Major international experts offer new interpretations of the key aspects of the origins of the Second World War. Many major world events have occurred since the last key anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War, and these events have had a dramatic impact on the international stage: 9/11, the Iraq War, climate change and the world economic crisis. This is an opportune moment to bring together a group of major international experts who will offer a series of new interpretations of the key aspects of the origins of the Second World War. Each chapter is based on original archival research and written by scholars who are all leading experts in their fields. This is a truly international collection of articles, with wide breadth and scope, which includes contributions from historians, and also political scientists, gender theorists, and international relations experts. This is an important contribution to scholarly debate on one of the most important events of the 20th century and a subject of major interest to the general reader, historians, students and researchers, policy makers and conflict prevention experts.
1. The origins of the Second World War: the historical debate - Professor Anthony Adamthwaite; 2. Italy and the origins of the Second World War - Professor Richard Bosworth; 3. Neville Chamberlain: guilty or innocent - a critical assessment - Professor John Charmley; 4. A war mentality? Public opinion and foreign policy in the Third Reich - Professor Thomas Childers; 5. The war that Hitler won: the Wehrmacht, military operations and the German way of war - Robert Citino.; 6. The role of the USA in the international relations of the inter-war period - Professor Patrick O.Cohrs. 7. Guilty men? Three British Foreign Secretaries of the 1930s - David Dutton.; 8. The failure of detente? German foreign policy from Locarno to German rearmament - Professor Conan Fischer; 9. The role of the Middle East in the global crisis of the inter-war years - Professor Thomas G. Fraser; 10. The Czech crisis of 1938 - Professor Milan Hauner; 11. German foreign policy, military strategy and the coming of war - Professor Jurgen Forster; 12. The League of Nations: why did it fail? - Baroness Dr Ruth Henig; 13. Japanese foreign policy and the road to the Asia-Pacific war - Professor Haruo Iguchi; 14. Politics, strategy and economics: a comparative analysis of British and French 'appeasement' - Dr Talbot Imlay; 15. The role of US isolationism - Professor Manfred Jonas; 16. The role of the neutral European powers - Professor Efraim Karsh; 17. The role of the 'Jewish Question' in international affairs in the inter-war years - Dr Mark Levene; 18. Was Chamberlain's appeasement a viable policy to cope with the Nazi threat in the 1930s? - Frank McDonough.; 19. The international implications of the Spanish Civil War - Professor Enrique Moradiellos; 20. The role of economic factors in the origins of the Second World War - Professor Richard Overy; 21. Poland, the 'Danzig Question' and the outbreak of war - Professor Anita Prazmowska; 22. Appeasement reconsidered: reflections on the road to war - Professor Jeffrey Record; 23. The Soviet Union and the road to war - Professor Geoffrey Roberts; 24. The Versailles settlement: a critical assessment - Professor Alan Sharp; 25. An ideological genealogy of Imperial Japanese-era militarism - M.G.Sheftall.; 26. The missing dimension? The role of British intelligence - Dr Calder Watson; 27.Poland and the road to war - Professor Piotyr Wandycz; 28. Neutral Europe and the road to war - Dr Neville Wylie; 29. French foreign policy and the road to war - Professor Robert J. Young.
