with four-part BBC2 history series, and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 (2005) which brought him an invitation to the White House in February 2007, where he delivered the prestigious White House Lecture. His most recent book is Masters and Commanders: How Churchill, Roosevelt, Marshall and Alanbrooke Won the War in the West 1941-45 (Allen Lane, 2008), which was awarded the Emery Reves Prize. Roberts is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has also been elected a Fellow of the Napoleonic Institute and an Honorary Member of the International Churchill Society (UK).