Synopses & Reviews
The Mediterranean theater in World War II has long been overlooked by historians who believe it was little more than a string of small-scale battles--sideshows that were of minor importance in a war whose outcome was decided in the clashes of mammoth tank armies in northern Europe. But in this ground-breaking new book, one of our finest military historians argues that the Mediterranean was World War II's pivotal theater.
Douglas Porch examines the Mediterranean as an integrated arena, one in which events in Syria and Suez influenced the survival of Gibraltar. Without a Mediterranean alternative, the Western Allies would probably have committed to a premature cross-Channel invasion in 1943 that might well have cost them the war.
Brilliantly argued, with vivid portraits of Churchill, Montgomery, FDR, Rommel, and Mussolini, this original, accessible, and compelling account of a little-known theater emphasizes the importance of the Mediterranean in the ultimate Allied victory in Europe in World War II.
Douglas Porch is a military historian whose many books include The Conquest of Morocco, The French Foreign Legion, The French Secret Services: From the Dreyfus Affair to the Gulf War, and The Path to Victory: The Mediterranean Theater in World War II. He is a professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Winner of an Award for Excellence in U.S. Army History Writing from the Army Historical Foundation
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title
The Mediterranean theater in World War II has long been overlooked by those who believe it was little more than a string of small-scale battlessideshows that were of minor importance in a war whose outcome was decided in the clashes of mammoth tank armies in northern Europe. But in this groundbreaking new book, one of our finest military historians argues that the Mediterranean was, in fact, World War II's pivotal theater.
In The Path to Victory, Porch examines the Mediterranean as an integrated arena, one in which events in Syria and Suez influenced the survival of Gibraltar. Churchill's controversial decision in 1940 to contest the Axis in the Mediterranean, followed by Roosevelt's insistence two years later that his service chiefs undergo a Mediterranean initiation, laid the foundation for Allied victory in Europe. Although conventional wisdom argues that Hitler could not have won World War II in the Mediterranean, Porch believes that the Allies might well have lost had they not elected to fight there. Decisions made in this theater matured the Western Alliance, seriously damaged and dispersed the formidable Axis military machine, and forged the combined Anglo-American effort that was to be unstoppable when transferred to Northern Europe in June 1944.
The Middle Sea constituted a strategic piece of a global war: it was a passage that linked far-flung theaters; protected scarce Allied shipping; became an essential conduit for lend-lease aid to the USSR; offered France a testing ground for its rehabilitation as a military power; and provided an entry point into southern Germany for two Allied armies. Without a Mediterranean alternative, the Western Allies would probably have committed to a premature cross-Channel invasion in 1943 that might well have cost them the war.
Brilliantly argued, and with vivid portraits of Churchill, Montgomery, FDR, Rommel, and Mussolini, this original, accessible, and compelling account of a little-known theater emphasizes the importance of the Mediterranean in the ultimate Allied victory in Europe during World War II. "The Path to Victory is a well-written stand-alone study of World War II in the Mediterranean theatre . . . [Porch's] command of his source material [is] first-rate . . . Working on a topic as well as Porch does, and showing how the theatre was highly integrated, is the strong point of this book."Jack Greene, International Journal of Maritime History
"Substantial, authoritative, and beautifully written . . . The best account of the Mediterranean campaign that we are ever likely to see."Michael Howard, The Times Literary Supplement
"A panoramic study . . . Porch writes with flair and urgency . . . [This is] engaging reading."Christopher N. Koontz, U.S. Army Center of Military History, Military History of the West
"A supple and absorbing analytical account . . . No other treatment of the subject approaches Porchs narrative and thematic sweep, his eye for telling detail, and his forcefully expresses judgments . . . A monumental work and a major contribution to our understanding of World War II."John Whiteclay Chambers II, The Washington Post Book World
