Potsdam

The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe

By: Michael Neiberg

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

After Germany's defeat in World War II, Europe lay in tatters. Millions of refugees were dispersed across the continent. Food and fuel were scarce. Britain was bankrupt while Germany had been reduced to rubble. In July 1945 Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin gathered in a quiet suburb of Berlin to negotiate a lasting peace - a peace that would finally put an end to the conflagration that had started in 1914, a peace under which Europe could be rebuilt.

Award-winning historian Michael Neiberg brings the turbulent Potsdam Conference to life, vividly capturing the delegates' personalities: Truman, trying to escape from the shadow of Franklin Roosevelt, who had died only months before; Churchill, bombastic and seemingly out of touch; Stalin, cunning and meticulous. For the first week, negotiations progressed relatively smoothly. But when the delegates took a recess for the British elections, Churchill was replaced - both as prime minster and as Britain's representative at the conference - in an unforeseen upset by Clement Attlee, a man Churchill disparagingly described as "a sheep in sheep's clothing". When the conference reconvened, the power dynamic had shifted dramatically, and the delegates struggled to find a new balance. Stalin took advantage of his strong position to demand control of Eastern Europe as recompense for the suffering experienced by the Soviet people and armies. The final resolutions of the Potsdam Conference, notably the division of Germany and the Soviet annexation of Poland, reflected the uneasy geopolitical equilibrium between East and West that would come to dominate the 20th century.

As Neiberg expertly shows, the delegates arrived at Potsdam determined to learn from the mistakes their predecessors made in the Treaty of Versailles. But riven by tensions and dramatic debates over how to end the most recent war, they only dimly understood that their discussions of peace were giving birth to a new global conflict.

©2015 Michael Neiberg (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Fascinating

Much is made of the big Allied conferences in WW2.

Potsdam is very well written and researched. Totally worth the time.

The narration is also quite good.

An excellent choice if......

If you are a modern history buff who enjoys all the details of world changing events then this is a book for you. Expertly compiled and very well narrated.

Fascinating and informative

This book brings together many details to give a credible account of Potsdam and its participants and the aftermath. Really appreciated the comparisons to the Versailles treaty.

very relevant

I enjoyed this book and the lessons it has for us diplomacy today. One wonders how things might have been different.

potsdam

if you want to study the history of the post world war II this is the book that I would recommend listening to or reading whichever is your preferred method it says optional