If you want to read about higher strategy this is not the book for you. And If you want to learn about the Luftwaffe's failure to win the Battle of Stalingrad and then keep 6th army alive you'll have to look elsewhere. Where should you look? At Joel Hayward's definitive, excellent STOPPED AT STALINGRAD: THE LUFTWAFFE AND HITLER'S DEFEAT IN THE EAST. But if you want to learn about the suffering of ordinary ground troops on both sides THIS IS THE RIGHT BOOK! Read Hayward and Beevor together and you've got the whole picture. It a grim, miserable but poignant picture. Stalingrad is what happens when the poor recruits of two evil tyrants square off and are not allowed to retreat 'even one inch'.

Antony Beevor has written an important book because there is an appalling lack of knowledge in the Western World about what happened in the Soviet-German theater during World War II so anything that contributes to alleviating this problem is welcome. Therefore, I think the fact that a significant fraction of the book is devoted to describing what happened in the war before the German's began their offensive towards Stalingrad and the Caucasus is worthwhile.
I do agree with other reviewers who state that the actual fighting inside Stalingrad is not described adequately. Two legendary engagements within the city (the Battle of the Grain Elevator and "Pavlov's House") are just given a few lines each. A more detailed description of what the fighters on each side went through would have given a real taste of how the campaign has fought.
On the other hand, Beevor does make some important points that have have been glossed over in other accounts of the battle. First, unlike other writers, Beevor does not portray German Sixth Army commander Paulus as just a simple-minded lackey of [dictator] who led his men into disaster and then refused to try to save them after they were cut off inside the "Kessel". Beevor points out that the Sixth Army was in very poor condition at the time of Manstein's attempt to reach the Kessel and so it would not have been possible for the Sixth Army to punch through the Soviet ring. Similarly, he also points out that not all the Rumanian troops fighting on the side of the Germans were incompetant bunglers as they are often portrayed.
Beevor also makes clear that Goebbels' infamous "Total War" campaign, begun just at the time the Sixth Army surrendered, was a thinly disguised attempt to create another "stab-in-the back" legend (as in the 1918 armistice), i.e. to shift the blame for the disaster from [dictator] and the [German] leadership onto the traditional aristocracy and the Army high command which was an important component of the German (or really, Prussian) ruling elite.
Finally, Beevor makes clear that the German prisoners could not expect to receive treatment much better than that which they gave to the Soviet prisoners they had previously captured and who were starved and brutalized in the millions. This explains why half of the 91,000 prisoners taken died within 3 months and why only 5,000 survived to return to Germany in the 1950's.

This is certainly a fantastic book, but it is only one of three books you need if you want to understand the Battle of Stalingrad. You must also buy these two exceptional books:

A) Joel S. A. Hayward, "Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitlers Defeat in the East 1942-1943". This acclaimed book explains with an insightful and thorough way all of the German strategic decisions for the whole Stalingrad campaign, which went from June 1942 to March 1943. Serious scholars of Stalingrad MUST have Hayward's masterpice.

B) John Erickson, "The Road to Stalingrad: Stalin's War with Germany, Vol. 1". This equally acclaimed analysis explains the Soviet military and political decisions as well as all Soviet military operations, during the same period. It is also indispensible.

Now for what Beevor sets out to do (to portray the experiences and suffering of the sad conscripts on both sides who had to perform all the strategic moves that Hayward and Erickson explain) Beevor's book is a success. You may well feel as horrified as I did that the Soviet commanders were as ruthless with their own soldiers as the Nazis were with theirs. And the civilians caught in the middle suffered just as bad.

Some journalists and politicians have been recently saying that America 's war on Iraq or Afganistan could become another Stalingrad. What ignorant fools they are. If they only read Beevor's book they would know that no western nation, let alone the moderate America and United Kingdom, would maltreat their armed forces and force them to accept such high casualty rates. No way, Jose!

Get Beevor's book and the other two I mentioned and you have all bases covered in terms of understanding Stalingrad. These three are all great books.

More political history than battlefield history, Anthony Beevor's recount of the Spanish Civil War is a complex look at the proxy war that took place in Spain just before the outbreak of the Second World War. A large portion of this book is devoted to the politics inside Spain both before and during the conflict, and the struggles within both "sides," as the political realities of the mid- to late thirties in Spain forced some incompatible ideologies together, eventually leading to the demise of the Republican government.

The best thing about this book is that Beevor finds a way to break down the political struggle along three axes of conflict. While he often bounces back and forth from the battlefield to the political arenas while presenting mountains of complex information, he always finds a common thread and manages to pull all the facts presented back into the theme presented in a given chapter.

