Book Review: How Hitler Could Have Won World War Two By Bevin Alexander March 18, 2009
Posted by knightofrook in Battle, Book Review, Strategy, World War II, military, war.Tags: adolf hitler, Bevin Alexander, book, Book Review, books, El Alamein, Erwin Rommel, history, Hitler, how hitler could have won world war II, military history, Strategy, war, warfare, World War II
1 comment so far
From the German conquest of France to Hitler’s suicide, Bevin Alexander takes the reader through the second world war in Europe to paint a strikingly clear picture characteristic of his writings. “How Hitler Could Have Won World War Two” goes through the important military decisions made through the war, showing missed opportunities and strategic blunders that brought the thousand year Reich to a premature close. In spite of the fact that people enjoy the thought that Hitler’s defeat was inevitable, Mr. Alexander shows in this work that Hitler very well could have – and almost did win the war.
Personally I thought the book to be a very good one. It goes well beyond ‘what if’ history and shows exactly how just a few changes could have won Hitler the war. As a military strategist/historian wannabe it sheds an interesting light on the war, showing how a nation can bring about its own destruction. As a Christian the book is much more meaningful.
Although Mr. Alexander makes no reference to God in his book it is impossible to separate the amazing Providences of God from any historical narrative. To read the book from this perspective leads me to one conclusion that we all should thank God for: it was only His divine intervention that saved the world from a ‘thousand year Reich’. If Hitler had only listened to some of his top commanders the world would be very different today. The battle of El Alamein is the most amazing and obvious providence of all. Alexander shows how in this battle Erwin Rommel very nearly changed the course of history in spite of Hitler’s blunders, but was thwarted by a simple mistake and a few hours.
This book is absolutly a worth while read, and I recommend it to anyone interested in the second world war. It will change your perspective of the war.
Book Review: How Wars are Won by Bevin Alexander July 16, 2008
Posted by knightofrook in Battle, Book Review, Strategy.Tags: Bevin Alexander, Book Review, military, Strategy, tactics, war
4 comments
As we head into the twenty first century, wars will be fought with new weapons, in new ways, with new tactics, but the same principals that have governed warfare throughout history will still apply. “How Wars are Won: The 13 Rules of War from Ancient Greece to the War on Terror”, by Bevin Alexander is a tremendous book, showing plainly how the same strategies or “rules” used in past wars can still be applied to modern warfare.
Mr. Alexander breaks down war into thirteen clearly defined ‘rules’ that have been, and will continue to be methods for solving specific problems, instead of general rules to be used in all situations. The rules are as follows:
“Striking at Enemy Weakness”
“Defend, Then Attack”
“Holding One Place, Striking Another”
“Feigned Retreat”
“The Central Position”
“Employing a Superior Weapon”
“Driving a Stake in the Enemy’s Heart”
“Blocking an Enemy’s Retreat”
“Landing an Overwhelming Blow”
“Stroke at a Weak Spot”
“Caldron Battles”
“Uproar East, Attack West”
“Maneuvers on the Rear”
Mr. Alexander devotes a chapter to each of these rules, explaining how they work, and giving examples of battles that were either brilliantly won, or terribly lost by either the use of the rule, or the failure to do so. Mr. Alexander does not however, give a short synopsis of the battle, he examines the battle fully, how it was fought, the events leading up to it, the commanders, and some of the aftermath that resulted from the particular battle.
The book is tremendously well researched, and Mr. Alexander explains his point with a level of clarity that no one can misunderstand. “How Wars are Won” brilliantly applies how the methods used by previous commanders are still perfectly valid in modern warfare.
“The purpose of this book is to elucidate these key rules of war, identifying along the way those that are likely to be most relevant in future combat. Although conditions, arms, and the ways soldiers fight have varied greatly over the millennia, the problems commanders face and the solutions they reach are fundamentally identical. The method Alexander the Great employed to defeat the Indian king Porus in 326 B.C. is the same method a company of soldiers can use to win a firefight today.” –from the Introduction, can be found here
From Alexander, to Napoleon, to Macarthur, this book is a must read for all who are interested in strategy, or military history. The only fault I find with it is that there are a few evolutionary references, but these are few, and are not a main point. Click here to see book overview at Bevin Alexander.com
