ABSTRACT
PMH Bell's famous book is a comprehensive study of the period and debates surrounding the European origins of the Second World War. He approaches the subject from three different angles: describing the various explanations that have been offered for the war and the historiographical debates that have arisen from them, analysing the ideological, economic and strategic forces at work in Europe during the 1930s, and tracing the course of events from peace in 1932, via the initial outbreak of hostilities in 1939, through to the climactic German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 which marked the descent into general conflict.
Written in a lucid, accessible style, this is an indispensable guide to the complex origins of the Second World War.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part One|54 pages
Introduction: Problems of Interpretation
chapter Chapter 1|13 pages
On War and the Causes of War
chapter Chapter Two|19 pages
A Thirty Years War? The Disintegration of Europe
chapter Chapter Three|9 pages
The Case Against a Thirty Years War: the Restoration of Europe
chapter Chapter Four|12 pages
History and Historians
part Two|176 pages
The Underlying Forces
part |85 pages
The Role of Ideology
chapter Chapter Five|20 pages
Italian Fascism
chapter Chapter Six|20 pages
German Nazism
chapter Chapter Seven|25 pages
Parliamentary Democracy: France and Britain
chapter Chapter Eight|17 pages
Soviet Communism
part |42 pages
Economic Issues and the Coming of War
chapter Chapter Nine|22 pages
The Great Depression and International Relations
chapter Chapter Ten|18 pages
Economic Problems and the Coming of War
part |46 pages
The Role of Strategy and Armed Force
chapter Chapter Eleven|25 pages
Armed Forces, Strategy, and Foreign Policy (1): France and Britain
chapter Chapter Twelve|19 pages
Armed Forces, Strategy, and Foreign Policy (2): Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union
part Three|117 pages
The Coming of War, 1932–1941