Evan Mawdsley – författare

Although the product of a self-proclaimed proletarian revolution, Soviet Russia was always dominated by an elite. Basing itself upon nearly two thousand people who served on the Communist Party's Central Committee from 1917 to 1991, this is the first book to study the elite that ruled the world's largest country throughout the entire period of Soviet rule. It is also the first to make full use of the rich sources available since the collapse of Communism. The authors profile the elite as a whole and looks more closely at fifteen individual members, identifying four elite generations. The book examines the evolving connection between Central Committee membership and administrative functions; the changing power and privileges of the elite and its relationship with the population; the Communist party and the top leaders; and the surprising extent to which the elite managed to maintain its position into the early years of post-communist Russia.

An account of twelve pivotal days in 1941, when a chain of interlinked events changed world historyIn far-flung locations around the globe, an unparalleled sequence of international events took place between December 1 and December 12, 1941. In this riveting book, historian Evan Mawdsley explores how the story unfolded. He demonstrates how these dramatic events marked a turning point not only in the course of World War II but also in the direction of the entire century.On Monday, December 1, 1941, the Japanese government made its final decision to attack Britain and America. In the following days, the Red Army launched a counterthrust in Moscow while the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and invaded Malaya. By December 12, Hitler had declared war on the United States, the collapse of British forces in Malaya had begun, and Hitler had secretly laid out his policy of genocide. Churchill was leaving London to meet Roosevelt as Anthony Eden arrived in Russia to discuss the postwar world with Stalin. Combined, these occurrences brought about a "new war," as Churchill put it, with Japan and America deeply involved and Russia resurgent. This book, a truly international history, examines the momentous happenings of December 1941 from a variety of perspectives. It shows that their significance is clearly understood only when they are viewed together.

A bold and authoritative maritime history of World War II which takes a fully international perspective and challenges our existing understandingCommand of the oceans was crucial to winning World War II. By the start of 1942 Nazi Germany had conquered mainland Europe, and Imperial Japan had overrun Southeast Asia and much of the Pacific. How could Britain and distant America prevail in what had become a “war of continents”?In this definitive account, Evan Mawdsley traces events at sea from the first U-boat operations in 1939 to the surrender of Japan. He argues that the Allied counterattack involved not just decisive sea battles, but a long struggle to control shipping arteries and move armies across the sea. Covering all the major actions in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as those in the narrow seas, this book interweaves for the first time the endeavors of the maritime forces of the British Empire, the United States, Germany, and Japan, as well as those of France, Italy, and Russia.

The gripping account of the U.S. Navy’s fast carrier force—and how its Central Pacific campaign in 1944 marked the achievement of American naval supremacy  Task Force 58 was World War II’s most powerful battle fleet. Made up in mid-1944 of sixteen aircraft carriers, over a thousand combat aircraft, and an armada of escorts, it was vital to victory over Japan.  In this compelling account, Evan Mawdsley charts the 3,500-mile dash of the “Big Blue Fleet” across the Central Pacific in the first six months of 1944, overwhelming enemy opposition and transforming the nature of naval warfare. The Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944 crushed the enemy’s naval air force and secured war-winning air bases in the Mariana Islands. Mawdsley examines the elements of the rapidly assembled force—ships, planes, and 100,000 officers and men—as well as the advanced bases and fleet train that provided such astounding mobility.  Task Force 58’s campaign marked the achievement of naval supremacy by the United States, a status it maintains to this day.

The gripping account of the U.S. Navy’s fast carrier force—and how its Central Pacific campaign in 1944 marked the achievement of American naval supremacy  Task Force 58 was World War II’s most powerful battle fleet. Made up in mid-1944 of sixteen aircraft carriers, over a thousand combat aircraft, and an armada of escorts, it was vital to victory over Japan.  In this compelling account, Evan Mawdsley charts the 3,500-mile dash of the “Big Blue Fleet” across the Central Pacific in the first six months of 1944, overwhelming enemy opposition and transforming the nature of naval warfare. The Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944 crushed the enemy’s naval air force and secured war-winning air bases in the Mariana Islands. Mawdsley examines the elements of the rapidly assembled force—ships, planes, and 100,000 officers and men—as well as the advanced bases and fleet train that provided such astounding mobility.  Task Force 58’s campaign marked the achievement of naval supremacy by the United States, a status it maintains to this day.

The military events of the Second World War have been the subject of historical debate from 1945 to the present. It mattered greatly who won, and fighting was the essential determinant of victory or defeat. In Volume 1 of The Cambridge History of the Second World War a team of twenty-five leading historians offer a comprehensive and authoritative new account of the war's military and strategic history. Part I examines the military cultures and strategic objectives of the eight major powers involved. Part II surveys the course of the war in its key theatres across the world, and assesses why one side or the other prevailed there. Part III considers, in a comparative way, key aspects of military activity, including planning, intelligence, and organisation of troops and matérial, as well as guerrilla fighting and treatment of prisoners of war.

This is a revised and updated edition of Evan Mawdsley's acclaimed global history of World War II. Beginning with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Evan Mawdsley shows how the war's origins lay in a conflict between the old international order and the new and traces its globalisation as it swept through Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The primary focus is on the war's military and strategic history, though also examines the political, economic, ideological and cultural factors which influenced the course of events. The war's consequences are examined too, not only in terms of the defeat of the Axis but also of the break-up of colonial empires and the beginning of the Cold War. Accessibly written and well-illustrated with maps and photographs, the book also includes insightful short studies of the figures, events and battles that shaped the war, as well as fully updated guides to further reading.

This is a revised and updated edition of Evan Mawdsley's acclaimed global history of World War II. Beginning with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Evan Mawdsley shows how the war's origins lay in a conflict between the old international order and the new and traces its globalisation as it swept through Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The primary focus is on the war's military and strategic history, though also examines the political, economic, ideological and cultural factors which influenced the course of events. The war's consequences are examined too, not only in terms of the defeat of the Axis but also of the break-up of colonial empires and the beginning of the Cold War. Accessibly written and well-illustrated with maps and photographs, the book also includes insightful short studies of the figures, events and battles that shaped the war, as well as fully updated guides to further reading.

Thunder in the East, originally published in 2005, is widely regarded as the best short history of the entire Nazi-Soviet military conflict. It tells the story from the pre-war expectations of Hitler and Stalin, through the pivotal battles deep in Russia in 1942-43, and on to the huge Soviet offensives across Eastern Europe in 1944-45. This final ‘march of liberation’ destroyed the Third Reich and set Europe’s history for the next 45 years. The book provides penetrating answers to vital questions: Why did the war in the East develop as it did? Why did Hitler’s Wehrmacht lose? Why did the Red Army win, and why did the people of Soviet Russia pay such a high price for victory?The first edition took advantage of the flood of new sources that followed the end of the Soviet era. This second edition takes account of what has been written over the last decade; the Nazi-Soviet war, in all its aspects, has continued to be the subject of extensive and innovative research and heated controversy.