Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945
The western Allies' grinding advance into Germany from the Rhine to the Elbe.
The Verdict
By the winter of 1944 the result was no longer in doubt, but the dying had barely begun — and that gap is Max Hastings's subject. Armageddon follows the assault on Germany from both east and west through its last, ugliest months: the Rhine crossings, the firestorms, the Red Army's vengeance, the SS still killing to the final hour. Hastings punctures the comforting story of a clean, inevitable victory march, insisting instead on chaos, exhaustion, and moral compromise on every side. It is bleak, even-handed, and unsparing.
Who Should Read It
Read it if you want
- The last months of the war on both fronts together
- A hard look at the war's costly, chaotic end
- Hard questions about Allied conduct and bombing
- More of Hastings's single-volume histories
Look elsewhere if you want
- A heroic march-to-victory narrative
- The earlier campaigns that decided the war
- A single front in isolation
Why We Rated It 4.4
Historical Context
Armageddon covers the final assault on Germany from roughly September 1944 to May 1945, treating the Western and Eastern fronts together — the Bulge, the Rhine, the bombing campaign, the Soviet drive on Berlin, and the regime's death throes. Published in 2004.
Criticisms & Debates
As in Overlord, Hastings argues that Allied armies generally fought less effectively, man for man, than the Germans — a view some historians find overstated. His unsparing treatment of Allied bombing and Soviet atrocity has also drawn debate. The arguments are part of the book's bite.
Editions & Reading Notes
Read It Alongside
Where to Buy
ISBN: 978-0375714221
Read This Against
The same events seen from a different vantage point. The fullest understanding often lives in the space between accounts that don't agree.
Other Books About the Same Events
More by Max Hastings
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does Armageddon cover the Eastern Front too?
- Yes — unusually for a book centred on the Western Allies, it gives the Soviet drive on Germany substantial weight, treating the final assault as one event.
- How does it relate to Overlord?
- Overlord covers the Normandy campaign; Armageddon picks up the story of the war's last months and the invasion of Germany itself.