It began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. By the time it came to an end on V-J Day--August 14, 1945--it had involved every major power and become global in its reach. In the final accounting, it would turn out to be, in both human terms and material resources, the costliest war in history, taking the lives of forty million people. In this complete one-volume account of the war, Gilbert weaves together political, military, diplomatic, and civilian elements to provide a global perspective on the war, creating a work that is both a treasure trove of information and a dramatic narrative. One of Britain's most distinguished historians,Martin Gilbertwas knighted in 1995. A fellow of Merton College, Oxford, he is also the official biographer of Winston Churchill. Among his other books areThe Holocaust, Auschwitz and the Allies, The First World War, andThe Righteous, andNever Again. It began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. By the time it came to an end—on V-J Day, or August 14, 1945—it had involved every major power and become global in its reach. World War II would turn out to be, in both human terms and material resources, the costliest war in history, taking the lives of forty million people. In this far-reaching, widely acclaimed one-volume account, Sir Martin Gilbert weaves together political, military, diplomatic, and civilian elements to provide a global perspective on the war, creating a work that is both a treasure trove of information and a dramatic narrative. "In his transmission of the horror of the war, Gilbert has achieved something no historian but he could. There is indeed a relentless force about chronology when it is used as a tool by an historian of the status of Martin Gilbert."—John Keegan,The Sunday Telegraph "Gilbert's flowing narrative is spiced with anecdotal details culled from diaries, memoirs, and official documents. He is especially skillful at interweaving summaries of military strategy with vignettes of civilian suffering."—Newsweek "A magisterial work . . . Mr. Gilbert brings the strongest possible credentials to his history of World War II, and [shows] how the greatest war ever fought reached into every corner of the globe."—Herbert Mitgang,The New York Times "Brings the losses and the horrors of the war home to us more urgently than a more accented account might do."—Gordon A. Craig, The New York Times Book Review