Leadership and Responsibility in the second World War

Book excerpt: Leadership and Responsibility in the Second World War examines how well political, diplomatic, and military leaders, particularly in Great Britain, handled the daunting challenge of a worldwide conflagration. It seeks to determine if a connection can be delineated between leadership, responsibility, success, and failure - specifically if any connection can be found between reluctance to shoulder responsibility and failure to produce results. In doing so, the authors challenge widely accepted views on major wartime controversies, such as the role of Neville Chamberlain and his Conservative party at the outbreak of the war, the reasons the British failed to reach an alliance with the Soviet Union in 1939, and the motives that drove Claus von Stauffenberg to attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.