'After the first forty days we were alone, with victorious Germany and Italy engaged in a mortal attack upon us, with Soviet Russia a hostile neutral actively aiding Hitler, and Japan an unknowable menace.' Churchill's history of the Second World War is, and will remain, the definitive work. Lucid, dramatic, remarkable for its breadth and sweep and for its sense of personal involvement, it is universally acknowledged as a magnificent historical reconstruction and an enduring work of literature. This edition is the second volume of Churchill's own abridgement of his original six volume history.