The Second World War, 1939-45: A Strategical And Tactical History

by J.F.C. Fuller

Fuller's biographer, Bryan Holden Reid, has described The Second World War as "an analysis of the breakdown, as Fuller saw it, of the vital relationship between grand strategy and grand tactics--the end and the means...Too often books on the Second world War detail the movements of formations about the battlefield and give space to strategical commentary without assessing the manner in which the war was actually fought. On the tactical level, The Second World War can still be read with profit." Fuller himself characterized the book, however, as "in part a least a psychological study of the folly of man." Expertly combining detailed military history and analysis with Clausewitzian insights based on his own theories of warfare, Fuller produced a modern military masterpiece in The Second World War.

Genres: War, History, World War II

432 pages, Paperback

Published March 22, 1993

About the author

Major-General John Frederick Charles Fuller, CB, CBE, DSO was a British Army officer (1899–1933), military historian and strategist, notable as an early theorist of modern armoured warfare, including categorising principles of warfare.

Fuller was also an early disciple of English poet and magician Aleister Crowley and was very familiar with his, and other forms of, magick and mysticism.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1949 so Fuller was not writing with the advantage of the knowledge of so much that happened afterwards as a consequence of the war and years before the Allied successes at code-breaking became public. He does however cover many of the technological innovations in weaponry and discusses the successes and failures of Allied and Axis strategic decisionmaking.

[Larry Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tries, and does, a good job of covering WWII in a quick and detailed manner. It does get into the weeds with people, places, and military strengths that were a little over my head. I am sure a more studied reader would get more from this than myself. I found myself reading about commanders and places from different armies that I am not familiar enough with to get the most out of the narrative. It did give me a curiosity to read further into these areas though.
The book also gives the authors views on the scientific advancements of war, and the moral responsibilities of these. The advancement of the airplane and the atomic bomb being the biggest changes in the way war was waged and the moral changes they brought forward.

[Ashley Denno · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to learn quite a bit more about WWII this is the book for you. Lots of detailed information. I won't say it's captivating, or an exceptional read. But it definitely packs in the info.

[John Lomnicki, · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read two of Fullers books on the Civil War, I was curious about his take on WW2. I was not disappointed, he has a strategist approach that is a valuable perspective. I enjoyed the book.