The global conflict of WWII, the bloodiest yet in human history, was as much a clash of cultures as it was a clash of arms. Different world visions collided as fiercely as the great armies which encountered each other on the battlefields of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The struggle of ideas was as vicious as the battle on, and below the waves as was the fight in the skies above. Indeed, the culture war and national differences drove the conflict and influenced where, when, why, and even how, the war was fought.
Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt - as well as their opponents; Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito - shaped events. However, these intractable enemies were governed by the hand which history gave them, the political directed the personal, as they wrangled for control of the future.
Despite the initial successes of Nazi Germany and Japan, Hitler and his Axis were eventually outgunned and outthought.
How much can we consider that German and Japanese capitulation was inevitable? And what drove so few men to command so many - and devastate so much? Economic and cultural factors, as well as military power, determined victory for some and subjected others to defeat and utter ruin.
In many regards, Second World War throws up more questions than answers, but World War II: The First Culture War addresses certain controversial and unpalatable issues.
The war fighting skills and the ability to manufacture the weapons that were so effectively wielded by the Allies were begotten by the notions of individual freedom, limited government, and property rights. Those concepts emerged in one place only, mediaeval England. The culture that produced Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism, and colonialism, gave Britain and her Allies the advantage over the Nazis.
Initiative, imagination, industriousness, innovation, ingenuity, and inventiveness; encouraged by the powerful inducement that is a lust for private profit - though now unpopular in some circles - proved to be the basis for the superior social, economic, political, and military system which confronted the Axis.
For some time, Great Britain and its Empire stood alone against the might and menace of the Axis powers. Churchill, embodying a culture of defiance, believed that the English-speaking peoples would ultimately triumph. He was right. World War II: The First Culture War asserts why he was right and how this great victory was fought.
Robert Oulds M.A., FRSA, is the author of Montgomery and the First War on Terror. The book details a little-known period of Monty's career. Bernard Law Montgomery, later Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, faced guerrilla forces in Ireland in the early 1920s and Palestine on the eve of the Second World War. That book explores the lessons of Monty's victories in those conflicts and how they should be applied today in the modern war on terror.Robert is the author of Counterattack: Montgomery and the Battle of the Bulge and Everything you wanted to know about the EU but were afraid to ask. Amongst other works he is also the co-author of Moralitis, A Cultural Virus. He is the longstanding Director of the Bruges Group, the respected think tank which since 1989 has been at the forefront of the debate about the UK's relationship with the EU and the wider world. The President of the Bruges Group was the former Prime Minister, the late Baroness Margaret Thatcher. Robert regularly appears on television and radio debating topical issues. He was the Standard Bearer and Treasurer for his local branch of the Royal British Legion (RBL) which is an organisation established to help the welfare of ex-Servicemen. It also campaigns on issues relating to the armed forces. The RBL are the custodians of the nation's Remembrance services; they organise and run the annual Poppy Appeal which raises funds in aid of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and women, as well as their dependents.Robert is proud of his grandfather's service in World War Two that took Leslie Frank Oulds from Egypt, across North Africa, to Sicily and Italy, and onto Arnhem. He survived those many engagements.
