Cry Havoc: How the Arms Race Drove the World to War, 1931-1941

504 Pages·2010·3.59 MB·English

by  Joseph Maiolo

MILITARY HISTORY J O S E P H M A I O L O
M A I O L O
$35.00 US / $42.00 CAN
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s the Great Depression stifled economies
the world over, the Axis powers seized
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their moment and began to ready for war.
C R Y   H A V O C
In their totalitarian commitment to preparing
for “total war,” Germany, Italy, and Japan drove
dies an international arms race of unprecedented
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nce HC proportions. But as the Axis powers quickly
efe “Joseph Maiolo has taken one of the most studied periods in international history and managed o
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ute f to find a completely new angle, not by denying the role of the national leaders but by stressing the t of conquest and aggression, the allied leaders
nstit remorseless logic of rearmament and military mobilization in shaping their choices.” HR
n I e confronted hard choices between adequately
gia   —PROfeSSOR SiR LAwReNCe fReedmAN A
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Nor m arming their nations and preserving their
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democratic liberties.
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“The issues surrounding the rearmament of the major powers before World War II are immensely
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J O S E P H M A I O L O c In rich detail and vivid narrative, military
complex, bound up not only with the conventional problems of international security but with e
D  historian Joseph Maiolo reveals the full
is Senior Lecturer in International History in domestic politics and the rapid and often unpredictable pattern of technical change. Joseph Maiolo has
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the Department of War Studies, King’s College succeeded in juggling all these many balls in the air to produce a master synthesis of one of the major ovH complexity of the arms race that led to World
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London. The author of The Royal Navy and Nazi forces driving the world once again to total war. This is a book of great learning and intelligence.” t War II. Told from the viewpoint of such titanic
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Germany, 1933–1939, he has won several awards,   —RiCHARd OVeRY, author of Why the Allies Won eA figures as FDR, Churchill, Stalin, Mussolini, and S: 1-9/16

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including the Julian Corbett Award in Modern Hitler, Cry Havoc provides the first truly global B: 1-1/4
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Naval History. He lives in London. “By placing arms races in central positions on the road to war, Joseph Maiolo has helped develop our l How tHe Arms rAce Drove history of interwar militarization. Based on
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understanding both of the international history of the 1930s and the cataclysm that followed. This is t t H e wor l D to wA r , archival and published sources in five languages, HC
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a hugely impressive book, full of material that will enlighten general readers and that historians will w Cry Havoc describes the debates, the diplomacy,
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make use of for a generation to come.”—Odd ARNe weStAd, Professor of International History, r and the crucial military–industrial strategies that 4/COLOR
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London School of Economics, and author of The Global Cold War 1
9 led, ultimately, to an unleashing of the dogs of war.
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1–C H A V O C An absorbing account of extreme political FINISH:
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4 tensions and ever-increasing global militariz-
$35.00 US / $42.00 CAN 1
Jacket design by Alyssa Stepien
ISBN 978-0-465-01114-8 ation, Cry Havoc offers the first definitive history
Jacket photograph © Bettmann / CORBIS 53500
of how the interwar arms race shaped the outcome
10/10 A Member of the Perseus Books Group of World War II before a single shot was fired.
www.basicbooks.com
9 780465 011148
9780465011148-text_Maiolo 7/7/10 12:36 PM Page i
CRY HAVOC
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ALSO BY JOSEPH MAIOLO
Joseph Maiolo, Kirsten Schulze, Jussi Hanhimaki and Antony Best,
An International History of the Twentieth Century
(2nd ed. rev. 2008)
Joseph Maiolo and Robert Boyce, eds.,
The Origins of World War Two:
The Debate Continues(2003)
Joseph Maiolo,
The Royal Navy and Nazi Germany, 1933–1939:
Appeasement and the Origins of
the Second World War in Europe(1998)
9780465011148-text_Maiolo 7/7/10 12:36 PM Page iii
CRY HAVOC
How the Arms Race
Drove the World to War
1931–1941
J O S E P H M A I O L O
AMemberofthePerseusBooksGroup
NewYork
9780465011148-text_Maiolo 7/7/10 12:36 PM Page iv
Copyright© 2010byJosephMaiolo
PublishedbyBasicBooks,
AMemberofthePerseusBooksGroup
Joe Maiolo acknowledges the support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council during
the preparation of Cry Havoc.
Allrightsreserved. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica. Nopartofthisbook
maybereproducedinanymannerwhatsoeverwithoutwrittenpermissionexceptin
thecaseofbriefquotationsembodiedincriticalarticlesandreviews. Forinformation,
addressBasicBooks, 387ParkAvenueSouth, NewYork, NY10016-8810.
BookspublishedbyBasicBooksareavailableatspecialdiscountsforbulkpurchases
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information, pleasecontacttheSpecialMarketsDepartmentatthePerseusBooksGroup,
2300ChestnutStreet, Suite200, Philadelphia, PA19103, orcall(800) 810-4145, ext. 5000,
[email protected].
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maiolo, Joseph A.
Cry havoc : how the arms race drove the world to war, 1931-1941/ Joseph Maiolo.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-465-01114-8(alk. paper)
1. World War, 1939-1945—Causes. 2. Arms race—History—20th century. I. Title.
D741.M26 2010
940.53'11—dc22
2010005533
10987654321
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Tomyteacher
DonaldCameronWatt
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Cry “Havoc,” and let slip the dogs of war . . .
—MARKANTONY,
in Shakespeare,JuliusCaesar, ActIII, Scene1
OurLegionsarebrim-full, ourcauseisripe.
Theenemyincreasetheveryday;
We, attheheight, arereadytodecline.
Thereisatideintheaffairsofmen,
Which, takenattheflood, leadsontofortune;
Omitted, allthevoyageoftheirlife
Isboundinshallowsandinmiseries.
Onsuchafullseawenowafloat,
Andwemusttakethecurrentwhenitserves,
Orloseourventures.
—MARCUSBRUTUS,
inJuliusCaesar, ActIV, Scene3
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CON T EN TS
List of Maps xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Maps xv
Introduction 1
1 Deep War and Red Militarism 7
2 Colonel Ishiwara Goes to Manchuria 23
3 “Rearm and Get Ready” 39
4 “We Are Moving Among Giants” 57
5 “Should We Accept the Rearmament of Germany?” 75
6 The Military-Industrial Complex 105
7 The Naval Arms Races Begin 119
8 “We Have Reached a Plateau” 141
9 Guns and Butter 159
10 “Next Time We’ll Urge On the Other Side” 187
11 “They Are Serious, the Englishmen” 211
12 “ . . . A Different Kind of Nation”? 241
13 The Great Acceleration, 1938–39 269
14 “The Acid Test . . . Is Whether Anyone Is Ready to Disarm” 303
15 “Miracles Cannot Happen” 315
16 Wars of Rapid Decision? 343
17 “Is Total War, Then, the Path to Freedom?” 371
Conclusion: The Race Goes On 397
Notes 405
Index 459
ix