World War: A Pacific View | nd-aktuell.de

In the middle of a world full of wars, a masterpiece of military history appears that should give food for thought: “World conflagration. The Great Imperial War 1931 – 1945” by Richard Overy. The span of 14 years is surprising. The Second World War lasted from 1939 to 1945 – at least that’s the Eurocentric reading. Anyone who, like the London military historian born in 1947, describes this war as the last gasp of imperialism will be aware of the Italian war against Abyssinia, the annexation of Albania, the various involvement in the Spanish Civil War, but above all the Japanese attack on Manchuria and the war against Summarize China as parts of the imperial struggle in this extended period.

The Atlantic view of things has long since given way to a Pacific one. The author has presented the history of this struggle for imperial rule in 1,500 pages and has written what will probably be the definitive book about this largest and most sacrifice-laden war in world history for a long time. It is not limited to the depiction of the military actions, which have long been documented. There are also battle plans, militaristic fireworks or weapon developments in this book, but they are not the focus.

The real value of his magnum opus lies in the topics that are otherwise rather peripheral, but which illustrate the extent of the war. NATO will need to read carefully the passages that discuss the ongoing rivalry between the US and Britain. Using examples from battles at the end of 1944 in Belgium and the Netherlands or with a view to Churchill’s pet project of landing on Sumatra to free it from Japanese occupation, Overy makes clear the paralysis that such rivalries, which are also fueled by personal vanity, trigger. The Soviet Union often criticized the stalling of the offensive against Germany caused by the friction between the Western Allies.

Overy takes a look at the civilian victims of the bombing campaign, which was often less about important military or defense objectives than about the demoralization of the population. Neither the German air war against England nor the much more violent Anglo-American war against Germany significantly weakened people’s will to fight and persevere – quite the opposite.

What significance did the military resistance against the respective leadership have? While critical statements by military officials against the leadership in Japan went largely unpunished, the murderous rampage of Himmler and the Gestapo took on different proportions after July 20, 1944. What significance did the resistance of the populations in the fascist-occupied areas have? It was notable in Poland, France, Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy and, very ambivalently, in Ukraine.

The Red Army’s refusal to help the Warsaw Uprising has been exploited often enough in the West. Less well-known is the uprising of the population of Naples against the German occupation at the end of September 1943: “In a four-day improvised battle, the Germans were driven out of the city, while the British, who had meanwhile taken the islands of Capri and Ischia in the Gulf of Naples, did nothing watched and refused a request for help for soldiers or ammunition,” writes Overy.

Looking at the victims is shocking. Overy devotes a separate chapter to the crimes and atrocities during the war, of which the German crimes against the Jews and “Slavic subhumans,” as they were described in Nazi propaganda, are unique in their planning, implementation and extent. Using some particularly sadistic examples, the author also describes the different forms of violence against women, which was theoretically prohibited in all military penal laws.

A particular aspect of the book takes on current significance: in a large chapter, Overy discusses the question “Just wars, unjust wars?” As a historian, he has the political consequences of the war in mind. They consisted in the collapse of the great colonial empires. Although associated with great hope, it did not result in a multipolar order. Instead, the new states chose a side in the bloc confrontation after 1945, in the “Cold War” that then began, the consequences of which we are still suffering from today.

Richard Overy: World Conflagration. The Great Imperial War 1931–1945. A.d. English v. Henning Thies and Werner Roller. Rowohlt Berlin, 1519 p., born, 48 €.