The Origins of the Second World War: An International Perspective

548 Pages·2011·3.18 MB·english

by  Frank McDonough

the origins of the second world war:
an international perspective

The origins of the second
world war: an international
perspective
edited by frank Mcdonough
Continuum International Publishing Group
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11 York road suite 704
london se1 7nX new York nY 1003
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copyright © frank Mcdonough, with the contributors 2011
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission
from the publishers
first published 2011
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British library
isBn: 978-1-4411-0773-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
a catalog record for this book is available from the library of congress
typeset by fakenham prepress solutions, fakenham, norfolk nr21 8nn
Contents
list of contributors viii
introduction 1
Frank McDonough
1 The versailles settlement: The start of the road to the second
world war? 15
Alan Sharp
2 The league of nations: an idea before its time? 34
Ruth Henig
3 an ideological genealogy of imperial era Japanese Militarism 50
M.G. Sheftall
4 italian foreign policy and the road to war 1918–39: ambitions and
delusions of the least of the great powers 66
R.J.B. Bosworth
5 The failure of détente? german–french relations between
stresemann and hitler, 1929–32 82
Conan Fischer
6 hitler, german foreign policy and the road to war: a german
perspective 101
Lars Lüdicke
7 germany’s twisted road to war, 1919–39 110
Jürgen Förster
8 The prussian tradition, the Myth of the Blitzkrieg and the illusion
of german Military dominance, 1939–41 126
Robert M. Citino
9 guilty Men? Three British foreign secretaries of the 1930s 144
David Dutton
vi contents
10 neville chamberlain and the consequences of the
churchillian hegemony 168
John Charmley
11 when instinct clouds Judgement: neville chamberlain and the
pursuit of appeasement with nazi germany, 1937–9 186
Frank McDonough
12 Missed opportunities? intelligence and the British road to war 205
Kevin Quinlan and Calder Walton
13 appeasement: a critical evaluation seventy Years on 223
Jeffrey Record
14 a very english channel: Britain and french appeasement 238
Robert J. Young
15 politics, strategy and economics: a comparative analysis of British
and french ‘appeasement’ 262
Talbot Imlay
16 neutrality ‘de jour’: switzerland and the italo-abyssinian war
of 1935–6 278
Neville Wylie and Marco Wyss
17 The european neutrals and the second world war 294
Efraim Karsh
18 The international dimensions of the spanish civil war 311
Enrique Moradiellos
19 The Middle east and the coming of war 327
T.G. Fraser
20 The ‘Jewish Question’ and its impact on international
affairs, 1914–39 342
Mark Levene
21 The sudeten crisis of 1938: Beneš and Munich 360
Milan Hauner
22 poland and the origins of the second world war 374
Piotr S. Wandycz
23 poland, the ‘danzig Question’ and the outbreak of the
second world war 394
Anita J Prażmowska
contents vii
24 stalin and the outbreak of the second world war 409
Geoffrey Roberts
25 american isolationism and the coming of the second world war 429
Manfred Jonas
26 a pivotal power: The United states and the international system of
the inter-war period 446
Patrick O. Cohrs
27 Japanese foreign policy and the outbreak of the asia-pacific war:
the search for a Modus Vivendi in Us–Japanese relations after
July 1941 466
Haruo Iguchi
28 economics and the origins of the second world war 482
Richard J. Overy
29 historians at war 507
Anthony Adamthwaite
index of persons 525
Contributors
Editor
Frank McDonough is leading authority on anglo-german relations in the
period 1905 to 1945. he is professor of international history at liverpool John
Moores University. his many books include Neville Chamberlain, Appeasement
and the British Road to War, The Conservative Party and Anglo-German
Relations, 1905–1914 and The Holocaust. his most recent book was Sophie
Scholl: The Woman Who Defied Hitler, which was a London Evening Standard
‘Book of the Year’ 2009.
Contributors (in alphabetical order)
Anthony Adamthwaite is a leading authority on twentieth century international
history. he is professor of history at the University of california at Berkeley.
he has published on a number of aspects of international relations, including
France and the Coming of the Second World War, 1936–1939; The Making of the
Second World War; The Lost Peace: International Relations in Europe 1918–1939;
Grandeur and Misery: France’s bid for power in Europe, 1914–1940.
Peter Bierl, a graduate of at the ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, is
a freelance journalist who works for Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich and the
weekly Jungle World in Berlin. he has also published several books, including
Alle Macht den Räten – Rosa Luxemburg: Rätedemokratie und Sozialismus.
Richard Bosworth is a scholar of italian history and Mussolini. he is a
professor of history at reading University and the University of western
australia. he has written over twenty books, including Mussolini’s Italy: Life
under the Dictatorship 1915–1945, Italy and the Wider World 1860–1960 and
Italian Fascism: History, Memory and Representation.
John Charmley is an expert on neville chamberlain and the author of a
controversial biography of winston churchill. he is professor of Modern
history at the University of east anglia, UK. he received acclaim for his
study Chamberlain and the Lost Peace, which argued a strong revisionist case.
he is the author of many other works, including Churchill’s Grand Alliance
contriBUtors ix
1940–1957, A History of Conservative Politics and Splendid Isolation? Britain and
the Balance of Power, 1871–1914.
Robert Citino is currently professor at University of north texas, Us. he has
written many critically acclaimed books, most notably The Path To Blitzkrieg:
Doctrine and Training in the German Army 1920–39 and Quest for Decisive
Victory: From Stalemate to Blitzkrieg in Europe 1899–1940. he has won
numerous awards for his books and his teaching.
Patrick O. Cohrs is a specialist on the role of the Usa in international
affairs during the inter-war years. he is associate professor of history at Yale
University. his recent study, The Unfinished Peace After World War I: America,
Britain and the Stabilisation of Europe 1919–1932, was critically acclaimed.
David Dutton is an authority on British foreign policy in the twentieth century
and one of Britain’s leading political biographers. he was professor of history
at liverpool University until his retirement in 2010. he has written a number
of acclaimed biographies, including titles on neville chamberlain, austen
chamberlain, sir John simon and sir anthony eden.
Conan Fischer is a professor in the school of history at the University of st
andrews. his expertise focuses on inter-war germany and franco-german
relations during the same period. his more recent publications include The Rise
of the Nazis, The Ruhr Crisis, 1923–1924, and Europe between Democracy and
Dictatorship, 1900–1945.
Jürgen Förster is an expert on german foreign policy and military strategy
during the nazi era. he is a adjunct professor of history at the albert-ludwig
University of freiburg. he has made contributions to the ground-breaking
multi-volume Germany and the Second World War and his books include
Stalingrad: Risse im Bündis, 1942–1943.
T.G. Fraser is a specialist in contemporary international history with a special
interest in the arab–israeli conflict. he is currently emeritus professor of
history and honorary professor of conflict research at the University of Ulster.
his books include The USA and the Middle East since World War 2, The Arab–
Israeli Conflict, and, with andrew Mango and robert Mcnamara, The Makers
of the Modern Middle East.
Milan Hauner is an historian of czechoslovakia and on twentieth-century
transnational history. he is an honorary fellow at the University of wisconsin-
Madison. among his publications are India in Axis Strategy, Hitler – A
Chronology of His Life and Time and a critical reconstruction of Edvard Beneš’
Memoirs 1938–45 in three volumes.