Customer Reviews
Nice collection of counter-factual scenarios - By: Tim Bowler, 06 Oct 2006 
It used to be that historians looked down upon anybody who dared to write a 'what if' scenario for the public. They thought this was a mere parlour game; the domain of journalists & other hacks who'd failed (in their eyes) to become 'proper' academic scholars.
Now of course the boot is on the other foot, & such counter-factual writings (to give their posh title) or 'what ifs' are very muchin vogue.
Third Reich Victorious is nice romp through World War 2 (mainly the European theatre of operations) with separate chapters on a whole range of battles & campaigns, & how things might have turned out differently. What I liked about this book is that the scenarios were not too outlandish, & the authors stuck to what would have been within the range of possibilities - much better than, say, giving Nazi Germany super-weaponsin 1941 & watching them stomp all over Europe.
Some chapters are stronger than others, but the nice thing is that they are essentially short. The authors generally limit themselves to a particular battle or campaign -- & assess from there what might have resulted. Naturally with these musings, the further you go from the point of departure from real history, the harder it is to work out what might have happened. This is why these collections by Greenhill work so well. In my opinion, when these scenarios are written out at book-length, they tend to drag a littlein comparison.
If you like alternative history, then this is for you
Superb piece of what-if - By: B. Taylor, 20 May 2003 If you have an interestin the Second World War than this book is a must. It has a number of scenarios where various battles & campaigns that germany did badly in, went well for them. For example, what if Hitler had beenin the German navyin WW1? For WW2, he might have realised that the key to making Britain keep out of the war was to cripple the Royal Navy.
Or what if Hitler had made sure to keep all the German nuclear physicists that fled for Britain & the US? Might he have developed the atom bomb before he was defeated & used it on London & Moscow?
What makes the book effective is that each scenario is written as if it were a history book & that is what happened. It never uses the words 'what if' - it pretends that the scenario is what happened. Only at the end does it say what really happened & how.
A brilliant bookin my opinion & a must-read for anyone with an interestin WW2
An interesting book of how Germany won the war - By: , 22 Apr 2002 
Imagine opening a history book, & rather than reading about the victories of Montgomery & the allies, you learn that Hitler won. This is how this book works. Each chapter tells a different storyin a historical syle.
So you learn how German pilots won the Battle of Britain. In a way it's very dramatic & brings home to you how close we came to losing.
Of course, as with all "fake history" there's the issue of could this really happen. Example: if Hitler had joined the navyin WW1, would he really have won WW2?
As long as you don't take this too seriously it's a fascinating read, & at times quite gripping.
