Introduction
The objective of this review is to provide a synopsis of the events surrounding the Second World War as presented in the book by Robert Alexander Clarke Parker The Second World War: A short history (1997-2001). This review seeks to establish whether the content of the book reflects the actual happenings that took place during the Second World War.
The review is further meant to analyze the author’s motives and attitudes when compiling the writing and establish whether he is prejudicial or not. The review will explore the author’s feelings, reasons that prompted him to write on the issue, and the sources he used in the work in a bid to determine its credibility. Finally, this review will explore the strongest as well as the weakest issues depicted in this piece of work.
Summary of the book
This book offers a sweeping survey of all the events that took place during the Second World War in a simple and clear manner, all wrapped up in a single volume. It seeks to explore the causes of the war, how long it lasted, and its short-term and long-term effects on humanity. It also gives a clear picture of the severity of the war as well as its participants and perpetuators. The book takes the reader through the war and comprehensively describes the events as they unfolded in the period between 1939 and 1945. In addition, it gives a brief summary of the historical crisis that characterized the period in question. It places Britain and Europe at the centre of the war and analyzes deeply the role of the two in the war.
According to the book, the war started as a geographical war at first with Germany fighting Poland in order to control it (Parker 2001, 9). The war later turned continental, when Britain and France intervened to oppose the move by Germany and declared war against the latter. This move prompted Russia to join the war by attacking Poland from the south and controlling a great section of the country.
The author traces the cause of the war from the Europeans and the Germans who were the key participants in the crisis. He assesses the strengths and weaknesses of each participant and strategies that each used in the fight. The author conveys a clear picture of the events that made this war different from any other that came before this historical one. Packer is unbiased when writing this piece of work and he narrates the entire story without taking sides.
Critical analysis
Robert Alexander Clarke Parker wrote this chef-d’oeuvre book with the assistance of a team of historians. The author is a European historian with great experience in the field. He worked as a history lecturer at the University of Manchester (Williams 2001, 48). His experience and expertise in the field of history is demonstrated by the simplicity and clarity of writing.
As mentioned before, the book describes the events, that characterized the Second World War, in about 300 pages. In particular, it describes the cause of the war in the European countries and points out that the European and the Far East wars were the two main battles that heralded the Second World War, which was perpetuated by differences in leaders of the affected countries (Parker 2001, 1).
Leaders from the United States, Britain, and France were against actions taken by Germany and Japan, and they argued that Hitler, the then leader of Germany, was a dictator and his government was non-representative. In addition, the attempt by Germany to take over Poland also contributed to the uprising as Britain and France merged against the move.
The war was sparked by the aforementioned countries. After 1939, other European countries joined the war and turned against Germany (Parker 2001, 10). The book attributes Germany to the overall cause of the war through its governance under the leadership of Hitler. It explains the rise of Hitler into power coupled with description of how he succeeded to disband all other political parties in Germany.
Main argument
Parker attributes the cause the war to Germany, Britain, and France. The author claims that if Britain and France did not intervene in the Germany-Poland standoff, the war crisis would not have spiraled to a full-blown war. He explains that the war would have remained geographical (between Germany and Poland), and thus lasted for a short period.
According to Parker (2001, 10-11), the war turned continental when Britain and France turned against Germany in the name of safeguarding the independence of Poland. They declared war against Germany and, even before they could go ahead and execute their plans, Russia joined the war by attacking Poland, which the two countries were defending. From this confrontation, the Second World War was born.
Readability
The book summarizes events of about five and a half year period in only 300 pages. It is the most compact yet complete work amongst the existing ones on the subject. It is designed in a manner that attracts the reader’s attention and the flow is appealing. The masterpiece underscores one of the writings that any reader would love to read from start to the end. It is based on facts and the author is not prejudicial.
The book is written by a historian with unparalleled experience in writing history works, thus he not only makes history look attractive, but also interesting by the use of humorous language that breaks the boredom that often overwhelms a reader when reading historical writings. Parker (2001) narrates the story based on his own point of view by supporting his arguments in an expert way, hence making the entire work naturalistic and enlivening.
Writing motives/ professionalism
Robert Alexander Clarke Parker compiled this book with the help of professional assistants. The long service as a historian and subsequent career as a lecturer in the University of Manchester, probably, is a good indicator of the professionalism in his writing (Williams 2001, 48). He is a well-known historian with great experience in history writing, which makes his book appealing. His opinions in the book are moderated, though it is evident that he wrote the book from his personal point of view.
