Warlords

2006 · Book · Simon Berthon, Joanna Potts

“Monday, May 13, 1940. Hilter's Panzer divisions burst from the forests of the Ardennes, the wooded barrier which the French high command had considered impenetrable.”

While their nations fought countless battles in the field, these four great warlords of the twentieth century tried to outmaneuver and outwit each other in a different sort of battle that would determine the fate of Europe and the world. At the heart of this private war was a series of psychological duels in which they lied, schemed, charmed, flattered, and deceived to attain the ultimate victory. These duels signaled a seismic shift in world power, from the age of European empires to the age of two ideologically opposed superpowers. In Warlords, Simon Berthon and Joanna Potts have crafted a gripping narrative -- a unique combination of innovative style and thorough scholarship. Here is World War II seen through the eyes and minds of Hitler, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Structured along the lines of a cinematic thriller, rapidly intercutting between the four titans, the book reveals a blow-by-blow account of their individual efforts to outthink and outfight each other. At times chronicling events as they unfold day by day or even hour by hour, Warlords reveals unparalleled insights into parallel actions -- from Roosevelt and Churchill's complex yet crucial friendship to Hitler and Stalin's collaboration, betrayal, and backbiting. By using the words of the warlords and those who observed them at the time, the authors unravel the psychology of four wartime leaders facing history's greatest conflict. Moving from the White House and Whitehall to the Wolf's Lair and the Kremlin, Warlords examines the strengths and weaknesses of men locked in a confrontation with consequences for the entire world. - Jacket flap. by Simon Berthon, Joanna Potts