Chapter Summary the Conquerors

Written by Micheal Beschloss, this is a chapter by chapter summary of the book. Very helpful when writing a review paper.

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Throughout The Conquerors, Michael Bachelors successfully reveals secret agendas and plots during the second world war to the reader. Chapter one starts with the main focus of Hitler having a meeting in the Wolf’s lair. One of his men,Claus Von Steinbeck, is sent to debrief him. Midway through the meeting Claus leaves behind a small suitcase and exits the room. Inside the suitcase lay a bomb which detonates and nearly assassinates Hitler.

The second chapter reveals a group of the allied superpowers discussing Germany’s strengths and it’s probability of a war. However, Michael Bachelors makes it dreadfully obvious, by the lack on information Roosevelt and the other allied powers share, the allied powers are underestimating Hitler’s power over Germany. Chapter three gives the reader a very deep insight into Hitler’s fury in which he demands that his army be cross examined for traitors of his cause. At one point in the story Hitler has accused so many of his men of being traitorous that he has started to fill up the schools with his former soldiers, because the jails are well beyond exceeded.

The forth chapter shifts its view back to President Roosevelt sick in bed with influenza as him and General Dwight Eisenhower talk about Hitler’s escapades. However, Michael Bachelors makes sure to tell the reader about Roosevelt’s secretive plans from Tehran to divide and conqueror Germany.

Chapter five, still in Roosevelt’s view, shows Hitler carrying out his plans to annihilate the Jewish race. Roosevelt is informed that Hitler is now creating his infamous Nazi Concentration Camps, yet does nearly nothing about it. He doesn’t publicize it to America nor does he mention it at the Big Three meeting in Tehran.

Chapter six, in contrast, forces the secret to be revealed and deeply describes the friendship that President Roosevelt and Mr. Morgen shared. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to last after Morgen is appointed to Secretary of Treasury and he becomes incontrovertibly offended by the antisemitic actions of Mr. Breckenridge Long.

The seventh chapter in the reading describes Roosevelt’s action to help the Jewish survive Hitler’s reign. As well as Morgen’s argument about Breckenridge Long’s termination due to his “gross procrastination” and antisemitic decisions. Chapter eight proceeded completely through Breckenridge Long’s termination and left the reader on a never ending cliff hanger. However, it did show a very detailed trip where Harry Dexter White and our good friend Morgen took a very important flight to England. In addition to another trip Morgen took by train from Prestige to engage in a conversation with Bernard Bernstein. (*This chapter skipped around time periods and for me was very difficult to follow. However, from what I took from the chapter it seemed that Morgen was going from place to place talking to the different leaders.)

The ninth, tenth and eleventh chapter all spoke about President Roosevelt’s illness which was diagnosed as influenza, dating from after the Tehran Conference. Roosevelt’s new diet to keep him in a better condition,but more importantly how this changed his approach to leadership. He started playing his Cabinet members off against one another, held more conflicting ideas in his head and kept a firmer control on things. Then Morgen enters the story again. He only has five minutes and a train ride to brief Roosevelt about his trip, but in this short time Roosevelt learns that on Morgen’s trip to England he was unable to convince Churchill that Roosevelt would be healthy enough to continue this war. The only other thing relatively important that happened was a page or two about Orson Welles’s radio show “The War of the Worlds”. (*The eleventh chapter honestly made me laugh because looking at the whole experience it made me wonder if America was really this gullible.) (*Another thing, I have noticed that through out almost all of these chapters the Morgen character has been so important to Roosevelt, information exchanging, etc. Is he really this significant to the United States? and if so why is it that I had hardly even heard about him before this book?)

Chapters twelve and thirteen showed President Roosevelt arriving for a meeting with the Prime Minister Churchill. The two meet by train at the Wolfe’s Cove station in Quebec to discuss the current matters on hand. The next day however, Roosevelt received a “My dear Friend” message from Churchill that wanted to plan a meeting for a future American Lend-lease aid to England. However, the book never actually describes the meeting in full.

One of the most interesting chapters were fourteen and fifteen. Very descriptively, Micheal Bachelors informs the reader about Churchill’s war affairs. The reader learns that the Prime Minister Churchill issued and supported to relax the Treaties of Versailles for Germany. His reasoning behind this was that because Germany could not be kept in permanent subjugation he had better show mercy toward a weakened Germany now rather than later have to fight it when it wanted revenge. However, the chapter ended with Hitler breaking the Treaties of Versailles and Lacuna and seizing the Rhineland.

Chapters sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, covered a wide assortment of excitement both in the meetings and on the battlefield. First beginning with our dear old friend Morgen rushing to the Prime Minister Churchill to find out about the recent attacks. Later Morgen schedules a lunch with Roosevelt to brief him about the news of Hitler’s actions. Then only after a few pages the reader finds out about an attack by a fleet of Japanese planes. This attack was Perl Harbor and soon after a second world war is declared. However this is where the last chapter left off, but so far besides one chapter I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. The nineteenth chapter begins on March 14th, 1945. FDR seems to be in bed more often than not. However, this is certainly not a time for him to be sick. An army intelligence informs the President of probable developments in the German Reich. Then skips to a an overview conversations of General Wolff’s surrender on the Italian front. After which, Eisenhower is shown telling Stimson that although cleaning up the Ruhr pocket needs to be done, there would not be enough troops. As a final paragraph in the chapter the reader is shown a call from the White House at 6:00 pm Eleanor Roosevelt called Morgen and told him that the President was dead. This deeply saddened Morgen and the press even quoted him to say “I have lost my best friend”.

Chapters twenty through twenty four showed the new era of none other than now President Harry S. Truman. The twentieth, twenty first, twenty second chapters show the new President become inaugurated and his thoughts while this was happening (probably fictitious). In addition to news about Hitler’s death reached the ear of the President shortly after.Truman was quickly briefed on the Manhattan Project and authorized use of atomic weapons against the Japanese in August 1945, after Japan did not accept the Potsdam Declaration Then on July 5, 1945 President Truman and Morgen have a meeting, on the way to Potsdam, and both leave thinking less of each other than when they had began. Throughout the twenty third and twenty fourth chapters, Truman is yet again informed on the almost defeated condition in Germany. In addition to an almost complete biography on Jimmy Bryn’s, which was now the new Secretary of State.

In the absolute last chapters of the book, twenty five and twenty six, showed the last days of battle of world war two. After a short summary of what had happened so far the treaty ending the second world war on September 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri. Over all I would have to say that although this book was probably not one that I would pick on my own, it was in fact very interesting and surpassed my expectations for it greatly. The author seemed to know what he was talking about. As well as what to reveal to the reader. The Conquerors is definitely a book I ended up enjoying.

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