However, he acquired information from over 82 sources, including writings from Winston Churchill, who was a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War, and thus Parker had the privilege to access crucial government records Nevertheless, the facts in this book are not complete, since the author could not access some information such as Ultra electronic intelligence and some diplomatic records, that cannot be accessed by a person outside the government. Therefore, this means that the book misses some bits of information from a historical point of view (Williams 2001, 48).
Parker’s narrative is based on his incomparable comprehension of facts and the ability to analyze various historical documents as well as official records. The book is based on his strong feelings and knowledge on how various conflicting aspects can integrate to cause an ever-unending crisis. He sheds light on the way in which diplomatic and military factors were integrated to cause the Second World War, which lasted for about 6 years. In connection to this aspect, it is sufficient to say that the author employed muscularity and perceived historical background in putting together this work.
Strongest issues
The strongest issue emerging from this book is how the author tackles the use of the military to cause violence. Britain and Europe at large are portrayed as the firsthand perpetrators of the war (Parker 2001, 11). The reason behind this observation was two-fold. The immediate reason was to safeguard the independence of Poland, whilst the other one was to secure their borders. The British felt that unless Germany was defeated, there would be no peace in the country. However, critics fault this version of events, as at the end of it all they achieved none of the said objectives (Hillenbrand 2010, 91).
According to this book, Britain and France were thus not justified to declare war against Germany and the move was politically instigated. This assertion is further amplified by the view that the two countries failed to attack Russia, which invaded Poland immediately after they had declared war against Germany. If the move to declare war against Germany was justified, then Russia deserved the same treatment.
However, Russia was allowed to continue controlling Poland even after the end of the war. This aspect portrays that the declaration of war by Britain and France was ill-informed and unjustified, something that many historians shy from. Hence, this is one of the book’s strong points. This realization perhaps explains why Russia had to intervene in a bid to counter what appeared as an indefensible war on Germany.
Parker’s stand to question conventional wisdom surrounding the war is another strong point for the book. The book also has an elaborate index, which allows the reader to follow through its contents. In addition, the author draws information from a wide array of sources. The resources used include works on Germany, Britain, France, Poland, Italy, the USA, the USSR, and Japan. Other sources cover battles, campaigns, and socioeconomic issues surrounding the war. This aspect shows that the author carried out extensive research and had an in depth understanding of the events that surrounded the war.
Weakest issues
The use of propaganda is believed to have influenced and shaped the events of the war. Goebbels, a former communist, is said to have used the media to turn people against Hitler in early 1930s (Dobb 1950, 430). The leader is believed to have used television, radio, and even writings to show the inferiority of the Jews.
This continued until 1939 when the Second World War commenced. During the war, the media was again used considerably by the Axis power to create a propaganda war of its own kind. Propaganda, as one of the numerous causes of conflicts in the history, cannot be ignored.
However, in this book, the contribution made by the media is not adequately covered; hence, it emerges as a shortfall to the credibility of the material. In addition, the number of deaths reported is not certain as it is only given as an estimate probably due to the reluctance by the government to produce some important documents that could be useful in determining the actual numbers.
Conclusion/ Own opinion
In my opinion, the book was written in good faith and without prejudice. It analyzes all the events without favoring any side. The work is compact, but it explores almost all aspects of the history surrounding the Second World War. The Second World War was characterized with distinct features that made it very different from all other wars that preceded it, ranging from the use of nuclear weapons and mass displacement of people to massive destruction of properties.
The book details the actual cause of the confrontation, how the war was won or lost together with its general outcomes for humanity. In his writing, Parker discusses individual aspects in a simple yet convincing manner, thus making it easy for a reader to understand the contents of the book.
He describes the events in a more detailed and professional way as compared to other authors in the same field. The author evaluates each cause of action taken by the participant and then analyzes the effects it had on the progress of the war. Therefore, this chef-d’oeuvre is one of the books that anyone would recommend to a reader wishing to gain maximum knowledge on the issues surrounding the Second World War.
Reference List
Dobb, Leonard. 1950. “Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda.” The Public Opinion Quarterly 14, no. 3 (June): 419-442.
Hillenbrand, Laura. 2010. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. New York, Random House.
Parker, Robert. 2001. The Second World War: A short history (Struggle for survival). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Williams, Perry. 2001. “Obituary: R. A. C. Parker.” The Independent, May 8.