“Porch's stout history of the Mediterranean campaign in World War II justifies its size by its coverage: all the way from the outbreak of the war in Europe to the beginning of the cold war . . . Porch writes clearly and accessibly, and the volume's many maps are good. Porch's thesis is that the campaign was neither strategically bad nor a waste of resources, whether in North Africa, Italy, or southern France. It knocked Italy out of the war, kept Spain and Turkey neutral, encouraged Balkan resistance, engaged large German forces, and mitigated against a premature attack across the English Channel. Many logistical and tactical difficulties arose from the terraindesert to the south, mountains to the northand the reputations of many distinguished generals don't go untarnished in Porch's pages. Finally, Porch rescues the inevitable role of and the serious fighting by the French from the oblivion to which Anglo-American historiography has relegated them. For WWII studies, essential."Booklist
"An illuminating study of the southern front in WWII Europe, an operational theater that many historians have dismissed as a sideshow. So, too, did political and military leaders of the time, writes Porch. Hitler, for one, was reluctant to commit German troops to a 'South Plan,' which conflicted with his planned invasion of Russia but was necessary to shore up a flagging Italian ally: 'Like the American generals whom he would later confront,' writes Porch, 'Hitler realized that once assets were committed to a peripheral theater, it would become difficult to extract them for other purposes.' Yet, the author argues, the Mediterranean was anything but peripheralit was instead 'the pivotal theater, a requirement for Allied success.' Dominance there allowed the Allies access to the Suez Canal and, more important, Middle Eastern oil, a resource in constant shortage in Germany after 1942; Hitler's failure to recruit Arab and Persian allies in his war against the Jews was a fatal error. Other errors emerged as the theater became ever more hotly contested: Italy's hitching its wagon to Germany's star was one such mistake, and its army's poor structure'the average Italian infantry battalion in North Africa had one, or at most two, regular officers' and was made up of illiterate peasants, 'poor material from which to fashion a modern army'was another. But so, too, was Bernard Montgomery's failure to capture Erwin Rommel (who, Porch notes, was never highly regarded by the Afrika Korps soldiers he commanded) after the Battle of El Alamein; as Porch remarks, 'even the British official history calls Rommel's retreat at the head of almost 70,000 beaten troops "remarkable."' Errors aside, the Allied victory in North Africa, and then in Italy, was the key to defeating Hitler, even though, Porch writes, 'that victory was achieved at a considerable political price.' Porch's analysis is sharp and to the point, and his skill as a storyteller will please readers of narrative history."Kirkus Reviews
"Most writing on the Mediterranean theater in WWII addresses specific campaigns: the desert war, the battle for Tunisia, the long struggle for Italy. A professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, Porch brings the entire story together, integrating land, sea and air operations from the first shots of 1940 to Germany's final collapse in 1945. His sweeping narrative incorporates encyclopedic mastery of a massive body of source material, and is written in a style that holds attention from first page to last. Porch argues that rather than being the sideshow or strategic dead-end it is portrayed as in most literature, the Mediterranean was the pivotal theater of WWII in Europe. Geographically, the Mediterranean provided a focal point for the U.S., Britain and a still-powerful French Empire to come together and attack a critical Axis flank by sea. In policy terms, the Mediterranean gave the Anglo-American alliance an opportunity to coalesce, under conditions where the consequences of failure and disagreement were less than catastrophic. Strategically, once Britain pounced on the Axis decision to open a theater in the Mediterranean, British victories encouraged Hitler's decision to attack the Soviet Union. The collapse of Italy forced a westward reorientation of German strategic priorities, absorbing resources previously available for Russia. Operationally, the Mediterranean offered no major opportunities for the Wehrmacht's lethal combination of air power and mechanized forces; a military system configured for the offensive found itself from the autumn of 1942 fighting a series of high-cost defensive battles. On the other side, campaigning in the Mediterranean gave the Western allies time and opportunity to master modern war at all levels. The Italian campaign, so frequently used to illustrate the alleged futility of the Mediterranean, produced less than half the casualties of the operations in Northwest Europe while lasting twice as long. In paradigm-shifting terms, Porch's terrific book asks what the odds of success would have been had D-Day been mounted without the Mediterranean campaigns under the Allies' belt, with unproven leaders, untested troops and immature weapons systems."Publishers Weekly
