Warlords: The Heart of Conflict 1939-1945 - Softcover

This work provides an illustration of how four powerful and flawed men decided the strategy for the greatest battles in history. During the Second World War, while their nations fought battles with weapons, the four great warlords of the twentieth century - Hitler, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt - fought a war of the mind. In a unique multi-theatre narrative, "Warlords" tells the remarkable story of this private war. At its heart was a series of psychological duels in which individual victory was won by deceit, charm, flattery and lies. By using their own words and the words of those who observed them at the time, the book unravels the psychology and tactics of the four wartime leaders and describes how their behaviour ranged from tempestuous and egotistic to downright monstrous. It reveals how their political motives, despite the rosy glow in which some are seen today, were always based on self-interest, and how these men were the epicentre of a seismic shift in world power from the age of European empires to the age of two ideologically opposed superpowers, with devastating consequences for hundreds of millions of people. ""Warlords" is a joy to read. It glides meticulously and compellingly between the four key players who decided the fate of our world, telling the story from a fresh point of view. The roots of almost everything that still shapes our world today are to be found in the chess game between Hitler, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt." - Gavin Esler. "Warlords" was a major Channel 4 series.