WHY THE GERMANS LOSE AT WAR: The Myth of German Military Superiority.

More than 60 years after their utter defeat & surrender, the Nazi army, navy & air force are still remembered as the best organized, best trained, best equipped & most formidable fighting forces of their day. The same can be said of the massive German army that battled under Kaiser Wilhelm a generation earlier. Led by brilliant generals & backed by state-of-the-art munitions industries, these military organizations struck terror in the hearts of enemies & allies alike. So, why did they lose? In this account of the failed German war machine, military historian Kenneth Macksey reveals that Germany's catastrophic failures had little to do with the random fortunes of war, but were the inevitable result of its military structure, leadership & history. Its great strengths--inspired generals & strategists, the innovative development of military forces, & the skill & tenacity of its fighting men--were repeatedly undermined by short-term war policies, arrogance & a tendency to believe its own propaganda, & the politicization of military staffs. These flaws, problematic even in Germany's 19th century victories, became fatal when combined with 20th century dreams of world dominion. Complete with campaign maps, command-structure charts & lists of major German military leaders, Why the Germans Lose at War combines military & political analysis with a cautionary tale for any nation seeking world rule thru force alone. Macksey is author of Guderian: Panzer General, Rommel: Campaigns & Battles, & the "alternate history" Invasion: The German Invasion of England. July 1940.