Table of Contents

* Pt. I The Prelude * How War was Precipitated * The Opposing Forces at the Outbreak * Pt. II The Outbreak (1939-1940) * The Overrunning of Poland * 'The Phoney War' * The Finnish War * Pt. III The Surge (1940) * The Overrunning of Norway * The Overrunning of the West * The Battle of Britain * Counterstroke from Egypt * The Conquest of Italian East Africa * Pt. IV The Spread (1941) * The Overrunning of the Balkans and Crete * Hitler Turns Against Russia * The Invasion of Russia * Rommel's Entry into Africa * 'Crusader' * Upsurge in the Far East * Japan's Tide of Conquest * Pt. V The Turn (1942) * The Tide Turns in Russia * Rommel's High Tide * The Tide Turns in Africa * 'Torch' * The Race for Tunis * The Tide Turns in the Pacific * The Battle of the Atlantic * Pt. VI The Ebb (1943) * The Clearance of Africa * Re-entry into Europe * The Invasion of Italy * The German Ebb in Russia * The Japanese Ebb in the Pacific * Pt. VII Full Ebb (1944) * Capture of Rome and Second Check in Italy * The Liberation of France * The Liberation of Russia * The Crescendo of Bombing * The Liberation of the South-west Pacific and Burma * Hitler's Ardennes Counterstroke * Pt. VIII Finale (1945) * The Sweep from Vistula to Oder * The Collapse of Hitler's Hold on Italy * The Collapse of Germany * The Collapse of Japan * Pt. IX Epilogue * Books Referred to in the Text * Subject Index * General Index * Classified List of Author's Books

About the Author

Captain Basil Henry Liddell Hart (1895-1970) authored over thirty books on military history. Among them are: Great Captains Unveiled, Lawrence of Arabia, The Rommel Papers, Scipio Africanus, and Sherman (all available from Da Capo Press/Perseus Book Group).

Reviews

"The best book of its kind.[It is] a crisp professional critique of the strategic concepts and tactical methods of all the contending forces. Liddell Hart writes with no national bias, and is as critical of British -- and Allied -- performance as of the enemy's".-- The New Yorker