World War II Database

Crusade in Europe was Dwight Eisenhower's memoirs written in 1948, detailing his experience of the war, focusing on the episodes in Africa and Europe. From a commanding general's point of view the battles were described in detail, expressing the basis why he made the decisions that he had made and capturing the interactions between himself and various famous figures. The language he used was to be expected from a soldier, concise and simple. The book can be rather dry at parts, but it contained enough interesting points to keep the book readable.

A major criticism for the book is that it whitewashed a great deal of disharmony within the Allied command, making the interactions rather unbelievable. For example, the tension between George Patton and Bernard Montgomery were generally downplayed, and Charles de Gaulle's unreasonable demands were only briefly touched upon. Another point that made the book feel whitewashed was the fact that almost all Americans in the book were described as near-perfect; a good example of this was George Marshall, who was redundantly heralded as the perfect strategist and good friend. Two possible reasons might have contributed to these shortcomings. First, he wrote the book so close to the end of the war, which meant many Allied command communiqués were still highly classified; in other words, what he could discuss was perhaps limited. Second, Eisenhower's presidential bid might have something to do with it as well, being more politically mindful in order to win support. Another hint for the political nature was the preaching of democracy being superior to communism. Though his language remained respectful for the Russian system of government, he insisted that he instilled values of empowering the lower ranks during their post-war conversations in Berlin and Moscow. This might be another hint that Eisenhower was playing upon the growing fear of Russia. Though the western Allies were generally believed to be on the side of "right", Eisenhower made sure to give his book the name of a Crusade, once again building foundation for him as an instrument of righteousness in order to gain popular support.

Regardless of the above, Crusade in Europe remained a great resource in its historical value. This book noted wisdom on key campaigns such as Tunisia and Bastagne, while his reminiscences of conversations with other figures such as Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt provided valuable insight on those figures as well.

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