The World War II 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Figures of the Second World War

by Howard J. Langer

Everyone knows who were the most famous participants in World War II. But who were the most influential? While the obvious leaders are profiled in this listing, others such as the diplomats who made the deals, the scientists who designed the weapons and the journalists who reported the war are featured just as prominently.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001

Reviews

[Richard Grayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will be a good birthday or X-mas gift to those who are in to military stuff/history. I like history especially about World war 2...some of the names below, i myself have never heard of them but each one is good in their own way and some who were betray. It is up to the reader to decide whether the author's list is good or not. List number 1-8, he is dead on and will not entertain any reasons why the names and ranking is there. From 9-100, he will entertain debates.

Of course the war involved more then the 100 people listed here, it is just the influential ones that made the list. List from the 'good' guys and the 'bad' guys. Decisions these people make, effect lives of others.

1 Adolf Hitler : Cruel and Cunning Nazism.

2 Franklin D. Roosevelt: Risking Impeachment.

3 Winston S. Churchill: From Defeat, Defiance Anglican

4 Joseph Stalin: Ruthless and Paranoid Russian.

5 George C. Marshall: First in War, First in Peace.

6 Isoruku Yamamoto: Planning Pearl Harbor.

7 Dwight D. Eisenhower: Leader of the Coalition.

8 Douglas MacArthur: "I Shall Return."

9 Jimmy Doolittle: The Raider from "Shangri-La"

10 Douglas Bader: Legend of the RAF

11 George S. Patton: The Fightingest Field Commander

12 Heinz Guderian: Master of the Blitzkreig

13 Albert Einstein: The Pacifist Who Won the War.

14 Harry S Truman: "The Buck Stops Here."

15 Stewart Menzies: Master of the Ultra Secret

16 Bertram Ramsay: A Miracle at Dunkirk

17 Georgi Zhukov: Stalin's Toughest General

18 Chester Nimitz: Up from the Canvas

19 Husband E. Kimmel, Walter Short: Foul-Ups---or Fall Guys?

20 Ernest J. King: "No Fighter Ever Won by Covering Up."

21 Henry L. Stimson: Bipartisanship in Time of Peril

22 Harry L. Hopkins: "Lord Root-of-the-Matter"

23 William Stephenson: The Spy in Rockefeller Center

24 William J. Donovan: American Spymaster

25 Reinhard Heydrich: Plots and Paranoia
26 William F. Halsey: The Navy's "Patton"
27 Henri Petain: The Man from Vichy
28 Alan Brooke: Churchill's "Marshall"
29 Hideki Tojo: A Time for Hara-Kiri
30 J. Robert Oppenheimer: "I Am Become Death..."
31 Wernher von Braun: Father of the V-2 Lutheran
32 Leslie R. Groves: Director of the Manhattan Project
33 Omar Bradley: The G.I.'s General
34 Arthur Harris: The 1,000-Plane Raider
35 Thomas Kinkaid: In the Spirit of John Paul Jones
36 C.A.F. Sprague: "Combustible, Vulnerable, Expendable"
37 Bernard Montgomery: He Chased the Desert Fox
38 Takeo Kurita: A Sea Battle and an Election
39 Erwin Rommel: Destination: Suez?
40 William Friedman: Shakespeare, Bacon, and the Purple Code
41 Henry H. Arnold: Champion of Airpower
42 Vasily Chuikov: Hero of Stalingrad
43 Hermann Goering: From Air Ace to War Criminal
44 Joseph Goebbels: Propagandist to the End
45 Masaharu Homma : A Question of Responsibility
46 Alfred Jodl: Unconditional Surrender
47 Konstantin Rokossovsky: The Captive Hero
48 Wilhelm Keitel: The Man Who Obeyed Orders
49 Emperor Hirohito: The Last Word state Shinto
50 Benito Mussolini: Hitler's Junior Partner Catholic
51 Charles De Gaulle: Leader of Free France
52 Joachim von Ribbentrop: The Role of the Deal-Maker
53 Vyacheslav M. Molotov: Man of the Hammer
54 Semyon Timoshenko: Rebuilder of the Red Army
55 William L. Shirer: From Reporter to Historian
56 Gerd von Rundstedt: The Fuhrer's Bluntest General
57 Friedrich von Paulus: The Field Marshal and the Corporal
58 Tomoyuki Yamashita: The Tiger of Malaya
59 Jean Darlan: Behind the North African Landings
60 Frank Knox: From Rough Rider to Navy Boss
61 Josip Broz (Tito): Guerrilla Warfare
62 Maurice Gamelin: How France Lost the War
63 Robert Murphy: A "Diplomat Among Warriors"
64 Karl Doenitz: Commander of the U-boats
65 Heinrich Himmler: The Fuhrer's Hit Man
66 Neville Chamberlain: The Great Appeaser?
67 Anthony McAuliffe: Crisis at Bastogne
68 Gustav Krupp/Alfred Krupp: The Family Business
69 Andrew Jackson Higgins: Eureka!
70 Edward R. Murrow: "This...is London."
71 Ernie Pyle: The Little Guy's War
72 Bill Mauldin: Up Front
73 Breckinridge: Long Silent Partner of the Holocaust?
74 Pietro Badoglio: Surrendering Italy
75 Francisco Franco: Prelude to a World War Catholic
76 Harold Alexander: Ike's First Choice
77 Albert Speer: The Slave Master
78 Eleanor Roosevelt/Madame Chiang: The Feminine Mystique Episcopalian/?
79 Lavrenti Beria: Scorched Earth and Non-Persons
80 Galeazzo Ciano: Mussolini's Heir Apparent
81 Eduard Benes: Humiliation at Munich
82 Wladyslaw Sikorski: Betrayal and Death
83 Joseph W. Stilwell: The Mission That Failed
84 Jonathan Wainwright: Last Message from Corregidor
85 The Sullivan Brothers/The Four Chaplains: On Brotherhood
86 Charles Lindbergh: The Isolationists' Poster Boy
87 Chiang Kai-shek: The Agony of China
88 Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski: Leader of an Underground Army
89 Claus von Stauffenberg: The Plot That Failed
90 Anne Frank: Keeping a Diary
91 Adolf Eichmann: "Terribly and Terrifyingly Normal"
92 Robert Jackson: Judgment at Nuremburg
93 Henry Morgenthau: A Plan for Germany
94 Cordell Hull: Architect of the United Nations
95 George VI/Christian X/Leopold III: Crowned Heads, Royal Symbols
96 Haile Selassie: The Plea That Failed Rastafarian deity
97 Mordecai Anielewicz: He Fought Back
98 Joseph P. Kennedy: A Controversial Ambassador
99 Paul Reynaud: A Voice in the Wilderness
100 Pope Pius XII: The Sound of Silence