The Mediterranean theater in World War II has long been overlooked by historians who believe it was little more than a string of small-scale battles-sideshows that were of minor importance in a war whose outcome was decided in the clashes of mammoth tank armies in northern Europe. But in this ground-breaking new book, one of our finest military historians argues that the Mediterranean was World War II's pivotal theater.
Douglas Porch examines the Mediterranean as an integrated arena, one in which events in Syria and Suez influenced the survival of Gibraltar. The Middle Sea constituted a strategic piece of a global war where crucial military decisions were it was a passage that linked far-flung theaters; saved scarce Allied shipping; became an essential conduit for lend-lease aid to the USSR; offered France a testing ground for its rehabilitation as a military power; and provided an entry point into southern Germany for two Allied armies. Without a Mediterranean alternative, the Western Allies would probably have committed to a premature cross-Channel invasion in 1943 that might well have cost them the war.
Brilliantly argued, with vivid portraits of Churchill, Montgomery, FDR, Rommel, and Mussolini, this original, accessible, and compelling account of a little-known theater emphasizes the importance of the Mediterranean in the ultimate Allied victory in Europe in World War II.

Hitler's Mediterranean Gamble : The North African and the Mediterranean Campaigns in World War II

Douglas Porch

Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )

WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON; Orion Publishing Group, Limited

Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )

Weidenfeld and Nicholson

North Point Press

Orion Pub Co

Hill & Wang

Macmillan

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

1st ed., New York, New York State, 2004

United States, United States of America

First Edition first Printing, FR, 2004

First edition, New York, 2004

New York, United States, 2004

1st, First Edition, US, 2004

London, England, 2004

LONDON, Unknown, 2004

1. publ, London, 2004

June 10, 2004

May 26, 2005

Published in the New York under the title: The path to victory : the Mediterranean Theater in World War II, by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 771-779) and index.

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From the Publisher: The Mediterranean theater in World War II has long been overlooked by those who believe it was little more than a string of small-scale battles-sideshows that were of minor importance in a war whose outcome was decided in the clashes of mammoth tank armies in northern Europe. But in this groundbreaking new book, one of our finest military historians argues that the Mediterranean was, in fact, World War II's pivotal theater. In The Path to Victory, Porch examines the Mediterranean as an integrated arena, one in which events in Syria and Suez influenced the survival of Gibraltar. Churchill's controversial decision in 1940 to contest the Axis in the Mediterranean, followed by Roosevelt's insistence two years later that his service chiefs undergo a Mediterranean initiation, laid the foundation for Allied victory in Europe. Although conventional wisdom argues that Hitler could not have won World War II in the Mediterranean, Porch believes that the Allies might well have lost had they not elected to fight there. Decisions made in this theater matured the Western Alliance, seriously damaged and dispersed the formidable Axis military machine, and forged the combined Anglo-American effort that was to be unstoppable when transferred to Northern Europe in June 1944. The Middle Sea constituted a strategic piece of a global war: it was a passage that linked far-flung theaters; protected scarce Allied shipping; became an essential conduit for lend-lease aid to the USSR; offered France a testing ground for its rehabilitation as a military power; and provided an entry point into southern Germany for two Allied armies. Without a Mediterranean alternative, the Western Allies would probably have committed to a premature cross-Channel invasion in 1943 that might well have cost them the war. Brilliantly argued, and with vivid portraits of Churchill, Montgomery, FDR, Rommel, and Mussolini, this original, accessible, and compelling account of a little-known theater emphasizes the importance of the Mediterranean in the ultimate Allied victory in Europe during World War II

For many years, historians have argued that the war in the Mediterranean was merely a sideshow to the big events that took place in Russia and Northern Europe during the Second World War. This new and extremely accessible study of the conflict turns that argument on its head. For Douglas Porch, the Mediterranean theatre was absolutely central to the success of the Allies. It was the only place where Britain could showcase its refusal to accept German domination of Europe. It helped draw the Americans into the war, distracted Hitler from his true strategic objectives in the north, and provided a perfect training ground for the Allied troops who would fight in Normandy. Without the Mediterranean, the Allies would never have learned the skills they needed to win the war; indeed, the Alliance itself might not have lasted beyond 1943. This book covers every aspect of the Mediterranean conflict, from the Italian attack on Greece in 1940 right through to the advance on the Gothic Line in northern Italy towards the end of the war. While concentrating on the major battles in North Africa and Italy, the author also covers the less well-documented aspects of the war, some of which have produced strong echoes in our own the 1941 civil war in Yugoslavia, Churchill's pre-emptive invasion of Iraq, and the continual threat of an Arab uprising in Palestine. He explains not only the events themselves but the personalities of the leaders behind them, and the motives behind the complex decisions they had to make. The result is a fresh, compelling and comprehensive account of this vital arena of the Second World War.

Covering every aspect of the Mediterranean and African conflicts during World War II, the author argues that, had Britain not distracted Hitler's attentions away from dominance in Northern Europe, the Allies might not have won the war.

Африканский театр военных действий, военные действия на островах Средиземного моря и в Италии в годы Второй мировой войны (1939-1945)

2024-02-17