Collins Atlas of World War II

by John Keegan

A stunning visual account of the greatest conflict in world history. The Second World War is the largest event in the history of mankind. No populated continent was untouched by its operations, and the political structure of the postwar world has been largely determined by its outcome. The global nature of the war, and the ambitions of the belligerents, meant that it was fought on a scale that, even today, confounds the imagination. It was a stimulus to unparalleled economic activity and provoked the most important clash of ideologies experienced by the world since the Crusades. The Collins Atlas of World War II furthers our understanding of the war that forever changed our world. The scale and scope of the war is examined here in graphic form, with maps that trace the military campaigns as well as the social and political developments. Authoritative text addresses the issues and events leading to war and all of the clashes and challenges during wartime. For anyone with an interest in the history, society, politics, warfare, and culture of the world, the Collins Atlas of World War II is a perfect companion.

Genres: History, World War II, Reference, Nonfiction, Military History, Atlases, Military Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 1989

About the author

Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan, OBE, FRSL was a British military historian, lecturer and journalist. He published many works on the nature of combat between the 14th and 21st centuries concerning land, air, maritime and intelligence warfare as well as the psychology of battle.

Reviews

[Lars Wachsmuth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr umfangreiche und detaillierte Darstellung in Karten, Skizzen und Diagrammen. Zusätzlich gibt es erläuternde Texte, die den jeweiligen Schauplatz bzw. Aspekt näher erläutern. Einen Punkt ziehe ich für die mitunter etwas ungewöhnliche Übersetzung, teilweise auch von Ortsnamen, ab.

[Mark Singer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and well-illustrated historical atlas on World War II by British historian John Keegan. This was required reading for a course on the war at Temple University in the Fall of 2011 and I would recommend it to anyone interested in that subject.

[John Matthew IV · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of maps about the Second World War. The text by John Keegan was illuminating.

p. 85: "The Battle of Stalingrad may have cost the Germans as many as 1.5 million men killed, wounded, missing, and prisoner, nearly a quarter of their strength on the eastern front."

p. 105: "Kursk marked the end of the major German initiatives in the east. From now on, Germany and her allies would be on the defensive here, as everywhere else. At the end of the counteroffensive on 27 August, the Soviets were poised to moved into the Ukraine."

p. 121: "Bombing did not bring the war to an end on its own as some of the bombing strategists had hoped. Yet the impact on Germany was considerable."

p. 162: Dietl: "Hitler's favorite general"

p. 173: "It was not until the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1975 that frontiers in Europe were finally recognized by both factions, and accepted as inviolable."

p. 185: "The Second World War, at its apogee, was truly an American war."

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful full color maps, covers all of the major battles in the second world war.
An enjoyable read for any grognard, or world war two history buff.
Favorite quote in the book, "Its one thing to dream over a map, its another to fight the actual battle."
(Could have added an order of battle listing separately from the maps.)

[Kris McCracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-presented overview of the range of fronts across the key periods of the war. Caution for anyone looking for detail of the Japan-Chinese element, or the Winter War (and subsequent Continuation War) on the Soviet-Finnish border, you'll not find it here!

[Marduk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and detailed maps accompanied with text, giving a very good overview of the various and complex developments of wwii. Personally I'd have preferred more focus on general understanding of the strategic situations than the occasionally dry detailing of the individual movements of units, but with a few exceptions, it was possible to follow these if one paid good attention to the maps while reading.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was incredibly informative regarding just about all of the important historical points of WW2. Highly recommend for anyone with an interest in history or geography.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to use and somewhat lacking in both context and details, with glaringly generalized portions (the Battle of Leyte Gulf comes to mind) that lead the reader to form incorrect conclusions.