This work explores humankind’s need for ownership, wealth and dominance which can lead to war, and a nationalistic approach with national identity based on the corporate memory and the clash of morality and ethical systems. It explores pacifism and political reality and outlines the modern era of war. The book explores how war starts and whether it can be justified, examines conduct in war, and how such conflict can be resolved in the postwar period. It portrays the arguments by referring to many historical incidents. The book concludes with the legal and moral arguments relating to war, and an examination of contemporary tensions in North Korea and Taiwan, and the war in the Ukraine. The book aims to be a concise and clear study of war, of interest to students and researchers in moral philosophy, as well as conflict studies and peace studies.

Italian history is not widely read but the period under Mussolini's shadow is both interesting and relevant to understanding the wheeling and dealings of the 1930s and into WWII. Through sheer nepotism Galeazzo Ciano married Mussolini's daughter and became Italy's Foreign Secretary, the youngest in Europe and at first scorned at home and abroad. There are many salacious stories of their open marriage and promiscuity, but the focus is Ciano's political life as a man regarded as second only to Mussolini. Through his diary and diplomatic papers, access is gained to the European diplomatic squabbles of the 1930s. The study of Ciano provides insights into Hitler and his leading henchmen, especially Ribbentrop and Goering, as well as the Spanish dictator Franco. Most importantly the figure of Mussolini is exposed in both his professional and somewhat dubious private life. The book explores the question of the Italian Fascist attitudes towards the Jewish population, the Vatican, and the monarchy. The Nazis at first courted him but soon realised he saw them for what they were, and he proved incapable of containing either his criticisms or the growing threat against him. Ciano finally turned against Mussolini only to find after his master's downfall that he had left himself encircled by personal enemies. His flight to Germany initiated his descent into personal chaos, leading to his trial and execution in Italy seemingly supported by his father-in-law. Perhaps the strangest twist in the personal story is the way his wife Edda turned to support him after years of an open and promiscuous marriage. There was considerable German and international interest in his diaries and diplomatic papers because of their revealing insights. He has been described as egotistical and arrogant, clever, perceptive, corrupt and a man with potential. Many despised him, but historically he was an interesting personality who above all left historians with some incisive observations of the critical years of 1935 to 1942.

Wars never run according to plan, perhaps never more so than during the Italian campaign, 1943-45, where necessary coordination between the different armies added additional complexity to Allied plans. Errors in the strategies, tactics, the coalition tensions, and operations at campaign command level can be clearly seen in first-hand accounts of the period. This new account examines the Italian campaign, from Sicily to surrender in 1945, exploring the strategy, intentions, motives, plans, and deeds. It then offers a detailed insight into the five commanders who led the battles in Italy - the two British commanders: Montgomery and Alexander; two American: Patton and Clark; and the leading German commander, Field Marshal Kesselring. Their personal notes and accounts, taken alongside archival material, provides some surprising conclusions - Montgomery was not quite the master of war he is portrayed as; Patton had serious flaws, exposed by wasting men's lives to save a relative and overlooking the shooting of prisoners of war; Clark lost lives to bolster his image; Alexander the gentleman was far too vague to be effective as a senior leader. Meanwhile, condemned war criminal Kesselring appears to be the most efficient and also, like Alexander, one of the most popular leaders.

A revealing yet accessible examination of the Nuremberg trial, and most crucially all 23 men who stood accused, not just the most infamous-Speer, Hess, and Goering. This account sets the scene by explaining the procedures, the legal context, and the moments of hypocrisy in the Allies' prosecution-ignoring the fact that the Katyn massacre was a Soviet crime and overlooking carpet bombing. Author Andrew Sangster discusses how the word "Holocaust" was not used until long after the trial, probably due to Russian objection as they had lost many more people, and because the Allies generally were not innocent of anti-Semitism themselves, especially Russia and Vichy France. However, the defendants to a person immediately recognised that this was the singular issue which placed them on the steps of the gallows, and their various defences on this charge are therefore crucial to understanding the trial. Sangster also explores how the prisoners related to one another in their approach to defending themselves on the charge of genocide and extermination camps, especially in facing the bully-boy Goering. This new study utilises not only the trial manuscripts, but the pre-trial interrogations, the views of the psychiatrists and psychologists, and the often-overheard conversations between prisoners-who did not know their guards spoke German-to give the fullest exploration of the defendants, their state of mind, and their attitudes towards the Third Reich, Hitler and each other as they faced judgement by the victors of the war.

