A Critical Analysis of The Conquerors by Michael Beschloss - Book Report/Review Example

Michael Beschloss. The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler’s Germany 1941-1945. USA. Simon & Schuster. November, 2002. The Conquerors- A Critical Summary and Analysis World War II brought along wide spread destruction involving a number of countries. The gory details of the war, the machineries used, the countries involved, the large scale destructions, the dates of all the significant events, and everything related to war has been written in minute details. But as yet we were not presented with any behind the curtain story of the political agenda that passed between the political leaders of the world. Michael Beschloss, the historian, looks behind the action scenes on the puppeteers that pulled the right ropes of the bodies in power to turn around the direction of the war. With a vast amount of research that took him almost 11 years to complete, Beschloss tells us the story of political interventions that resulted in the stableness of the current Germany. The conquerors records the strategies of two great American presidents- Franklin Roosevelt and later Harry Truman in his shoes who turned around and influenced the important leaders of the world to offer moderate punishments to the Germans so as to dissolve all types of long term bitterness and discontentment in them. According to Dwight D. Eisenhower quoted at the beginning of the book, "The success of this occupation can only be judged fifty years from now. If the Germans at that time have a stable, prosperous democracy, then we shall have succeeded." Hence, we see that the policies adopted by FDR were indeed right in the long run as they were able to ward off all forms of further global dissatisfactions. Beschloss puts to light a number of incidents that encompassed Washington DC to the officers of Hitler. With a spreading of interesting facts and details, Beschloss manages to charm his readers with a non- fiction tale in an interesting manner where the principle characters happened to be the most recognized names in the World history. Beschloss is tedious in his job and fills in all the parts that were missing in the various tales written about WWII, so that the readers can get a complete and complex picture of the entire thing and clear much of the misconceptions associated with the war. Here we find Franklin and Harry Truman fighting in private with Stalin and Churchill on the best possible treatment being given out to Germany so that the oppressions would stop once and for all and that no new dissatisfaction would erupt in the distant future to spoil the harmony of the world. The book explores the knowledge that Roosevelt had but concealed about Hitler’s war raging against the Jews. Roosevelt seemed almost reluctant to interfere with the Germans and only took an action when he was condemned as an associate in the “murder of the Jews” by his close friend, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr. Morgenthau was troubled by what he had learnt about Nazis and the Holocaust. Therefore, he took the help of the allies to draw a secret blue print that would help destroy the German factories and mines thereby crippling it. FDR backed majority of plans passed by Morgenthau and also persuaded Churchill to go along with them. However, these plans were leaked out to the press in 1944 by the Secretary of War, Henry Stimson and Secretary of State, Cordell Hull. Roosevelt and Churchill were denounced by Joseph Goebbels (a propagandist of Hitler) as creating a “Jewish Murder plan.” The Conquerors reveals new facts about FDR’ secret illnesses and the way they affected his leadership. FDR was terribly ill but he concealed these facts from others for fear of losing his political control. FDR continued to argue and stand for his stance even in 1945 at FDR’s final dinner party over post war Germany. Finally it reveals to us the political tactics about the newly appointed President Truman, who managed to persuade Churchill and Stalin to agree on a bargain which would allow the Anglo-Americans to close all forms of threats arising from Soviet Union against Western Europe. This would also help in driving away any future threats of another Hitler emerging from the soils of Germany. The writer invested a lot of energy in unearthing all the available resources regarding the politics that went around WWII. He used a wide variety of means and sources to tab on all the conversations and thoughts that were out of record till now. Michael Beschloss took the help of secret audio recordings, letters, and private diaries, recently opened British, Soviet and American documents, oral histories and previously classified government texts to give his work a strong base work. There is a long list of bibliography to back up all his statements. Yet, these facts are not delivered to the readers in uninteresting flat tones, but the writer has given a strong voice and made the setting as interesting as possible while telling the tale of a troubled period in the history of the World. Beschloss calls his book, “The Conquerors” because it is a tale of conqueror of two American leaders, FDR and Truman who with their high political skills and their great persuasive power managed to cool down the rising tensions surrounding the allies and paved the way for a peaceful world. FDR and later Truman in his shoes believed that in the event that the world leaders meted out harsher punishments to the Germans, the punishment could backfire and result in the eruption of another Hitler like personality. There was also the danger of the formation of Communism with the association of the Russians. Both of these events were most undesirable for a peaceful world environment, and so taking the right stance were a necessity and the demand of the day. It was due to the efforts of FDR that German finally faced the consequences of its actions. However, it was also FDR who first realized the danger of giving severe punishment to the Germans. With the death of FDR, Truman came into power. While Truman was still unprepared to carry on the responsibilities of bringing on peace in the world, he was able to pick up the bits and pieces left behind by FDR and did a magnificent job of convincing the World leaders towards his point of view. Had FDR been alive he would not have been able to convince others to his point because of his continuous illness, however, his death bought sympathy for Truman and together with his stronger persuasive powers he was able to get the desired results. Criticism of Writer’s Style The writer has portrayed Morgan as an important character in the American cabinet, but few people have had any notions of his importance before the release of the book. The thoughts of President Truman are dealt with in some detail ranging from chapter 20 to 22. These thoughts are probably fictitious and only mean to elevate the president in the eyes of the readers. At few places (like the Orson Welles Radio Show) the Americans are projected as a gullible species. We are also given a few accounts where Hitler has been on the target of his own generals. Not all of these accounts can be true in any way. But, on the whole the book is very well written and Beschloss has given us a well researched and beautifully penned book of records about the events surroundings WWII. Read More