Beevor's sympathies seem to lie with the Anarchists, though it seems that this is more a result of the fact that the Communists and the Fascists had foreign support from governments which history shows were less than benevolent. The Anarchist cause is typically portrayed in a more sypathetic light than the Communists and Fascists, whose aspirations were more totalitarian than the anarchists, who (at least as they are presented in this book) simply wanted the right to govern themselves. To his credit, however, he does not spare any party in the description of the murderous brutality between all participants. He takes extra time to explain the propaganda battle (a very important aspect of the conflict), from the atrocities committed against the Church to the efforts of both sides to win victories based on propaganda, rather than military, goals.

Some of the political conundrums of Spain in the '30s are also presented. One of the most interesting is the plight of the Anarchists. They had a massive party capable of wielding immense power, but since they rejected the idea of elections, they were reduced to being bystanders in the political world. The compromises they made once the war started, as a result of the aggressive nature of the Communists (backed by the Stalinist USSR), and the backlash against the Communists near the end of the conflict, are a couple of the major underlying themes of this book. Beevor expalins it best when he says that "The Nationalists defended a common view of the past; the Republican coalition in contrast, had widely differing visions of the future."

This is a very infomative book, and the reader will take a lot of understanding away from it. I would, however recommend two things, the first of which is to read and bookark the list of political parties and organizations on pages 285 through 287, before reading the rest of the book. The second is to take the time to write down the names of important individuals. This will significantly ease the reader's efforts to remember the mass of information presented. While this book is roughly 285 pages long, it is a very long 285 pages, as previous reviewers have noted, and is not an easy read.

The Spanish Civil War, by Anthony Beevor, is a fairly detailed survey of the history of this occasionally confusing period. Beevor spends a few chapters giving much needed historical background. The detail is necessary but a little dry and perhaps exhaustive to read as an introduction. The social and economic history of Spain is dealt with in enough detail to put the civil war in context. After covering the events leading up to the war, the bulk of the book is devoted to a very detailed, more or less chronological history of the war itself.
The events leading the to defeat of the Spanish Republic are sometimes referred to as a civil war within a civil war. Much attention is paid to distinguishing the various factions and personalities on both sides of the war. The Carlists, the Falange, PUOM, the Communists, the anarchists, et al, are all dealt with in detail so the reader is never really confused about how their aims, and why they did what they did. Beevor also spends time discussing regional differences among various factions. Lots of attention is paid to how the Republican forces were consumed largely from within, and how the various Nationalist factions also suffered some degree of discord.. In the end, fractionalization of Republican forces, Soviet style purges, a Communist take-over and just plain bad military and political leadership led to their inevitable defeat.
Beevor is dispassionate in his treatment of both sides. There's no real moralizing: I saw no obvious agenda. Instead, he gives detailed descriptions of the agendas, excesses and strengths and weaknesses of all sides and factions.
Against all of this was the background of foreign intervention. Again, Beevor goes into detail about the German, Italian and Russian interventions, and the lessons learned (or not learned) by each. The book also covers the incredible failure of the European and American democracies to do anything stop the war, and the hypocrisy involved in all their policies vis-a-vis Spain and the treatment of the various factions.
Overall, this book is an excellent history of the war. The detail is thorough enough to make some parts a little slow to read. All sides are covered in detail, with no evident political agenda. Events are covered in extreme detail and all the factions are thoroughly explained. I would not call this the 'definitive' history of the war, but this is an excellent, detailed overview and a must read for anybody interested in this period.

This is a very good one volume history of the Spanish Civil War. Beevor begins with a nice precis of Spanish history leading up to the Spanish Civil War, covering both long term trends and a concise history of the specific events causing the War. The narrative of the war itself is excellent with a nice balance of broad description, discussion of specific events, and revealing anecdote. Beevor is careful to discuss the social and economic consequences of the war. There is very good analysis of the problems faced by the Republicans and their considerable internal struggles. This topic is ideologically charged but Beevor is evenhanded in his judgements, sparing neither the zealots of the right or the left. The description of the international aspects of the war and sources of aid for the combatants is enlightening. Most readers will know that the Nationalists received substantial and crucial aid from the Nazi and Italian Fascist governments but the Nationalists received also significant aid from a variety of other sources including British and American businesses, financial institutions, and even the Royal Navy. This book is written quite well. This book was written about 20 years ago and is published now because of the recent success of Beevor's book on Stalingrad. The Spanish Civil War is not dated and I believe that the quality of writing in superior to Beevor's Stalingrad book. For many years, the only one volume history generally available on this topic was Hugh Thomas' book with the same title. The Thomas book was a landmark and encyclopedic but rather dense. Beevor's is the best introduction to this important topic I have encountered. There are some deficiencies. The maps are adequate but could be improved. There is no map of Spain depicting the traditional regions, despite the fact that Beevor is referring constantly to the different regions. For readers unfamiliar with Spanish historical geography, this is a real defect. The bibliography is cursory, another real defect in an introductory work.

