Why the Allies Won | Richard Overy | Why the Allies Won the War -- review

Why the Allies Won | Richard Overy | Mr. Overy has a great analytical mind

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Why the Allies Won

	Why the Allies Won Richard Overy W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 - 428 pages average customer review:based on 57 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Richard Overy's bold book begins by throwing out the stock answers to this great question: Germany doomed itself to defeat by fighting a two-front war; the Allies won by "sheer weight of material strength." In fact, by 1942 Germany controlled almost the entire resources of continental Europe and was poised to move into the Middle East. The Soviet Union had lost the heart of its industry, and the United States was not yet armed. The Allied victory in 1945 was not inevitable. Overy shows us exactly how the Allies regained military superiority and why they were able to do it. He recounts the decisive campaigns: the war at sea, the crucial battles on the eastern front, the air war, and the vast amphibious assault on Europe. He then explores the deeper factors affecting military success and failure: industrial strength, fighting ability, the quality of leadership, and the moral dimensions of the war.

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Why the Allies Won the War -- review

I have read many books about WWII, including, most recently, the 2nd volume of Rick Atkinson's planned 3-volume trilogy on the American army's role in the European part of WWII. What Overy has done in "Why the Allies Won the War" is to focus, in an admirably concise and well-reasoned manner, on the key actions/decisions/accomplishments/logistics and strokes of luck that played pivotal roles in the victory of the WWII Allies. After a 2nd reading of this book, I gave a talk to a dozen learned and diversely experienced friends about Overy's analyses. This was my 35th talk on some historical, technical, scientic, or medical topic since 1972, when I joined the group, which meets 12-15 times a year on a Friday evening, with each member giving a talk on a subject of his choice. I think I got the most positive responses I've ever gotten from that long series of talks. It was not my skills, but Overy's that made the evening.

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Mr. Overy has a great analytical mind

This book is a jewel. Mr. Overy was able to thoroughly explain why the Allies won. The reasons are manifold; we can point out some of them.
- Hitler's one man show at the helm of the German Armed Forces proved to be disastrous. His approach was amateurish and he was just not competent enough for the momentous task at hand.
- The German Armed Forces fastidious insistence on weapons that were finished with a high grade of precision impeded the mass production of standardized weapons that could match the weapon's output of the Allies.
- Japan's industrial production and supply system could not match America's.
- The Axis powers lacked sufficient oil and its derivates.
- Allied Armed Forces were able to learn from their mistakes and made the necessary adjustments to match the Axis powers' proficiency at the art of war, conversely, Germany's and Japan's Armed Forces did not improve their performance apreciably after their initial successes.
- The Allies had the "moral high ground" which spurred them on to victory.
- The Allies were successful at curbing the effectiveness of the German U-boats.
- The Allies were able to wear down the Luftwaffe and thus achieve air superiority.
- The Allies were able to keep the Germans guessing where the invasion force would land on continental Europe.
- The Germans never mechanized their supply lines and their troop transport the way the Allies did.
Mr. Overy is a word-Meister; he writes with clarity and elegance. It was a pleasure to read this book.

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A WWII Veteran's Opinion

As a WWII veteran so many of the WWII histories I have read were written within 10 or 20 years of the war. "Why The Allies Won" offered more insight and was more thoroughly researched than any I have read. Yet it was very readable and contained many facts and explanations I had not thought about before.

Engaging and readable history of WWII

Others have offered good reviews of content here, and I'm not up to date on my sources and numbers so I can't critique the book on that front as many of the negative reviews do, so I will limit my review to my experience of it:

It's a great read and I didn't want to put it down. It is a great source for either the question in its title, or simply as a history of WWII, or even just as engaging reading.

It might have more easily come out and given its answer right up front - even now, several weeks later, I'm challenged to repeat it exactly, but perhaps that's because he offers a complex explanation which takes into account not only technological factors, but the interplay between the relative strengths of the Axis and Allies (Axis starting to lose by late 1942 and Allies starting to get going by then), as well as the moral dimension.

Perhaps the best compliment I could give it, is that it is just good reading: for a great and engaging story, for a history of WWII, or to assess why the allies won.

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Uma visão histórica e complexa

O livro do historiador inglês Richard Overy trabalha com as principais razões pelas quais os aliados (ingleses, russos e americanos principalmente) conseguiram derrotar os países do Eixo durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Embora seja uma publicação relativamente recente (1995) ela permite obter uma visão geral do que foi o conflito e, mais ainda, enumerar de uma forma complexa as razões pelas quais os aliados conseguiram, após um início vacilante, tomar a iniciativa e combater com eficácia.

Embora o livro se perca um pouco no início quando o autor retoma as prinicpais campanhas durante o conflito, a partir do capítulo 6 (A Genius for Mass Production: Economies at War) o desenvolvimento do pensamento do autor fica mais interessante, trabalhando em pontos principais dos aliados em comparação aos dos alemães, japoneses e italianos.

É interessante notar também que o autor trabalha com a perspectiva de explicar a vitória aliada pelos aspectos econômicos, políticos e morais, mostrando que essa aliança, se por um lado apresentava conceitos dúbios (que mais tarde iriam se tornar explícitos durante a Guerra Fria), por outro mostrava a racionalização do poder de produção na construção de um arsenal bélico que os tornava praticamente indestrutíveis. E é interessante perceber, principalmente pelo lado americano, como o gerenciamento das Forças Armadas passava por uma série de soldados e oficiais os quais tinham na vida civil (e não na militar) a sua formação original.

O pesar fica para o final. Se o autor consegue mostrar um texto de fácil compreensão, infelizmente ele poderia ter aprofundado um pouco mais na análise final, que culmina com todo o levantamento de informações cobrindo seis anos de conflito. Acredito que, com uma análise mais profunda, o livro poderia trazer à luz mais questões importantes que, de uma maneira ou de outra, tem seus reflexos ainda no dia-a-dia mundial.

Afora isso, recomendo o livro principalmente no capítulo que trata sobre o bombardeamento estratégico aliado, o qual ainda levanta muitas controvérsias sobre a sua real eficácia durante a guerra.

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