Why the Allies Won

By: Richard Overy

Published by W. W. Norton, Incorporated, 2026-05-12

The Allied victory in 1945 has since come to seem inevitable, but it was not. In 1942, Germany controlled almost the entire resources of continental Europe, Japan had wiped out the Western colonial presence in East Asia, the Soviet Union had lost its industrial heart, and the United States was not yet armed. In Why the Allies Won, Richard Overy gives us a powerful account of how the Allies established military superiority and what enabled them to do so. He brilliantly analyzes the decisive campaigns--Stalingrad and Kursk, the invasion of France, the air war over Europe--as well as underlying factors such as industrial strength, fighting ability, and leadership.