The new concern of historians of the Second World War are research in his collection of essays. New controversies over the importance of intelligence activities, and over the importance of historical accidents have arisen. The reasons for the Axis defeat are a fresh topic of debate. Was the balance of economic power so over helping in the favor of the USSR, Great Britain, and the United States that their victory was inevitable? Should we be asking why the Allies did not win sooner? How importance was the air offensive over Germany? How vital was the North African Theater of war? Early Pro war plans, variably but sometimes surprisingly prescient, are described. The Eminently Interpretable military thinker Clausewitz and the political uses Hitler had for his ideas; Roosevelt's politics; American support for Britain in 1940; and the compromises of everyday life in occupied Europe are among the topics probed in his this volume. The impact of air power on naval strategy, British naval morale, convoys and U-boats are the subjects of a section on the war at sea.