Review
Praise for
The Path to Victory:
"Substantial, authoritative and beautifully written...[An] elegance of presentation rests on a mastery of technical detail... The best account of the Mediterranean campaign that we are ever likely to see."--Michael Howard, Times Literary Supplement
"Porch's stout history of the Mediterranean campaign in World War II justifies its size by its coverage. . . Porch writes clearly and accessibly. . . For WWII studies, essential." --Roland Green, Booklist
"[Porch's] sweeping narrative incorporates encyclopedic mastery of a massive body of source material, and is written in a style that holds attention from first page to last . . . [a] terrific book." --Publishers Weekly
"A thoughtful account of an important theater of military operations." --Library Journal (starred review)
"Illuminating . . . Porch's analysis is sharp and to the point, and his skills as a storyteller will please readers of narrative history." --Kirkus Reviews
"A supple and absorbing analytical account . . . unlike many traditional accounts, Porch's narrative goes far beyond the armies and the ground war . . . No other treatment of the subject approaches Porch's narrative and thematic sweep, his eye for telling detail and his forcefully expressed judgments...A monumental work and a major contribution to our understanding of World War II."--John Whiteclay Chambers III, The Washington Post Book World
Synopsis
The Mediterranean theater in World War II has long been overlooked by historians who believe it was little more than a string of small-scale battles--sideshows that were of minor importance in a war whose outcome was decided in the clashes of mammoth tank armies in northern Europe. But in this ground-breaking new book, one of our finest military historians argues that the Mediterranean was World War II's pivotal theater.
Douglas Porch examines the Mediterranean as an integrated arena, one in which events in Syria and Suez influenced the survival of Gibraltar. Without a Mediterranean alternative, the Western Allies would probably have committed to a premature cross-Channel invasion in 1943 that might well have cost them the war.
Brilliantly argued, with vivid portraits of Churchill, Montgomery, FDR, Rommel, and Mussolini, this original, accessible, and compelling account of a little-known theater emphasizes the importance of the Mediterranean in the ultimate Allied victory in Europe in World War II.
Synopsis
Brilliantly argued, with vivid portraits of Churchill, Montgomery, FDR, Rommel, and Mussolini, this original, accessible, and compelling account of a little-known theater emphasizes the importance of the Mediterranean in the ultimate Allied victory in Europe in World War II.
The Mediterranean theater in World War II has long been overlooked by historians who believe it was little more than a string of small-scale battles--sideshows that were of minor importance in a war whose outcome was decided in the clashes of mammoth tank armies in northern Europe. But in this ground-breaking new book, one of our finest military historians argues that the Mediterranean was World War II's pivotal theater.
Douglas Porch's The Path to Victory examines the Mediterranean as an integrated arena, one in which events in Syria and Suez influenced the survival of Gibraltar. Without a Mediterranean alternative, the Western Allies would probably have committed to a premature cross-Channel invasion in 1943 that might well have cost them the war.
Synopsis
The Mediterranean theater in World War II has long been overlooked by historians who believe it was little more than a string of small-scale battles--sideshows that were of minor importance in a war whose outcome was decided in the clashes of mammoth tank armies in northern Europe. But in this ground-breaking new book, one of our finest military historians argues that the Mediterranean was World War II's pivotal theater.
Douglas Porch examines the Mediterranean as an integrated arena, one in which events in Syria and Suez influenced the survival of Gibraltar. Without a Mediterranean alternative, the Western Allies would probably have committed to a premature cross-Channel invasion in 1943 that might well have cost them the war.
Brilliantly argued, with vivid portraits of Churchill, Montgomery, FDR, Rommel, and Mussolini, this original, accessible, and compelling account of a little-known theater emphasizes the importance of the Mediterranean in the ultimate Allied victory in Europe in World War II.
