Why Britain is at War

Apr 21, 2025 12:47 PM

Author:Harold Nicolson

"If we in Great Britain are resolute and wise there will emerge from this catastrophe something which may well give hope to the world"

First published in 1939 as a Penguin Special, this is the original best-selling account of why Britain went to war with Germany. In simple terms it describes the stages of Adolf Hitler's ruthless pursuit for power, identifies his methods of deception and false diplomacy, and details his terrifying use of force that rendered peaceful negotiation increasingly difficult, and finally impossible. Shining a light on Hitler's early life and character, Harold Nicolson reveals the dictator's political theories in Mein Kampf, and explains the strategies he adopted in seizing the Rhineland, Austria, Czechoslovakia and later Poland.

Written with clarity and insight, and read widely by soldiers during World War II, the final message of hope and peace is as relevant today as it was in 1939.

This facsimile edition includes a new introduction by Andrew Roberts, best-selling author of The Storm of War; Masters and Commanders and Hitler and Churchill: Secrets of Leadership.

Reviews

This is far more than an account of a historical event... War Without Fronts has far wider implications

—— Jonathan Mirsky , Literary Review

Professor Greiner, in this admirable translation by Anne Wyburd and Victoria Fern, scrupulously argued and carefully referenced, explains the failure of what is now known as the moral component of warfare, and therefore exactly how it was that the US lost

—— Allan Mallinson , The Times

A well-documented essay...an astonishing final section

—— Richard Gott , New Statesman

This comprehensive indictment of the Vietnam war was published first in Germany in 2007. One wonders how long it will be before a similar book can be written about the dehumanising effect on a new generation of American soldiers of the Iraq war, also fought against a guerrilla enemy in a foreign land

—— Conor O'Clery , Irish Times

Impressive study.

—— Contemporary Review

In light of Greiner's magisterial exposition, Apocalypse Now begins to resemble mundane documentary

—— Independent

A splendid and at the same time deeply distressing investigation; although Iraq isn't mentioned once, the terrifying relevance of the story is obvious... A brilliant account

—— Berliner Zeitung

An important, outstanding book

—— Die Zeit

'Nicholas Stargardt evokes the individual voices of children under Nazi rule. In re-creating their wartime experiences, he has produced a challenging new historical interpretation of the Second World War

—— History Today

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