Allies at War: The Politics of Defeating Hitler

After the fall of France in June 1940, Britain was the only European country left to resist Hitler. Desperate for allies, Winston Churchill did everything he could to woo the United States to join the war on Britains side, to drive the Soviet Union and Germany apart, and to influence neutral countries to join the fight against Hitler or at least stay out of the conflict.

By the end of 1941, after the German invasion of Russia and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Grand Alliance was in place. But the Big Three Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin were uneasy bedfellows and their partnership was soon plagued by mistrust, rivalry and deceit. Conflicts opened not just over strategy but over the post-war order the extent of the United States global influence, the fate of Britains empire, and whether the Soviet Union would extend its territorial ambitions to eastern Europe. The seeds of the Cold War were sown while the bloody battles in Europe and the Pacific still raged.

Allies atWar is a fast-paced landmark history that focuses less on military events than on the politics and diplomacy that made military victory possible. Drawing on many new sources, Tim Bouverie tells the dramatic story through the eyes and voices of the key players politicians and diplomats, journalists and spies. And while the Big Three naturally take centre stage, we also meet the Free French, Chinese nationalists and Yugoslav partisans. Ambitious, compelling and controversial, Allies atWar offers a fresh perspective on the Second World War.