The Storm of War
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Narrated by:
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Christian Rodska
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By:
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Andrew Roberts
About this listen
‘Russian success has been somewhat aided by the strategy of Herr Hitler, of Corporal Hitler… Even military idiots find it difficult not to see some faults in his actions.’
–Winston Churchill (2 August 1944, in the wake of the complete destruction of the German Army Group Centre in Belorussia)
Here is one of the best-selling history titles of 2009. Examining the Second World War on every front, Andrew Roberts asks whether, with a different decision-making process and a different strategy, Hitler’s Axis might even have won.
Were those German generals who blamed everything on Hitler after the war correct, or were they merely scapegoating their former Führer once he was safely beyond defending himself? In researching this uniquely vivid history of the Second World War, Roberts has walked many of the key battlefield and wartime sites of Russia, France, Italy, Germany, and the Far East.
The book is full of illuminating sidelights on the principle actors that bring their characters and the ways in which they reached decisions into fresh focus.
Andrew Roberts’s Masters and Commanders was one of the most acclaimed, best-selling history books of 2008. His previous books include Salisbury: Victorian Titan (1999), which won the Wolfson History Prize and the James Stern Silver Pen Award for Non-Fiction, and Hitler and Churchill: Secrets of Leadership (2003), which coincided with a four-part BBC2 history series. He is one of Britain's most prominent journalists and broadcasters.
©2009 Andrew Roberts (P)2010 AudibleListeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Samuel W. Mitcham Jr.
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the strange and fascinating life of Erwin Rommel, from his days as a youth in Imperial Germany - when he had a child out of wedlock with an early girlfriend - through his lauded military exploits during World War I to his death by suicide during World War II, after he attempted a failed coup against Hitler. Rommel was a man of contradictions: a soldier who wrote a best-selling book about World War I, a commander who went from commanding Hitler's bodyguard to trying to kill him, and a serious military mind who was known for participating in practical jokes.
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Amazing Detail, Amazing Story!
- By Al888 on 05-19-19
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No Greater Ally
- The Untold Story of Poland’s Forces in World War II
- By: Kenneth K. Koskodan
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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There is a chapter of World War II history that remains largely untold: the story of the fourth largest Allied military of the war, and the only nation to have fought in the battles of Leningrad, Arnhem, Tobruk, and Normandy. This is the story of the Polish forces during the Second World War, the story of millions of young men and women who gave everything for freedom and in the final victory lost all. In a cruel twist of history, the monumental struggles of an entire nation have been largely forgotten, and even intentionally obscured. No Greater Ally redresses the balance,
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Polish pronunciation was crap
- By F. Jakubiec on 11-08-18
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America at War
- Concise Histories of U.S. Military Conflicts from Lexington to Afghanistan
- By: Terence T. Finn
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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War-organized violence against an enemy of the state-seems part and parcel of the American journey. Indeed, the United States was established by means of violence as ordinary citizens from New Hampshire to Georgia answered George Washington's call to arms. Since then, war has become a staple of American history. Counting the War for Independence, the United States has fought the armed forces of other nations at least twelve times, averaging a major conflict every twenty years.
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Remember the past
- By Mary on 12-13-23
By: Terence T. Finn
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World War One
- A Short History
- By: Norman Stone
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1914, a new kind of war came about, bringing with it a new kind of world. World War One began on horseback, with generals employing bayonet charges to gain ground, and ended with attacks resembling the Nazi blitzkriegs. The scale of devastation was unlike anything the world had seen before: 14 million combatants died, a further 20 million were wounded, and four empires were destroyed. Even the victors' empires were fatally damaged.
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Well told, well narrated; needs maps
- By Tad Davis on 09-23-09
By: Norman Stone
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Alone
- Britain, Churchill, and Dunkirk: Defeat into Victory
- By: Michael Korda
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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An epic of remarkable originality, Alone captures the heroism of World War II as movingly as any book in recent memory. Bringing to vivid life the world leaders, generals, and ordinary citizens who fought on both sides of the war, Michael Korda, the best-selling author of Clouds of Glory, chronicles the outbreak of hostilities, recalling as a prescient young boy the enveloping tension that defined pre-Blitz London, and then as a military historian the great events that would alter the course of the 20th century.
