[Manach]

This year marks 75 years since the last global war ended in 1945. To mark the occasion, some resources to gain an insight into the events which is all the more important given the passing of the generation that fought in it.

For an eyewitness account of the last months of the war in Europe : The Last 100 Days by John Toland. It is dated, written in the 1960s, and so does not give a proper Russian perspective. But it gathers a good selection from command and common level soldiers.
As well there is the excellent, The Fall of Berlin by Anthony Beevor.

[tabbey]

For 75 years we have had relative peace in Europe. This did not occur by accident, but by continuous work in advancing European unity. Sadly this is now unravelling, courtesy of Farage, Johnson and their ilk in Italy, Hungary and some other states.

[riffmongous]

The Fall of Berlin is one of my all time favourite WW2 books.

I was also a fan of the 1945 eastern front episode of the Battlefield tv series from the 90s, if anyone remembers it? It's up on youtube now I think

[NIMAN]

Is that "Berlin", the Beevor book?

[riffmongous]

Originally Posted by NIMAN

Is that "Berlin", the Beevor book?

Yeah that's the one, it just has a few slightly different titles.

[donaghs]

Originally Posted by tabbey

For 75 years we have had relative peace in Europe. This did not occur by accident, but by continuous work in advancing European unity. Sadly this is now unravelling, courtesy of Farage, Johnson and their ilk in Italy, Hungary and some other states.

Did the Warsaw Pact help advance European Unity? The Cold War maintained the post-war consensus in Europe. The end of the Cold War did clearly unravel Yugoslavia, but I think you can still see the waves of disruption it caused as the world re-orients itself.

[Del.Monte]

If the EEC had remained that (EEC) instead of turning into 'The European Project' then the UK wouldn't have left and the peaceful block would have prospered.....dangerous day ahead.

[donaghs]

Originally Posted by Del.Monte

If the EEC had remained that (EEC) instead of turning into 'The European Project' then the UK wouldn't have left and the peaceful block would have prospered.....dangerous day ahead.

Yes the political class moved too fast ahead of where their populace wanted to go at that point time - I.e. from EEC to today’s EU

Max Hastings has a good book “Armageddon” on the last 6 months or so of WW2 in Europe.

[Peregrinus]

Originally Posted by Del.Monte

If the EEC had remained that (EEC) instead of turning into 'The European Project' then the UK wouldn't have left and the peaceful block would have prospered.....dangerous day ahead.

I dunno. The UK already had its noisy eurosceptics and was noted for having hissy fits and demanding special treatment even before the development of the Single Market and the transition to from EC to EU. In fact the UK was a major driver of at least the first of these developments, and has benefitted hugely from it. And the second development was pretty much necessary, if the first was to be subject to any kind of democratic control. It's not difficult to make the case that, but for these developments, matters might have come to a head sooner and the UK might have left earlier.

Originally Posted by donaghs

Yes the political class moved too fast ahead of where their populace wanted to go at that point time - I.e. from EEC to today’s EU.

Not a huge amount of evidence for this thesis, outside the UK.

[donaghs]

Originally Posted by Peregrinus

I dunno. The UK already had its noisy eurosceptics and was noted for having hissy fits and demanding special treatment even before the development of the Single Market and the transition to from EC to EU. In fact the UK was a major driver of at least the first of these developments, and has benefitted hugely from it. And the second development was pretty much necessary, if the first was to be subject to any kind of democratic control. It's not difficult to make the case that, but for these developments, matters might have come to a head sooner and the UK might have left earlier.


Not a huge amount of evidence for this thesis, outside the UK.

Getting off topic, but Denmark’s 1992 rejection of Maastricht signalled this new era for many people. You can see other example in referenda like the French and Dutch rejection of the EU constitution.

The Lisbon Treaty was off course the modified version of the constitution. No referenda were held to approve it, except in Ireland where it was a legal requirement. We voted No, then Yes in a 2nd referendum.

People love to frame things in black and white, but life is much about shades of grey. I’m not saying people are anti-EU, just uncomfortable with its direction.

[Manach]

This month sees the anniversity of Operation Varsity (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Varsity) the largest ever military parachute drop, across the Rhine. It is a featured article in this month's Military history magazine.

[ChrisJ84]

For an overview I really enjoyed both Antony Beevor's and Max Hastings single volume histories of WW2.

A recent read on the lead up to the war was "Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War" by Tim Bouverie, which was excellent - especially considering it is his first book. Definitely a young historian to watch.

Different medium, but James Holland and Al Murray's WW2 podcast "We Have Ways of Making You Talk" is also brilliant.

[Manach]

This week sees the end of War in Europe with the fall of Berlin.
A day by day account is present on https://www.wwiidogtags.com/ww2-history/.