Masters and Commanders

Masters and Commanders

Review by Dennis Showalter

Was the outcome of the Second World War ultimately structured by the interactions of four men and the decisions they brokered? This joint biography brings together President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and their respective army chiefs of staff, George Marshall and Alan Brooke, in a convincing account of the central process by which the Anglo-American alliance was cemented and its grand strategy formed.

The four principals met for the first time on June 21, 1942. Britain had been defeated wherever it had fought the Germans on land. The U.S. was pouring its available resources into the Pacific in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. In the next three years Britain and America cooperated in a historic turnaround: a North African counterattack, a campaign deep into the Mediterranean and a cross-channel invasion that took them into the heart of Germany. Strategic planning is usually considered a product of objective considerations: force structures, resources, geography and climate. Without denying their importance, Roberts puts these factors in a context of human interactions structured as much by personal character as by national interest.

Churchill and Roosevelt, Marshall and Brooke, were strong willed, tough minded, confident in their judgments. Roberts describes their ever-shifting relationships as a minuet. A kaleidoscope might be a better comparison. Each needed to persuade at least two of the other three to carry a point. When one got out of synchronization with the rest, he found himself marginalized and overruled. It happened to Marshall in the initial planning for a cross-channel invasion. It happened to Brooke over the broad-front strategy employed after D-Day, and to Churchill when he advocated capturing Vienna by invading Yugoslavia. Only Roosevelt escaped. He emerges from these pages as the ultimate arbiter among Churchill, Marshall and Brooke—and after a decade of managing the New Deal coalition, the President might be said to have enjoyed an unfair advantage.

Each man dominated his own sphere. Their disagreements were deep, often bitter. Brooke and Churchill in particular were as flint to steel. But the “masters and commanders” never dominated each other. Their decisions were reached in a climate of comprehensive stress that would have broken lesser individuals. Their interaction was nevertheless structured by debate, compromise and willingness to sacrifice personal ambition and conviction for the common good. Demonstrated throughout the book, it is nowhere better illustrated than in Roberts’ presentations of the respective sacrifices of Marshall and Brooke in forgoing their claims to command the D-Day invasion. Nor does Roberts overlook the successes of Churchill’s partners in curbing the “madcap schemes” that were occasional byproducts of the Prime Minister’s genius.

The effectiveness of democracies and coalitions in warmaking has been debated since Thucydides. This superlative presentation of the human element in high-level decision making offers compelling evidence that the process of debate at the highest levels, the speaking of minds without “fear or favour” was decisive not only to the outcome of World War II, but for the future shape of Europe and the world.

Hardcover: 720 pages

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers ( May 01, 2009 )

Item #: 32-5577

ISBN: 9780061228575

Product Dimensions: 6.0 x 9.0 x 1.69 inches

Product Weight: 32.0 ounces