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Exceptional
- By Jean on 11-11-17
By: Michael Korda
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Firestorm
- Allied Airpower and the Destruction of Dresden
- By: Marshall De Bruhl
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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On February 13 and 14, 1945, three successive waves of British and U.S. aircraft rained down thousands of tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs on the largely undefended German city of Dresden. Night and day, Dresden was engulfed in a vast sea of flame, a firestorm that generated 1,500-degree temperatures and hurricane-force winds. Thousands suffocated in underground shelters where they had fled to escape the inferno above.
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slanted view of air attacks during war
- By Ed Yusis on 03-31-14
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When Britain Saved the West
- The Story of 1940
- By: Robin Prior
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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From the comfortable distance of seven decades, it is quite easy to view the victory of the Allies over Hitler's Germany as inevitable. But in 1940 Great Britain's defeat loomed perilously close, and no other nation stepped up to confront the Nazi threat. In this cogently argued book, Robin Prior delves into the documents of the time - war diaries, combat reports, Home Security's daily files, and much more - to uncover how Britain endured a year of menacing crises.
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Very detailed; a bit dry in spots
- By No on 09-07-15
By: Robin Prior
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A Frozen Hell
- The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940
- By: William R. Trotter
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1939, tiny Finland waged war - the kind of war that spawns legends - against the mighty Soviet Union, and yet, their epic struggle has been largely ignored. Guerrillas on skis, heroic single-handed attacks on tanks, unfathomable endurance, and the charismatic leadership of one of this century's true military geniuses - these are the elements of both the Finnish victory and a gripping tale of war.
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Causes and consequences of ruso-finish 1939 war
- By William R. Todd-Mancillas (Name includes hyphen and capitalized M). on 04-06-18
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Erwin Rommel
- The Life and Career of the Desert Fox
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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One of his biographers called him "a complex man: a born leader, a brilliant soldier, a devoted husband, a proud father; intelligent, instinctive, brave, compassionate, vain, egotistical, and arrogant." As that description suggests, every account of Erwin Rommel's life must address what appears to be its inherent contradictions.
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Rommel Review
- By EHDR Maintenence on 01-14-23
What listeners say about The Storm of War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Emad Khader
- 04-15-11
Incisive and clear
An excellent book. Looks at the big picture, yet is full of quotes that help explain the thinking of the main characters.
The author has undertaken an immense review of sources to find the quotes by the main political readers and the many generals on both sides. The context of the main decisions is now understood and somehow makes sense.
The narration by Christian Rodska is simply perfect. There must be a prize he should win.
Highly recommended.
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- Mikkel Lodahl
- 12-20-13
Comprehensively informative & convincingly argued
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I have already recommended this audiobook to several friends. I have done so because it is chock full of relevant information and analysis about one of the most formative events in contemporary history, and because it is narrated wonderfully.
What did you like best about this story?
Throughout the book this central argument bubbles beneath all of the stories and analysis: that nazi ideology and the inability of the German high command to override it was the deciding overall factor in the outcome of the war. While the narrative still gives plenty of room to descriptions of every single front in the war as well as many of the most famous people involved, it never looses sight of the overarching purpose of the book, which is to find documentation for the central argument. Still, you will find plenty of witness accounts not only from the top of the top, but often from people who have bled and suffered and died in this mind-boggingly massive conflict.
What about Christian Rodska’s performance did you like?
At first I had my doubts about Rodska's approach. He takes on an impressive amount of accents when reading the quotations from witnesses in the book, and what put me off was not this, but the characters he adopted when quoting the most famous people involved. His imitation of Churchill is quite good, but his Hitler seemed at first over the top. But as the narrative unfolded, it build the case that Hitler was primarily a domineering man of surprisingly little talent for such a prominent historical figure. As such the choice to voice him as an intense and dirty little man grows from being a charicature to actually illuminate the psyche of the despicable dictator.