As important or pivotal the battle of Crete was, one thing that Anthony Beevor seems to have not grasped in his book is the very special part the Cretan character played in this battle.
The Cretans are a very particular "tribe", think of how special we consider the Sicilians or the Corsicans so an analogy is set (even though it wouldn't be accurate still).
The author becomes almost exhausting in his effort to provide a detailed account of dates, names, locations etc etc..Most of the time i caught myself confused about the locations he was was describing and i'm Greek and have travelled to Crete many times!! In all this complex descriptive network of data he gives us, the essence is really lost and you have the feeling that the book was written with "accountant logic". Shame because on that merit it's actually not bad, but the paradox is that you emerge not really being sure you've understood why this battle was so important.
Another thing that contributes to the uneveness of the book is in my opinion the fact that more weight is placed on the British army that there should have. Other historical accounts of the battle of Crete show that the local population was a deciding factor in the German failures there...
I was actually attracted to this book by another book of Beevor's: "The battle of Stalingrad" which happens to be a stunning book that lacks all the flaws that this one has. It could of course be that this is an author that has matured as he progressed along...

The great Anthony Beevor does it again with his detailed account of the seldom examined battle of Crete. Although it reads like a somewhat dry history book, the narrative tends to flow fairly well.

Beevor gives context to the story by discussing the strategic importance of the battle and giving a decent overview of the battles in the Balkans and Greece, as well as some idea of events in north Africa and elsewhere in the Mediterranean theater. From the broad strategic scope he "zooms in" to focus on several key sectors on the island itself as the battle unfolds: Maleme, Suda Bay, and Rethymno. He also adds a personal flavor to it by following the exploits of several individual officers and soldiers. Also, he provides an objective analysis of some critical tactical decisions which cost the British the battle.

To sum it all up, this book is a valuable addition to the library of anyone who fancies himself a student of WW2. No historian's perspective on the war would be complete without understanding what happened at Crete and why. Beevor's book offers a fine opportunity to get familiar with the subject on a reasonably detailed level.

This is the only book I've read to focus on the Battle of Crete. It was interesting and informative. For the historian, there is a lot of detail, such as disposition of units, resistance leaders' names and locations of operations, etc. For the casual reader, this detail does not bog the reader down, generally, and events are presented clearly. A certain amount of knowledge of the course of WWII is assumed, but I doubt someone unfamiliar with the course of the war would be interesting in this book anyways.

As mentioned in another review, it is a little dry at times, but this is not a large flaw. The main problem is the focus on the British and Commenwealth troops. Presumably they kept better records, but surely a few more anecdotes could have been presented regarding the plight of the common Cretan resistance fighter.

The invasion of Crete should be a fertile ground for all those "What if ...." alternate history authors. If the British had held the island, its long-range bombers (developed later in the war) would have had a base from where they could strike the Ploesti oil fields, and possible greatly affected the outcome of the war. Alternatively, a resounding German victory may have brought on an airborne invasion of England. As it turned out, the Germans won a victory, but destroyed their paratroops in the process. These issues add an interesting side-story to the drama, and Beevor introduces these ideas to put the battle in context. Oddly enough, he generally dismisses the idea that Crete's fate had a significant effect on the overall outcome of the war, but he has planted the seeds of doubt in my mind, at least.

All in all, it's an interesting book, well focussed on the battle and resistance on the isle of Crete.

Books that focus on what ordinary troops do have one flaw: they don't explain the strategies and directions that make the troops do what they do. This book suffers from that flaw. It also seems to try to replicate "Stalingrad"'s success through the same tactic: shock. I've got a bit sick of reading about death, depravity, inhumanity, cruelty, barbarism. We all know after rewading Beevor's "Stalingrad" that both Nazis and Soviet commies were led by monsters, and we know from the same book that ordinary soldiers were vengeful and savage in their own right.

Still, the book is so darned gripping that you'll probably read it in a few days because you won't want to put it down.

Antony Beevor took on quite the task with just one aspect of this terrible war, The battle of Berlin. In 1945 this epic was lived out in the lifes of desperate people.On the German side a Propaganda Ministry telling a fearful defeated people that to surender to the Russians means death, and rape. Sadly this was the truth for alot of the people of Berlin and eastern Europe. On the Russian side another madman Stalin giving his men no other option but to fight or be shot as a traitor.With the terrible things the Germans did in occupied Russia, and revenge on the Russian minds, they move into the capital of Nazi Germany hunting for Hitler and all his followers. What we have and brought out quite well is the finale battle to the death.

