“The Second World War” is a historical book written by Nobel Prize winning British author and ex-prime minister Sir Winston Churchill. It describes the time between the conclusion of World War I to the month of July in 1945. Churchill had planned this novel immediately after he assumed office in the year 1940. He declared that he intended to write a history of the war which had just begun and leave the judgment-making to the people who read it. He wrote numerous letters and accessed numerous official records just to keep them for future reference when the war would be over. In fact, when the book started appearing in markets for sale, numerous historians questioned why Churchill had access to official documents when they weren’t permitted to have it. The fact that Churchill wasn’t an academic historian, but a politician, helped him write this novel and cover all the facts within it. His personal knowledge also had a huge part to play because it was unrivalled by even the best of historians at that time.
The book’s fame spread like wild fire and the United States and the United Kingdom witnessed numerous sales the moment it was released. It made Churchill a rich man overnight and people had no doubt that the book was completely accurate. However, the six volume book had its own flaws which were noticed only after Churchill’s death.
Some of the problems caused by the book had to be faced by the British government even after Churchill passed away. He wasn’t supposed to reveal the wartime military secrets which included sensitive issues like the planning of the atomic bomb or information about the code breakers at Bletchley Park. He had also mentioned personal disputes with numerous political leaders of the world like Charles de Gaulle, Tito and Dwight Eisenhower.
There are many things however, that students can learn from this all time classic. It was an account of the Second World War from one of the most leading participants and not from a detached historian.