All in all the characterisation in the quotations pays off enormously in making the very, very long text come alive with a variety that is probably harder to convey effectively in the written medium (although I have not read the book in print). So if you're having trouble with it initially, stay the course. If nothing else, the Churchill impression is a hoot.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Many moments, but let me mention two. An intellectual and an emotional.
First the intellectual moment: re-listening to the book I was startled when around the middle suddenly popped up a chapter on the Holocaust. As all the other chapters are arranged as analysis of the different fronts reviewed chronologically, this was structurally weird, since the chapter spanned the entire war. But then it dawned on me. Coming as it was halfway through, it sat beautifully as a reminder of why the seemingly indestructible nazi war machine collapsed: because of the cruel and inflexible nazi ideology epitomised in the horrors of the concentration camps and their meaningless and ressource demanding slaughter of civilians. Realising this structure was a moment of intellectual clarity that stayed with me, and made the review of the atrocities more bearable.
Then the emotional one. Soldiers marching back from the front in Russia, where the witness describing their march suddenly realises that they have no eyelids, because they have frozen off in the cold. This stark image of the scars of warfare suffered by the common soldier for a cause he has little influence on and reaps no benefit from sacrificing himself for has stayed with me ever since I first heard of it.
Any additional comments?
This is history at its finest - a faithful rendering of events that slowly build up evidence for an interpetration of the meaning of said events in a larger context. I cannot recommend this wonderful audiobook enough.
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- Kindle Customer
- 06-05-22
Epic Research
This is the third time I've listened to this narrative. One word - Great!
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Overall
- Martin
- 10-26-10
Strange tone
I should start by saying that I had only a limited knowledge of the history of the second world war. In that respect, this book serves its purpose in that it gives a pretty straight-forward chronological account of the entire war. It is a huge subject and, even with the long running time, it is no mean task to do justice to the material. I thought the narrator did a good job although let down a bit by being considerably better at some accents than others.
What I did find increasingly disconcerting about the book was its tone. There seemed to be a little bit too much relish taken in the details and the almost jokey approach taken at times jarred for me. I also found his analysis of Hitler a little strange. It felt like he found him far more worthy of censure for his poor military strategic capabilities than say little details like his organization of the genocide of the jews and other "untermenschen". I am sure this is not the case but the emphasis seemed wrongly placed. In general, once the narrative strayed beyond reasonably cold and hard facts, I was not always convinced by it. For example, if an opinion was given on a debatable area, this was usually done by simply being emphatic, e.g. "of course this is nonsense", without actually giving any support for this opinion.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Scott
- 08-05-17
Amazing
Tremendous book, and amazing performance. I learned so much about the eastern front of WWII that I hadn't known, and about campaigns in Asia. A thoroughly accessible, comprehensive history of World War II. Cannot recommend highly enough.
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- jonathan xavier
- 12-21-19
I absolutely enjoyed every moment of this book.
I absolutely enjoyed every moment of this book. this cannot happen ever again ... humanity can be very cruel given the chance.
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- John
- 06-28-10
Things I had never known!
I am a 67 yr old history buff. I have read many WWII histories, but none as complete as the Storm of War. I especially enjoyed the indepth coverage of "the Easten Front". No one has ever covered it better. Plus, the reader does a fantastic job. He is able to hold your interest through out. Very well done & 5 Stars is my honest vote. War history buffs should not miss this one. John
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Marius Fourie
- 06-21-10
An absolute pleasure!!
Im not basing my 5 star review on content but rather on narration. This is a very well written run-through of WWII touching on all the important points and offering well thought out opinions. What makes it a stand-out is the narration of Christian Rodska. With brilliant pacing, amusing accents and command of the difficult European, Japanese and Russian names, he makes this 28 hour fact-fest a pleasure to listen to.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- A. Anderson
- 09-01-10
Comprehensive and well read
This is an exceptionally well rehearsed and expansive overview of WWII, albeit with an extreme bias in coverage towards the European operations. Very well presented and easy to listen to, with a great performance by the narrator.
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- chadharwood
- 08-26-10
Great Book & Great Narrator
A lot of new stuff I had never heard before--the author has very interesting perspectives on everything you thought you knew about WWII.
The narrator is great. Not only does he do a great Churchill impression, but his dry British wit comes through quite well.
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