Why did the Polish underground Home Army call for what proved to be a suicidal uprising? Why did they decide that their poorly armed troops should alone liberate Warsaw shortly before the Soviet entry into the capital? Why were the approaching Russians not informed? Why did the Red Army fail to take Warsaw in the first days of August 1944 as both Stalin and Bor-Kornorowski had anticipated? Dr Ciechanowski examines in detail the political, diplomatic, ideological and military background of the Rising and the events and decisions which immediately preceded it. He traces in turn: the main aspects of Polish politics, strategy and diplomacy during the whole of the Second World War. It is based primarily on unpublished Polish contemporary documents and on interviews with highly placed participants in, and witnesses of, the Warsaw Rising. It provides a definitive account of why the Rising took place and is an extremely important contribution to the history of the Second World War.