Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed The World, 1940-41
by Ian Kershaw
History, like math, was a subject you either loathed or were just OK with in grade school and high school; few kids ever really seem to love history. A lot of dates to remember and the introduction of foreign history can be daunting even for the kids who are not consciously xenophobic yet. Of all of the major American history subjects (the Civil War, the first World War, and WWII), I had the easiest time absorbing WWII. Unlike the first World War and the Civil War, WWII had modern warfare (damn near everything under the sun in terms of air, ground, and sea battle), one specific form of evil (Hitler), and it had direct social and societal implications on every continent except South America (except, of course, if Hitler really had his way as he planned on using South America as a springboard to attack the US). In short, World War II is the most significant stretch of six years the human race has ever seen or been active participants in. WWII, like every other war before it, also allows a license to ask a lot of questions about decisions that were made. What were the forces behind some of the most important decisions, not only to affect the outcomes of WWII but to affect the world in general? What led up to Japan deciding to bomb Pearl Harbor? Why did Hitler make the now infamous decision to invade Russia? Why did Stalin so blatantly ignore all warning signs and intelligence of a German invasion? What took FDR, and the US in general, so long in finally taking the baby steps to helping out the British? What if Britain settled with Germany early on? What if Hitler had waited much longer to declare war on the US? What if Hitler had postponed the invasion of the Soviet Union? In Fateful Choices, Ian Kershaw attempts to get at the heart of the most significant what if’s of the war while it was still in its nascent stages. According to Kershaw, these are the ten decisions that changed the world as listed in chronological order in the book:
Decision 1: The British War Cabinet, driven by Churchill, agrees to fight on after the German blitzkrieg defeat of France, despite loud calls for negotiated settlement.
Decision 2: Hitler decides to attack the Soviet Union.
Decision 3: Japan decides to seize the “Golden Opportunity” and turn south, going after the colonial empires of the countries that have fallen to Hitler.
Decision 4: Mussolini decides to join the war on Hitler’s side to grab a share of the spoils.
Decision 5: Roosevelt decides to lend a helping hand to England.
Decision 6: Stalin decides he knows best and ignores all the clear signals that Germany is going to invade.
Decision 7: Roosevelt decides to wage undeclared war.
Decision 8: Japan decides to go to war against the United States.
Decision 9: Hitler decides to declare war on the United States.
Decision 10: Hitler decides to kill the Jews.
To be sure, a lot of this is already common knowledge to most people but Kershaw writes this book in a way that is very direct—he presents the decision, its back story, the events leading up to its execution, and finally, a summary of its importance and whether or not said decision could have been avoided. If anything, I thought, the book casts a more comprehensive light on Japan and the pre-war US. I had not fully realized the corner Japan had painted itself into leading up to their decision to attack Pearl Harbor (specifically, their inability to swiftly conquer China), nor that the US had stopped shipping all oil to Japan all the while FDR thought we were still shipping non-military grade oil the whole time. This was just one more thing that made Japan’s decision to attack us easier—Japan thought we had put a full embargo on them. The pre-war US looks even more fascinating now when you see just how carefully FDR had to tread the line of appeasing the public and Congress about events and strategies that everyone involved knew would ultimately result in war. Kershaw also does a good job rendering Stalin during the pre-war Soviet Union and the pure, uncontested power he wielded over his country. These are all things that Kershaw fits nicely in to forty page chapters rather than having to sift through books whose scope is much more specific and/or long-winded and, therefore, harder to read (unless, of course, you’re a novice or pro history buff).
This is ultimately Kershaw’s strength–summarizing important decisions that took place during WWII (before a full-fledged US involvement) while including a copious amount of endnotes and references without sacrificing the pictures he is trying to paint. Of all the decisions referenced in the book, it is the last decision that probably best shows Kershaw’s ability to provide a focused, summarized scope. Even the phrase “Hitler decides to kill the Jews” is still haunting yet, at the same time, seems like a daunting task to explain the forces behind the events leading up to that decision. It is well known that anti-Semitism was already reaching a boiling point in Germany before Hitler had taken the ranks of absolute power and that once the prospects of dumping the Jews somewhere in Russia were no longer feasible due to the reality that the Soviets weren’t going to cave in (and, just as important, the Russian winter was just starting) it was only a matter of time before something more horrific was ultimately decided upon. What the author pieces together here, though, is that even the highest circle Nazis were probably surprised by how Hitler’s plans were realized. Nowhere in the world and at no point in human history had a plan been put in to motion to exterminate a race of people; the ‘Final Solution’ was unlike anything that had ever happened. What may not be known is that this was all executed under total secrecy; there was no bureaucratic initiative like how we might imagine that took place and Kershaw does an excellent job decoding Hitler’s speeches and rendering what his ultimate goals were in this sense.
Kershaw’s afterthoughts are also adept in that he concedes that some events leading up to and during WWII would have been different if Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, Hitler, Tojo, Hirohito, or Mussolini were not involved (i.e.-would the Jews still have become victims of mass genocide if Joseph Goebbels were running the Reich?) but there was always some back history that would have ultimately set the trajectories along the same path. The players could have been different but the same choices would have most likely been the same. Japan believed it was their divine right to invade China and launch a preemptive strike against the US, whether because of an enhanced sense of chauvinism or because of desperation due to painting themselves into a resource quandary; Hitler (and therefore all of Germany) thought that declaring war on the US was inevitable so, to him, declaring it right after Pearl Harbor was a smart decision because he thought the US would be tied up in the Pacific anyway and unable to help Britain; and so on. Events, most of them deeply rooted since WWI, were always churning in motion towards the ultimate decisions that were reached and it is impressive that someone has written a book narrowing them down the way Kershaw has done.
If you are already interested in WWII or how decisions from it changed the rest of the world, Fateful Decisions is a good companion piece amongst any other books you may have already read. Conversely, if you are looking for something that will read easier than most historical tomes this book also serves as a very good introduction to how WWII changed the world and how its decisions are still being felt in some residual way.
