ABSTRACT
The outbreak of the Great War and the coming of the Second World War in Europe present sharp contrasts. In 1914 the advent of war was rapid. A matter of eight days brought five great powers and two small ones into conflict. The coming of the Second World War was a long and uneven process, starting in 1939 and culminating in the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941. The events which are usually regarded in Great Britain as the start of the war (the German attack on Poland on 1 September 1939, and the British and French declarations of war on the 3rd) were clearly important, but marked only a stage in this process, producing a limited war involving four European states.
