Table Of Content

02-08-11 U Military hitsiur 11613131U Seminar Studies in History General Editor Roger Lockyer Medieval England The Eastern Question 1774-1923 The Pre-Reformation Church in A L Macfie 0 582 35602 4 England 1400-1530 The 1848 Revolutions (2nd ed) Christopher Harper-Bill 0 582 35555 9 Peter Jones 0 582 06106 7 Lancastrians and Yorkists: Bismarck & Germany The Wars of the Rose D G Williamson 0 582 35413 7 David R Cook 0 582 35384 X Imperial Germany 1890-1918 Ian Porter and Ian Armour Tudor England 0 582 03496 5 Henry VII (2nd ed) The Dissolution of the Austro- Roger Lockyer 0 582 35410 2 Hungarian Empire Henry VIII (2nd ed) John W Mason 0 582 35393 9 M D Palmer 0 582 35437 4 Second Empire and Commune: Tudor Rebellions (3rd ed) France 1848-1871 Anthony Fletcher 0 582 35255 X WHC Smith 0 582 35408 0 The Reign of Mary I (2nd ed) The Third Republic 1870-1914 Robert Tittler 0 582 06107 5 Robert Gildea 0 583 35556 7 Early Tudor Parliaments The Scramble for Africa Michael A R Graves 0 582 03497 3 M E Chamberlain 0 582 35204 5 The English Reformation 1530-1570 The Origins of the First World War W J Sheils 0 582 35398 X Gordon Martel 0 582 22382 2 Social Change and Continuity in Early Modern England 1590-1750 Twentieth-Century Europe Barry Coward 0 582 35453 6 The Russian Revolution (2nd ed) England and Europe 1485-1603 Anthony Wood 0 582 35559 1 Susan Doran 0 582 35412 9 Stalin and Stalinism Martin McCauley 0 582 35266 5 Stuart Britain The Weimar Republic James ISJ Houston 0 582 35208 8 John Hiden 0 582 35216 9 Charles I The Third Reich Brian Quintrell 0 582 00354 7 D G Williamson 0 582 35306 8 The English Republic 1649-1660 Spain’s Civil War Toby Barnard 0 582 35231 2 Harry Browne 0 582 35313 0 Radical Puritans in England 1550-1660 The Origins of the Second World War R J Acheson 0 582 35515 X Richard Overy 0 582 35378 5 Restoration England: Origins of the Cold War The Reign of Charles II Martin McCauley 0 582 35388 2 John Miller 0 582 35396 3 The Glorious Revolution Nineteenth-Century Britain John Miller 0 582 35366 1 Britain Before the Reform Acts The Financial Revolution 1660-1750 Politics and Society 1815-1832 Henry Roseveare 0 582 35449 8 Eric J Evans 0 582 00265 6 Peel and the Conservative Party Early Modem Europe 1830-1850 The Renaissance Paul Adelman 0 582 35557 5 Alison Brown 0 582 35383 1 Chartism (2nd ed) Emperor Charles V Edward Royle 0 582 35569 9 Martin Rady 0 582 35475 7 Democracy and Reform 1815-1885 French Renaissance Monarchy D G Wright 0 582 31400 3 Francis 1 and Henry 11 Gladstone, Disraeli and later Robert Knecht 0 582 35374 2 Victorian Politics (2nd ed) Protestestant Reformation in Europe Paul Adelman 0 582 35332 7 Andrew Johnston 0 582 07020 1 Home Rule and the Irish Question The French Wars of Religion 1559-1598 Grenfell Morton 0 582 35215 0 Robert Knecht 0 582 35456 0 Philip II Twentieth-Century Britain Geoffrey Woodward 0 582 07232 8 The Rise of the Labour Party (2nd ed) The Thirty Years’ War Paul Adelman 0 582 35488 9 Peter Limm 0 582 35373 4 The Decline of the Liberal Party Louis XIV 1910-1931 Peter Campbell 0 582 01770 X Paul Adelman 0 582 35327 0 Unemployment in Britain Between Europe 1789-1918 the Wars Revolution and Terror in France Stephen Constantine 0 582 35232 0 1789-1795 (second edition) War & Society in Britain 1899-C.1948 D G Wright 0 582 00379 2 Rex Pope 0 582 03531 7 Napoleon and Europe The Attlee Governments 1945-1951 D G Wright 0 582 35457 9 Kevin Jefferys 0 582 06105 9 SEMINAR STUDIES IN HISTORY General Editor: Roger Lockyer The Origins of the Second World War R. J. Overy Lecturer in History, King’s College, University of London mmm PUM1 LONGMAN London and New York LONGMAN GROUP UK LIMITED Longman House, Burnt Mill, Harlow, Essex CM20 2JE, England and Associated Companies throughout the world. Published in the United States of America by Longman Inc., New York © Longman Group UK Limited 1987 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. First published 1987 Nineth impression 1994 Set in 10/ llpt Baskerville (Linotron) Produced through Longman Malaysia, ISBN D-5 AE!-3537fl-5 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Overy, R.J. The origins of the Second World War. — (Seminar studies in history) 1. World War, 1939-1945 — Causes I. Title II. Series 940.53*11 D741 ISBN 0-582-35378-5 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Overy, R.J. The origins of the Second World War. (Seminar studies in history) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. World War, 1939-1945 — Causes. 