''The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion'' is a book by Peter Hitchens. It was published in August 2018 by I.B. Tauris. The book addresses what Hitchens regards as the national myth of the Second World War, which he believes dealt long-term damage to Britain and its position in the world. He argues that while the

allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

were, indeed, fighting a radical evil, they sometimes used immoral methods, such as the allies’

carpet bombing Carpet bombing, also known as saturation bombing, is a large area bombardment done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land. The phrase evokes the image of explosions completely covering an area, in th ...

of German civilians. He believes that Britain's entry into World War II led to its rapid decline after the war. This was because, among other things, it could not finance the war and was not prepared. As a result, it had to surrender much of its wealth and power to avoid bankruptcy. However, Hitchens does not make a universal

anti-war An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to pa ...

case because he believes that this position often leaves countries unprotected and defenceless in times of war. Instead, he argues that military power and the threat of war can be necessary deterrents against war.

Reception

The book was negatively reviewed by Richard J. Evans, former Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, in the '' New Statesman''. Evans described the book as being "riddled with errors" and reliant "on a handful of eccentric studies". At the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Hitchens responds to this review, "It was reviewed... by somebody who actually honestly believed it was a Eurosceptic book written to please the patriotic readers of the Mail on Sunday; any reader of it who actually gets to the end may find this to be, how shall I put it, a possibly mistaken summary."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phoney Victory, The 2018 non-fiction books Books by Peter Hitchens Books about World War II I.B. Tauris books