General Hasting Ismay, invariably referred to as Pug', was one of the most intriguing, yet less well known, leading military characters of his era. This overdue biography describes how an officer who fought tribesmen in India and Dervishes in North-East Africa, thereby playing no significant role in The Great War, found himself as Winston Churchill's Chief of Staff throughout the Second World War. In this hugely influential position, he eased the often fraught relationship between a determined and obstinate Prime Minister and his top military advisors. His tact and diplomacy were tested to their limits oiling the wheels with our American allies, both political and military, even those with Anglophobic tendencies. Based in 10 Downing Street, Pug accompanied Churchill on his overseas visits and to the major conferences. Post-war Ismay assisted Mountbatten in the partitioning of the Indian sub-continent before becoming the first NATO Secretary General, a measure of the high regard the United States and other nations held him in. Despite the influence he wielded during and after the Second World War, Ismay remains a mysterious figure who somehow managed to maintain the trust of those with whom he worked and dealt with under the most testing and stressful conditions. This insightful biography is a most welcome and valuable addition to the history of the period.

Lord Alanbrooke was Churchill's right-hand man during World War II, and as Chief of the Imperial General Staff he had an integral part in shaping the strategy of Britain and the Allies. Despite this crucial role, he is very little known compared to military commanders such as Montgomery, Alexander, Slim, Mountbatten, Patton, or Eisenhower. This new biography of Lord Alanbrooke uses archival material and his diaries to trace his life, including his experiences in World War I and the development of his military career in the interwar years, with a focus on his post as the Chief of the Imperial General Staff during World War II. Voted the greatest Briton of the 20th century, Churchill has long been credited with almost single-handedly leading his country to victory in World War II. However without Brooke, a skilled tactician, at his side the outcome might well have been disastrous. Brooke more often than not served as a brake on some of Churchill's more impetuous ideas. However, while Brooke's diaries reveal his fury with some of Churchill's decisions, they also reveal his respect and admiration for the wartime prime minister. In return Churchill must surely have considered Brooke one of his most difficult subordinates but later wrote that he was "fearless, formidable, articulate, and in the end convincing". As CIGS, Brooke was integral to coordination between the Allied forces, and so had to wrestle with the cultural strategy clash between the British and Americans. Comments in his diaries offer up his opinions of both his British and American military colleagues – his negative assessments of Mountbatten’s ability, and acerbic comments on the difficult character of de Gaulle and the weaknesses of Eisenhower. Conversely he was clearly over-indulgent in the face of Montgomery's foibles. Brooke was often seen as a stern and humourless figure, but a study of his private life reveals an little-seen lighter side, a lifelong passion for birdwatching, and abiding love for his family. The two tragedies that befell his immediate family were a critical influence on his life. Sangster completes this new biography with a survey of the way various historians have assessed Brooke, explaining how he has lapsed into seeming obscurity in the years since his crucial part in the Allied victory in World War II.

There are some figures in modern history who stand out not just for their amoral conduct but their cruelty. This book explores the life of the notorious Beria, Stalin's henchman. The first part provides an outline of the turbulent history of Russia from 1900 to 1953, in order to set the background from which Beria emerged. The second section presents a biography of Beria from his youth, his early education, and his obsequious behaviour towards Stalin to his rise to be the head of the NKVD (KGB) and later to be amongst the most senior leaders of the Communist structure in the USSR. He was responsible for the deaths of millions (and for organising the Katyn massacre), infamous for murdering colleagues, and a sexual predator, and became the most feared man in the USSR next to Stalin. The third and fourth parts move away from history and biography to moral philosophy, in order to understand from where such evil conduct arises. The question of free-will is explored in the light of human insight, and these sections also discuss the most recent scientific claims concerning human behaviour, as well as the factors which influence people in decision making.

This book contains the biographies of Hitler's three henchmen, Goebbels, Himmler and Goering, the longest loyal servants of Hitler. It utilises both older biographies, because of their insights, and more recent scholarly publications, as well as diaries (such as those of Goebbels and Ciano).The volume illustrates that Goebbels' support was three-fold, in campaign managing, propaganda and myth-building. Himmler's terror apparatus supressed occupied Europe, and controlled Germans, ensuring that Hitler retained power. Goering's control of the economy and the Luftwaffe and his personal support of Hitler were critical as demonstrated by his trial at Nuremberg, but he was the weakest link from 1940 as he became virtually ineffectual. In addition, and new to this area of study, the book introduces the work of Stephen Roberts, an academic who actually met these men in 1936, and whose insights are revealing. The volume also examines the question of their mental stability in the light of psychopathic studies.