On 8 May 1995, the British prime minister, John Major, referred to the end of World War II as the end of a thirty years’ war; in this, he was correct: both sides saw this war as an attempt to complete a task left undone at the close of the First World War – the show-down which ended European global domination. The Second World War was, however, the ultimate catastrophe of modern history, laying waste the heart and soul of Europe. Here you will find contributions about this conflict, its prelude, conduct, and personalities – excluding non-military Nazi personalities, which are covered under the entry “Third Reich Era.” Also covered are contributions dealing with war crimes (and lies about alleged war crimes) committed in the course of the conflict. This does not include the “Holocaust,” which has a separate entry (and is not a war crime in the strict sense).
By H. Keith Thompson ∙ October 1, 1983
On the afternoon of 30 April 1945, with Berlin engulfed in flames and besieged by the Russians, the Hero of the Second World War[1] took his own life in his cement bunker beneath the chancellery complex. This courageous act, perhaps the ultimate act of courage, represented the termination of the heroic last stand of Western…
By Percy L. Greaves ∙ December 1, 1983
If the testimony on the knowledge and actions of the top Navy command on that momentous weekend seems to be confusing and inconsistent, that on the Army side was downright mysterious and almost impossible to comprehend without an understanding of two facts of human nature. The first is that few people will voluntarily confess their…
By Percy L. Greaves ∙ December 12, 1966
After the Pearl Harbor attack, Americans were told that it had come without any warning. The official story has been that it was a surprise attack that forced us into war against our wishes. For years the charges that Roosevelt lied and cajoled us into war were vehemently denied. In 1948 the great historian Charles…
By David L. Hoggan ∙ July 1, 1983
Editor's Note: This article is excerpted from David L. Hoggan's book The Forced War: The Origins and Originators of World War II. The complete book will be published in hardcover by the Institute for Historical Review in December 1983. Professor Hoggan's treatment of the Roosevelt/American role in his book is not limited to one section,…
By W.K.F. Schuldes ∙ April 1, 1982
Czechoslovakia's Role in Soviet Strategy, by Josef Kalvoda, University Press of America, Pb, 382pp, $9.75. The author, a professional historian, was born in Czechoslovakia in 1923, left the CSR in 1948, has been living in the USA since 1951 and presently teaches at St. Joseph's College in West Hartford, Conn. Prof. Kalvoda has given us…
By Wayland D. Smith ∙ April 1, 1983
Failure at Nuremberg: An Analysis of the Trial, Evidence and Verdict, Institute for Historical Review (pb reprint) 42pp, $2.50, ISBN 0-939484-04-8. Rudolf Hess: Prisoner of Peace, by Ilse Hess and Rudolf Hess, translated from the German by Meyrick Booth, Ph.D. and edited by George Pile with a Foreword by Air-Commodore G.S. Oddie, D.F.C., A.F.C. (Royal…
By Mark Weber ∙ October 1, 1983
During the Second World War, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski was an SS Obergruppenführer, Higher SS and Police Chief for the center section of the Eastern front, and Chief of the Anti-Partisan Units. He testified for the prosecution at the postwar Nuremberg Tribunal as part of a deal struck with the Allied authorities. Probably the most…
By James Joseph Martin ∙ April 1, 1982
On 16 October 1940 male residents of the United States between the ages of 18 and 35 registered nation-wide for possible induction into the armed services of the country. It was the first machinery for the introduction of peacetime conscription in the country's history, being the operational consequence of an act of Congress signed by…
By Percy L. Greaves ∙ October 1, 1982
At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor by Gordon W. Prange, in collaboration with Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, McGraw Hill, 889pp, $22.95. The Pacific War, by John Costello, Rawson Wade, 742pp, $24.00. Infamy, by John Toland, Doubleday, 366pp, $17.95. The Pearl Harbor disaster marks much more than the worst…
By Charles Lutton ∙ October 1, 1983
Paris in the Third Reich: A History of the German Occupation, 1940-1944 by David Pryce-Jones. New York: Holt, Rinehart &Winston, 1981, x + 294 pages, 116 photographs, $25.00, ISBN 0-03-045621-5. The claim that thousands of Parisians were members of the anti-Nazi “Resistance”[*] is an aspect of the Second World War that has come under increasing…
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