What were the reasons for World War II? Of course, Hitler attacked Poland. On the other hand, when Stalin invaded Poland and then attacked Finland a few months later, nobody declared war on the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Hitler tried to negotiate a settlement. So what were the reasons for World War II? The Versailles “Peace Treaty” had created so many injustices in Europe that it bore within itself the seeds of a new war. One ought not neglect the colonial arms race in the Pacific between the newcomer Japan and the old European colonial powers…
By Ezra Macvie ∙ December 1, 2012
By Erik Larson. Crown Publishing Group, New York, 2011, 448 pp. By June 1933, the “Nazis”—a new word in the world’s lexicon—had held power in Germany for almost six months, and were not expected to last, unlikely characters as virtually all of them were. The American ambassador to Germany had left his post shortly after…
By Theodore J. O'Keefe ∙ December 1, 2001
Day of Deceit: The Truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor by Robert B. Stinnett. New York: Simon and Schuster, Touchstone, 2000. Paperback. 399 pages. Index, illustrations, maps. Pearl Harbor Betrayed: The True Story of a Man and a Nation under Attack by Michael Gannon. New York: Henry Holt, 2001. Hardcover. 340 pages. Index, illustrations, maps….
By Daniel W. Michaels ∙ December 1, 2001
Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia by Gabriel Gorodetsky. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. 408 pages. Samoubiystvo (Suicide) by Viktor Suvorov. Moscow: AST, 2000. 380 pages. Illustrations. Upushchennyy shans Stalina (Stalin’s Lost Opportunity) by Mikhail Meltiukhov. Moscow: Veche, 2000. 605 pages. Illustrations, maps. Stalin’s War of Extermination, 1941–45: Planning, Realization, and…
By Mark Weber ∙ November 1, 2001
Churchill’s War: Triumph in Adversity (Vol. II), by David Irving. London: Focal Point, 2001. Hardcover. 1060 pages. Photographs. Appendices. Source references. Index. (Available from the IHR for $50, plus shipping.) It has been fourteen years since the publication of the first volume of David Irving’s three-part biography of Britain’s legendary wartime leader. This second volume,…
By Scott L. Smith ∙ September 1, 2001
Pearl Harbor. (2001) Genre: film (war, drama). Length: 183 minutes. MPAA rating: PG-13. Starring: Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Mako, Jon Voight. Director: Michael Bay. Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer. Screenplay: Randall Wallace. Released by: Buena Vista. Grade: D. Scott L. Smith holds a B.A. in history from Idaho State University….
By Daniel W. Michaels ∙ March 1, 2001
Unternehmen Barbarossa und der russische Historikerstreit (“Operation Barbarossa and the Russian Historians’ Dispute”), by Wolfgang Strauss. Munich: Herbig, 1998. Hardcover. 199 pages. Illustrations. Source references. Bibliography. Index. No two peoples suffered more during the Second World War than the Russians and the Germans. In the carnage of that great global conflict, nothing matched the massive…
By Adolf Hitler ∙ June 22, 1941
On the morning of June 22, 1941, Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels announced to the world the startling news that German forces, together with Finnish and Romanian troops, had struck against the vast Soviet Union. On German radio he read Adolf Hitler’s historic proclamation justifying the attack. Among other things, he said that Stalin had massed…
By Daniel W. Michaels ∙ October 20, 1999
wwii/prelude/USSRThe Journal of Historical Review, vol. 18, no. 3 (May/June), pp. 40-45New Evidence on the 1941 ‘Barbarossa’ Attack: Why Hitler Attacked Soviet Russia When He DidDaniel W. Michaels Stalins Falle: Er wollte den Krieg (“Stalin’s Trap: He Wanted War”), by Adolf von Thadden. Rosenheim: Kultur und Zeitgeschichte/Archiv der Zeit, 1996. (Available from: Postfach 1180, 32352…
By Joseph Sobran ∙ August 1, 1998
Joseph Sobran is a nationally-syndicated columnist, lecturer, author, and editor of the monthly newsletter Sobran's (P.O. Box 1383, Vienna, VA 22183). This essay is reprinted from the August 1998 issue of Sobran's. Steven Spielberg's “Saving Private Ryan” is the most powerful movie I've seen in years. The opening sequence, already famous, shows the D-Day invasion…
By Daniel W. Michaels ∙ October 1, 1998
Poslednyaya Respublika (“The Last Republic”), by Viktor Suvorov (Vladimir Rezun). Moscow: TKO ACT, 1996. 470 pages. Hardcover. Photographs. For several years now, a former Soviet military intelligence officer named Vladimir Rezun has provoked heated discussion in Russia for his startling view that Hitler attacked Soviet Russia in June 1941 just as Stalin was preparing to…
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