2. Europe — Politics and government — 1918-1945. I. Title. II. Series. D741.084 1986 940.53*11 86-3028 ISBN 0-582-35378-5 The publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests. Contents INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi PREFACE vii Part One: The Background 1 1 EXPLAINING THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1 Part Two: Analysis 10 2 THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS 10 The collapse of the League 11 France and Britain 15 America and Russia 20 From the Rhineland to Munich 23 3 ECONOMIC AND IMPERIAL RIVALRY 27 The imperial powers 28 The ‘have-not’ powers 31 The failure of ‘Economic Appeasement’ 37 4 ARMAMENTS AND DOMESTIC POLITICS 42 Rearmament 42 Finance, industry and labour 50 Rearmament and domestic politics 55 5 WAR OVER POLAND 59 The aftermath of Munich 59 The Russian factor 69 The outbreak of war 73 6 FROM EUROPEAN TO WORLD WAR 77 The war in the west 77 Barbarossa 80 The coming of world war 83 Contents Part Three: Assessment J 88 7 HITLER’S WAR? 88 Part Four: Documents 93 BIBLIOGRAPHY 116 Primary sources 116 Memoirs, diaries and contemporary accounts 117 Secondary sources: books 118 Articles 121 A GUIDE TO THE MAIN PEOPLE IN THE TEXT 124 INDEX 125 IV Seminar Studies in History Founding Editor: Patrick Richardson Introduction The Seminar Studies series was conceived by Patrick Richardson, whose experience of teaching history persuaded him of the need for something more substantial than a textbook chapter but less formidable than the specialised full-length academic work. He was also convinced that such studies, although limited in length, should provide an up-to-date authoritative introduction to the topic under discussion as well as a selection of relevant documents and a comprehensive bibliography. Patrick Richardson died in 1979, but by that time the Seminar Studies series was firmly established, and it continues to fulfil the role he intended for it. This book, like others in the series, is there¬ fore a living tribute to a gifted and original teacher. Note on the System of References'. A bold number in round brackets (5) in the text refers the reader to the corresponding entry in the Bibliography section at the end of the book. A bold number in square brackets, preceded by ‘doc’, [doc. 6] refers the reader to the corresponding item in the section of Documents, which follows the main text. ROGER LOCKYER General Editor v Acknowledgements We are grateful to Macmillan Accounts and Administration Ltd for permission to reproduce extracts from pp 332-3, 416-7 The Life of Neville Chamberlain by Keith Feiling. We are grateful for permission to reproduce table and maps from the following: Map on page 61 based on map from Atlas of the 20th Century History by Richard Natkiel, Bison Books, 1985; table on page 49 adapted from page 21 of The Air War 1939-1945 by R. J. Overy, Europa, 1980; map on page 12 based on map from Empires in the Balance by H. P. Willmott, copyright © 1982, H. P. Willmott, Naval Institute Press. Cover: Chamberlain, Deladier, Hitler, Mussolini and Count Ciano after the signing of the Munich Pact, 1938. Photo: Imperial War Museum, London. vi Preface It might, with some justice, be asked ‘Why another book on the Second World War?’ I have two excuses. First of all the whole subject has in the last ten years undergone something of a trans¬ formation. German ambitions have been reassessed; the nature of appeasement more kindly evaluated; and the importance of econ¬ omic rivalry and domestic unrest brought firmly into the open. This now makes it possible to assess the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, and its development by 1941 into world war, within a broader explanatory framework; and also to see why statesmen at the time took the decisions they did, not knowing, as we do, what the consequences of these decisions might be. Secondly, I have tried to provide an interpretation rather than a strict narrative of events. This conforms with the overall purpose of the series, which is to present an analytical rather than a chronological treatment; and it allows the book to address the central question of why war broke out when it did. It is all too tempting to simplify the outbreak of war as the result of one critical event after another producing an inevitable slide to war. There is an element of factual determinism here which exaggerates the importance of Germany and minimises the role of other powers or the system in which they all operated. I have tried in the following pages to open up new perspectives on the outbreak of war and to avoid distorting the realities of the international system. It may nevertheless seem an impertinence to offer such a brief interpretation, and I am all too aware of its deficiencies. I should like to express a general acknowledgement of my debt to other historians whose work I have compressed and simplified here, but which cannot be given either the space or the recognition it deserves. My thanks also go to those colleagues who have discussed, and often disagreed with, the ideas presented here; and to Roger Lockyer for his kind advice and editorial guidance. Richard Overy July 1985 vii Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/originsofsecondwOOOOover