Leadership and Responsibility in the Second World War

Leadership is crucial in every conflict and the willingness to accept responsibility is a vital dimension of leadership.Leadership and Responsibility in the Second World Warexamines of how well political, diplomatic, and military leaders, particularly in Great Britain, handled the daunting challenge of a worldwide conflagration. It seeks to determine if a connection can be delineated between leadership, responsibility, success, and failure -specifically if any connection can be found between reluctance to shoulder responsibility and failure to produce results. In so doing, the authors challenge widely accepted views on major wartime controversies, such as the role of Neville Chamberlain and his Conservative Party at the outbreak of the war, the reasons why the British failed to reach an alliance with the Soviet Union in 1939, and the motives that drove Claus von Stauffenberg to attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.Leadership and Responsibility in the Second World Warprovokes reflection about questions of character, context, and circumstances in wartime leadership.