Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini and Hitler – How War Made Them, And How They Made War

The Strategists

'Entirely fresh, brilliantly insightful and utterly compelling ' James Holland 
 
Churchill. Hitler. Stalin. Mussolini. Roosevelt. Five of the most impactful leaders of WW2, each with their own individualistic and idiosyncratic approach to warfare. But if we want to understand their military strategy, we must first understand the strategist. 
 
In THE STRATEGISTS, Professor Phillips Payson O'Brien shows how the views these five leaders forged in WW1 are crucial to understanding how they fought WW2. For example, Churchill's experiences of facing the German Army in France in 1916 made him unwilling to send masses of British soldiers back there in the 1940s, while Hitler's mistakes on the Eastern Front were influenced by his reluctance to accept that conditions had changed since his own time fighting. 
 
The implications of the power of leaders remain with us to this day: to truly understand what is happening in Ukraine, for example, requires us to know what has influenced the leaders involved. 
 
This is a history in which leaders – and their choices – matter. For better or worse.

Phillips Payson O’Brien is one of our finest historical thinkers. The Strategists shows him at the height of his powers: a book full of deep perception, convincingly challenging many entrenched views and examining these five leaders that so shaped the modern world in an entirely fresh, brilliantly insightful and utterly compelling way. Everyone with an interest in not just the Second World War, but the twentieth century and beyond, should read this without delay.

The Strategists matches a remarkably wide-ranging expertise with an eye for telling detail and a lucid style. It is full of fascinating insights about the use and misuse of power: global, national and individual.

Professor Daniel Todman, author of Britain's War

A worthy addition [to bookshelves] . . . compelling

O’Brien’s fluid prose makes for enchanting reading; there’s never a dull moment.... For military history buffs, this is a must-read.

This book’s most important argument is that the western allies were proved decisively right in viewing the Second World War as an oceanic struggle...it is entirely right for each generation of historians — and O’Brien is two decades younger than me — to think anew about everything.

O'Brien is seeking to do something more useful than rehashing all the old stories. He is trying to set the Second World War in deeper historical context by drawing out connections with the First World War . . . The Strategists reminds us that humans matter too.

A colourful and compelling read . . . with anecdotes that help the protagonists spring to life.

Thanks to the engaging nature of the subjects—and Mr. O’Brien’s care not to go too far down rabbit holes about weaponry, gulags, local politics and psychology—the narrative moves briskly. By linking decisions to identifiable personality traits, “The Strategists” provides insight into the minds of titans who vied for Europe’s destiny.

Phillips Payson O’Brien is Professor of Strategic Studies at St Andrews. He is the author of How the War Was Won: Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II and The Second Most Powerful Man in the World: The Life of Admiral William D. Leahy, Roosevelt's Chief of Staff. He has written for The Atlantic, The Spectator and Foreign Affairs, and has a combined following of over 200k on Twitter and Substack. This is his first trade book.

In THE STRATEGISTS, Professor Phillips Payson O'Brien shows how the views these five leaders forged in WW1 are crucial to understanding how they fought WW2. For example, Churchill's experiences of facing the German Army in France in 1916 made him unwilling to send masses of British soldiers back there in the 1940s, while Hitler's mistakes on the Eastern Front were influenced by his reluctance to accept that conditions had changed since his own time fighting. The implications of the power of leaders remain with us to this day: to truly understand what is happening in Ukraine, for example, requires us to know what has influenced the leaders involved. 
 
This is a history in which leaders – and their choices – matter. For better or worse.

Phillips Payson O'Brien

Phillips O’Brien is the rare historian who has something trenchant to say to students of contemporary warfare. As he points out in this important book, the character of war evolves, but some of the underlying truths, particularly from the second World War, are still very much with us

Eliot Cohen, Professor Emeritus at Johns Hopkins SAIS

Phillips O'Brien is one of the keenest observers of modern strategy, and his new book takes a deep historical look at the evolution of warfare and its implications for conflicts like the ongoing one in Ukraine

Francis Fukuyama, author of The End of History and the Last Man

Paul Krugman, Distinguished Professor of Economics

Phillips O'Brien is always fantastic. Heterodox. He's pretty scathing, even about Biden administration policy . . . A really interesting book

Excellent . . . timely and sobering . . . a powerful read, and meticulously researched. O’Brien throughout the book deftly debunks the notion of the rational ‘grand strategy’ and received notions of the ‘art’ of warfare

Who Wins Wars — and Why

War and power are two of the most-widely discussed issues in all of human history, and yet they are, time and again, misunderstood — often disastrously so. 
 
Whilst we might think the outcome of war is determined by so-called ‘Great Powers’ who dominate their opponents with their impressive size and military prowess, the reality of modern conflict, as renowned strategic historian Professor Phillips Payson O’Brien demonstrates, is very different. He urges us instead to look for ‘Full Spectrum Powers’. 
 
For if we are considering how powerful a nation is and who will win a war, we need to think less about weapons, and more about the economies and societies that produce them; less about individual battles, and more about sustaining campaigns and alliances in which states operate. 
 
Using fascinating examples from the late 19th century to the present day, War and Power explains how misunderstanding war and power has led to terrible, even preventable conflicts – such as the war in Ukraine – and how more accurate analysis can help us consider the potential conflict between the US and China. 
 
War and Power provides a bold new way of understanding the dangerous world around us.

Phillips Payson O'Brien

Praise for War and Power

Phillips O’Brien is the rare historian who has something trenchant to say to students of contemporary warfare. As he points out in this important book, the character of war evolves, but some of the und ...

Phillips O'Brien is one of the keenest observers of modern strategy, and his new book takes a deep historical look at the evolution of warfare and its implications for conflicts like the ongoing one in Ukrain ...

A really interesting book

Phillips O’Brien is the rare historian who has something trenchant to say to students of contemporary warfare. As he points out in this important book, the character of war evolves, but some of the und ...

Phillips O'Brien is one of the keenest observers of modern strategy, and his new book takes a deep historical look at the evolution of warfare and its implications for conflicts like the ongoing one in Ukrain ...

A really interesting book

Phillips O’Brien is the rare historian who has something trenchant to say to students of contemporary warfare. As he points out in this important book, the character of war evolves, but some of the und ...

Phillips O'Brien is one of the keenest observers of modern strategy, and his new book takes a deep historical look at the evolution of warfare and its implications for conflicts like the ongoing one in Ukrain ...

A really interesting book

Books by Phillips Payson O'Brien

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter