If By Chance

Could Napoleon have won the Battle of Waterloo? What would have happened if he had? Suppose Napoleon had not destroyed the French fleet at Aboukir: would he have conquered India and become emperor of the East? What if Hitler had not halted his forces before Dunkirk and had entrapped the entire British Expeditionary Force? How would Churchill have then defeated the Wehrmacht? If by chance Hitler had been assassinated in 1944 and the German General Staff had taken control, would there have been a totally different kind of surrender? In examining these and other contingencies, General Strawson presents us with an enthralling catalogue of chance and speculation, emphasizing how profoundly the character of commanders influenced events and how events influenced their character.