Wonderful insight on Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, Eisenhower, Montgomery, and Marshal Zhukov.
Beevors well thought out use of Soviet files reveals the terrible revenge mixed with unbelieveable stupidity and evil unleached on the German people and depth of man's evil in this world.

A few of the personal stories seemed forced into the page without really telling us anything, while some needed to go futher and he didn't. But some where even compelling. 4 1/2 stars

The Fall of Berlin 1945 is obviously about the last series of battles in World War II. It not only covers the final battle for the German capital, but it actually starts in January 1945. The Russians are sitting on the Vistula river, just outside Warsaw, and waiting to launch one of the final attacks that will finally collapse the Nazi regime. Beevor has done lots of research, and it shows. This is a completely compelling book. You do, however, have to have an interest in the subject and you should probably not be in a really bad mood when you read it. It is kind of a downer.

For the most part, Beevor concentrates on the Russian front as the Germans face off against the Soviet army. He does have a chapter or two about the other allies, but most of the time that he is talking about them, it is in relation to the Eastern Front and how some of the remaining Germans were trying to retreat to the American and British lines so that they could surrender and hopefully not get killed by the invading Soviet hordes. Beevor also details the Yalta conference and how Stalin completely hoodwinked Churchill and Roosevelt (Roosevelt himself was very ill at this time and certainly wasn't at his best) in regards to his intentions for Poland and for Berlin. Other than this, however, Beevor is completely devoted to action in Poland and in eastern Germany. This isn't surprising, as most of the action in this period of the war was centred here. Not to say there wasn't any fighting in the West, but once the Americans crossed the Rhine river, the Germans seemed more intent on making sure they didn't surrender to the Russians.

Beevor does a good job with the subject. He writes in an interesting manner that doesn't contain the dryness that is prevalent in some history texts. However, he does go deep enough into the subject that it's obviously not intended for light reading. This is a history book, and it certainly feels like one. It's not history-lite for somebody with just a mild interest in the subject. Not being a historian, I can't speak to the accuracy of the research, but he does have a lot of sources, all of which are detailed in the back. He uses archives, interviews, unpublished diaries (including three sources that he insists must remain anonymous, so presumably they are Russian), mostly primary sources. The notes, unfortunately, are in my least favourite format: instead of end or footnotes, the notes are listed by page number and then a brief snippet of a quote to state which section he is referencing. I find this incredibly annoying and hard to follow, so much so that I don't even bother after awhile.

The maps are outstanding as well. Unfortunately, they are all at the front of the book, so you do find yourself flipping back and forth a little bit. It would have been nice to have a couple of full strategic maps at the beginning of the book, but to have the tactical maps begin the section in which they are described. Still, the maps themselves are very well done and definitely worth the time it takes to look at them before reading about the specific operation. They detail every attack, even the attacks on the Western Front. Since the Western Front is not talked about very much, this shows how complete they are.

This is a truly powerful book, especially where Beevor describes the utter devastation that affected Poland and eastern Germany. Berlin was nothing but a pile of rubble with bombs going off everywhere and hardly any buildings without any bomb damage. I think it affected me even more because of the time I was reading it (i.e during the Iraq war). Here I was seeing so little (relatively speaking of course) city and civilian damage, and then I'm reading this book where cities were being bombed into oblivion. It was very disheartening. You certainly should not be reading this book if you're depressed. Beevor details the horrors of war, as German citizens flee from the onrushing Soviets, victorious soldiers rape and pillage to their hearts' content, and there is so much human suffering. Even the Polish and the captured Soviet troops were not spared any of this. It is truly amazing sometimes what the human race is capable of, and Beevor tells us all about it.

That is another small fault with this book, though. While I certainly understand the concentration on the devastation that was inflicted on the Germans, Beevor really seems to centre on the subject of rape. Time and time again he comes back to the subject, and it became a bit annoying after awhile. This is not necessarily because he kept coming back to it, but because every time he did come back to it, he'd go on for a couple of pages about it. It started to get monotonous. I realize that this happened, and that it shouldn't be white-washed, but after the first few times he could surely just briefly cover the fact that more rapes happened at this time. Either that, or he should have just had a chapter detailing the horrors that happened and then not really talked about them again.

Ultimately, though, this is a very worthy book, with just enough minor quibbles to bring it down to four stars. If you like military history, this is definitely the book for you. This period of World War II is not well-documented in book form, at least not that I've seen. Beevor does a great job of covering the subject and I think you'll like it. You certainly won't enjoy it, but you will find it compelling. And isn't that what a history book should be?

David Roy