25 October 2011

If the Allies had fallen : sixty alternate scenarios of World War II


I've just finished reading this really interesting book, which is a commentary on a wide range of potential scenarios as opposed to a deep analysis of a few possibilities.  Both approaches are useful to me personally, but it seems that many other books in this genre focus on the latter approach (like the alternate Battle of the Bulge discussions.......).  In this work Dennis Showalter has grouped a range of contributions from different authors, from the Battle of Britain/Op Sealion, to the Allies not pursuing a Mediterranean Strategy, the execution of D-Day in mid 1943, the war starting a year earlier, the assassination of Hitler, Brits/US racing Russia to Berlin,  the Alliance fracturing etc.  The broad  discussion of each of these makes this book easy to read and absorb, but can leave the passionate reader wanting more in some scenarios.


As always its important to understand that these style of books are analysis with deep hindsight and out of the original context.  Decision makers of the time had incomplete pictures (of both sides usually) and a range of political and social pressures which can be lost in translation.  Nevertheless, I found this an interesting and easy read that got my juices flowing for more.  Recommended.



You can read another review of the book here:


12 comments:

  1. Humm...it does seem really interesting.Thanks for sharing mate.

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yup. I'll have to look that one up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. WWII had such a huge impact on our modern world (Cpt. Obvious I know) that this type of thing is always interesting to speculate.

    Speaking only for the European theater, I often wonder what would have happened if the Nazis would have tried to win a more limited war in the West instead of grabbing everything at once or getting bogged down with Italy's campaign problems.

    Or instead leaving Eastern Europe to her fate the chances of Britain and the US getting into a conflict with the Soviet Union. Interesting stuff!

    Cheers,
    Jason

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like a thought provoaking book, thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the recommendation, I might have to track this one down.Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sounds like a very interesting book. Good starters for some "What if's". Thanks Paul.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds like a gem of a read, good outline of the book.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I shall keep me eyes peeled for this, sounds great!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Looks very tempting - I will look for it. And makes me wish I hadn't leant out my favourite SF novel, Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Tower, about the Nazi/Japanese occupation of the US, because now I want to read it again!

    ReplyDelete