The Second World War: The Grand Alliance

By: Sir Winston Churchill

Narrated by: Christian Rodska

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Dealing with war on a giant scale, The Grand Alliance focuses on events as Britain, after fighting a desperate battle alone, was joined in the struggle against the enemy by Soviet Russia and the United Sates.

Hitler's invasion of Russia brought to an end a period of almost exactly a year during which Britain and her Empire had stood alone. Six months later, the United States, attacked by Japan, joined the war and the Grand Alliance was born. It was a momentous turn in the course of the war and Sir Winston Churchill noted, 'United we could subdue everybody else in the world. Many disasters, immeasurable cost and tribulation lay ahead, but there was no more doubt about the end.'

©1990 The Estate of Winston Churchill (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Great book and great series

This whole series it feeling as though Winston is sitting in the room giving you a recount for the entirety of the war. can't get enough

Inspiring and gripping

The clearness of the language and his willingness to take responsibility for failure and share success make Winston Churchill a true leader and devoted statesman. His ability to articulate the importance of personal relationships to make decisions is a template for our political leaders

Feel like Churchill told his story directly to me

I haven't been much of a history buff until I started listening to Audible. I first listened to Washington: A Life, next The Last Lion (#1) and then I've been listening to all of Churchill's books The Second World War. There's so many facts about WWII that I didn't know.

I'm a baby boomer and my Dad and my Mom were both in the Philippines during WWII. My Mom was lucky enough to escape on a submarine after Corregidor fell. My Dad was not so lucky. He was at the surrender of Bataan plus the Bataan Death March and a prisoner of war for 3 and a 1/2 years.

Although my parents were involved with the Pacific Theater, I wanted to understand the whole enchilada. Wow, is there a lot to learn about the European theater. So, if you want to know what really happened in the European theater, Africa and Middle East. This series is your time to learn. Churchill also shares about battles and situations in the Far East. There's no lacking of info in this series.

Lastly, Rodska is a wonderful narrator....he's one of the reasons that I bought the whole series. I truly feel I'm having lunch with Churchill and he's filling me in like I'm an insider on the whole story. Wow!

Good but more difficult for me to follow

If you could sum up The Second World War: The Grand Alliance in three words, what would they be?

Interesting but difficult.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Churchill is the central character so it would be difficult for him not to be my favorite.

Have you listened to any of Christian Rodska’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Just the first two in the series. This one is consistantly good.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

As with the other books in the series it makes me worry about the future of our country because we are repeating so many of the same mistakes.

Any additional comments?

Everyone should read this series. As Churchill says, WWII was the "unnecessary war". The mistakes of the allies after WWI led to WWII. If we learn from these mistakes perhaps we could avoid future wars.

Amazingly entertaining subject matter

After having read Churchills History of the English Speaking Peoples, I couldn’t resist listening to his entire series on WWII.

A Good Read: More politics than action

The third volume in the abridged collection of Churchill’s history of the Second World War (confusingly the third volume in the unabridged series goes by the same title) follows Great Britain out of the time of their isolation in the war. From 1939 until the Germans turned their sights on Russia in 1942, England was the sole force providing continual harassment to Hitler’s swelling dominion. While many other countries were friendly and supportive to the cause, there had yet to be formed an allied front against the Axis countries – except in the Atlantic where the US had already committed to help clear shipping lanes near their own shores. With grit and ferocity of will, England stood the onslaught of the German’s might and lasted. There indomitableness was rewarded when, in 1942, both Russia and the US finally entered the war as full allies. In this, Churchill knew that the war was won.

You will never read a war history quite like Churchill’s retelling of these six, almost seven, long years of struggle. No “man at the top” as it were has written about the minutiae of what it takes from day to day to keep a country focussed toward a common goal. Churchill is both witty and serious about his responsibilities. The reader always feels as if the Prime Minister has a sincere empathy with the men that lay down their lives for freedom’s sake. And yet, Churchill was a shrewd if relatively straightforward politician. He pulls and cajoles the Russians to come to the aid of the Western powers. Stalin is supremely concerned about his own nation, yet this warmhearted Brit maneuvers the cold steely Russian into joint operations. The United States military see themselves as foremost in the world, but Churchill guides them to his points of attack. With an unbelievable aplomb, we get to look in on how a historical giant orders the players of worldwide strategy into a successful defense against Hitler’s schemes.

As a good American schoolboy, I was taught how the US came to save Britain’s bacon when we finally entered the European field. This is true – to an extent. What I never knew was how much had been prepared by the continual strategy of the British Army, Navy, and Royal Air Force. The had the ideas; they needed manpower. And the USA could not provide this at first. It took much longer for the war effort stateside to gear up than one might think. Even though America essentially entered into the war on Pearl Harbor day in 1941. The main focus was toward naval operations against Japan. It was only a small percentage of US troops that made it into the European theater before D-Day in June of 1944. Once the US became an active participant, hardly a defeat was handed to the Allied forces in the west, but this was due to the exceedingly important battle plan developed for years by Great Britain.

My grandfather served in North Africa – where the majority of the action of this book takes place. I don’t know a lot about his service as he passed away in my youth. He was an mechanic in support of air based action. It’s amazing that so many operations of vital importance happened off the continent where the supposed heart of the struggle lay. It’s as if Olympian engineers of war decided to fight somewhere that wouldn’t mess up their civilization. But it did, hundreds of thousands of men lost their lives in North Africa. The many battles of Tobruk and Benghazi, the struggle for Egypt, the swift offensive on Tunis. These are magnificent and costly battlefields that most will never walk because they are so far from our cultured world. Churchill does his best to humanize every campaign, but the scars of the war were greater than most perceive. There may not be a finer set of histories for this time, but come knowing it’s not the view that the average man had.

6.5 stars out of 10

Need to read to understand today's world

Most today have no concept of the the first half of the 20th Century was like. Churchill most certainly did and lists in detail the mistakes made and the signs over-looked. It's nice to know the politicians of that day were just as self-centered and focused on their survival more than the nation. At least the people back then did not have the 24 hour news cycle where the idiots can pontificate ad nauseum.

From The Horses Mouth

Churchill's prose is endearingly verbose, wonderfully poetic, and surprisingly funny. Unabashedly biased and confident in his own record it still stands as a wonderful literary achievement with a strong voice and powerful eye for the important moments.

Quite simply for one who is interested in history it must be read.

Fascinating and Insightful

During this third volume of the four volume set Churchill continues his wonderful (if occasionally self-serving) narrative. This volume roughly covers the time period of late 1941 through early/mid 1943. This was a rough period for Britain and the military engagements during this period almost always go against the Allies. Though at the end of this volume the tide of war has definitely turned and would usher in a period of practically unbroken victories.

Any casual Churchill fan knows of his affection for the United States. But it was still very interesting to hear first hand his reaction to Pearl Harbor and the official entrance of the US into the War. At that point, as he tells it, he felt the War was won - he was jubilant - it was just a matter of time. His regard for Roosevelt was just shy of worship.

It was also very interesting to see his dealings with the Russians as they shifted sides to the Allies and began immediately insisting on a second front in the West. Churchill alternates between extreme patience and unconcealed exasperation at Stalin's single-mindedness here all the while conveniently forgetting he was Hitler's ally less than a year before.

He has a masterful wit and I literally laughed out loud several times during the narrative.

A must for any fan of military history and World War II.

Compelling!

I found this book to be authoritative, interesting, detailed and compelling. I would strongly recommend this to almost anyone