Douglas Porch is a military historian whose many books include The Conquest of Morocco, The French Foreign Legion, The French Secret Services: From the Dreyfus Affair to the Gulf War, and The Path to Victory: The Mediterranean Theater in World War II. He is a professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Winner of an Award for Excellence in U.S. Army History Writing from the Army Historical Foundation
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title
The Mediterranean theater in World War II has long been overlooked by those who believe it was little more than a string of small-scale battles--sideshows that were of minor importance in a war whose outcome was decided in the clashes of mammoth tank armies in northern Europe. But in this groundbreaking new book, one of our finest military historians argues that the Mediterranean was, in fact, World War II's pivotal theater.
In The Path to Victory, Porch examines the Mediterranean as an integrated arena, one in which events in Syria and Suez influenced the survival of Gibraltar. Churchill's controversial decision in 1940 to contest the Axis in the Mediterranean, followed by Roosevelt's insistence two years later that his service chiefs undergo a Mediterranean initiation, laid the foundation for Allied victory in Europe. Although conventional wisdom argues that Hitler could not have won World War II in the Mediterranean, Porch believes that the Allies might well have lost had they not elected to fight there. Decisions made in this theater matured the Western Alliance, seriously damaged and dispersed the formidable Axis military machine, and forged the combined Anglo-American effort that was to be unstoppable when transferred to Northern Europe in June 1944.
The Middle Sea constituted a strategic piece of a global war: it was a passage that linked far-flung theaters; protected scarce Allied shipping; became an essential conduit for lend-lease aid to the USSR; offered France a testing ground for its rehabilitation as a military power; and provided an entry point into southern Germany for two Allied armies. Without a Mediterranean alternative, the Western Allies would probably have committed to a premature cross-Channel invasion in 1943 that might well have cost them the war.
Brilliantly argued, and with vivid portraits of Churchill, Montgomery, FDR, Rommel, and Mussolini, this original, accessible, and compelling account of a little-known theater emphasizes the importance of the Mediterranean in the ultimate Allied victory in Europe during World War II. The Path to Victory is a well-written stand-alone study of World War II in the Mediterranean theatre . . . Porch's] command of his source material is] first-rate . . . Working on a topic as well as Porch does, and showing how the theatre was highly integrated, is the strong point of this book.--Jack Greene, International Journal of Maritime History
Substantial, authoritative, and beautifully written . . . The best account of the Mediterranean campaign that we are ever likely to see.--Michael Howard, The Times Literary Supplement
A panoramic study . . . Porch writes with flair and urgency . . . This is] engaging reading.--Christopher N. Koontz, U.S. Army Center of Military History, Military History of the West
A supple and absorbing analytical account . . . No other treatment of the subject approaches Porch's narrative and thematic sweep, his eye for telling detail, and his forcefully expresses judgments . . . A monumental work and a major contribution to our understanding of World War II.--John Whiteclay Chambers II, The Washington Post Book World
Porch's stout history of the Mediterranean campaign in World War II justifies its size by its coverage: all the way from the outbreak of the war in Europe to the beginning of the cold war . . . Porch writes clearly and accessibly, and the volume's many maps are good. Porch's thesis is that the campaign was neither strategically bad nor a waste of resources, whether in North Africa, Italy, or southern France. It knocked Italy out of the war, kept Spain and Turkey neutral, encouraged Balkan resistance, engaged large German forces, and mitigated against a premature attack across the English Channel. Many logistical and tactical difficulties arose from the terrain--desert to the south, mountains to the north--and the reputations of many distinguished generals don't go untarnished in Porch's pages. Finally, Porch rescues the inevitable role of and the serious fighting by the French from the oblivion to which Anglo-American historiography has relegated them. For WWII studies, essential.--Booklist
An illuminating study of the southern front in WWII Europe, an operational theater that many historians have dismissed as a sideshow. So, too, did political and military leaders of the time, writes Porch. Hitler, for one, was reluctant to c
About the Author
Douglas Porch is a military historian and the author of
The Conquest of Morocco and
The Conquest of the Sahara (FSG, 2005). He is a professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.