A low dishonest decade : the great powers, Eastern Europe, and the economic origins of World War II, 1930-1941 / Paul N. Hehn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hehn, Paul N.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Causes.

World War, 1939-1945.

Depressions.

Europe, Eastern--History--1918-1945.

Europe, Eastern.

Eastern Europe.

History.

Europe--Economic conditions--1918-1945.

Europe.

Economic conditions.

Depressions--1929--Europe.

World War, 1939-1945--Economic aspects.

Physical Description:

xi, 516 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Continuum, [2002]

Summary:

Almost all written histories of the period leading up to World War II stress political, diplomatic, and ideological conflicts. Arguing that previous historians have confused effect for cause and have considered these conflicts without reference to the systemic problems that provoked them, Paul Hehn focuses on the fierce rivalries among the Great Powers in the relentless search for markets during the world depression of the 1930s. These rivalries were exacerbated particularly in southeastern Europe where Germany dominated the economies and trade arenas of its neighbors in a semi-colonial manner. In A Low Dishonest Decade, Hehn surveys the five Major Powers and all the Eastern European countries from the Baltic to Turkey. But he primarily canvases the economic situations in strategic locations like Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia.

Contents:

Part 1 The Roots of War: Great Power Rivalries and the Struggle for Hegemony in Eastern Europe and the World, 1930-1939

1. The Trade Wars of the 1930s: The Struggle for Market Share and Hegemony 9

2. Italy, the Powers and Eastern Europe, 1918-1939. Mussolini, Prisoner of the Mediterranean 42

3. France and Poland, 1918-1939. Poland: French or German Satellite? 62

4. The Search for Raw Materials: Nazi Germany's Imperialist Plans for the Exploitation of Southeastern Europe in the Inter-War Period 99

5. An Euphoric Dream: Grossraumwirtschaft, Lebensraum and British Indecision before Nazi Germany's Surge for World Power 118

Part 2 Great Power Trade and Political Tensions over Eastern Europe, 1935-1939

6. British-German Trade Problems. Britain Threatens a Clearing. Schacht's Last Tape: His Unsuccessful Attempt to Gain Raw Materials 135

7. Trade Rivalries in the 1930s. The Foreign Office Debate on Whether to Keep Germany Lean or Fat. Britain Abandons the Southeastern Trade 158

8. Schizoid British Views of Nazi Germany: German Moderates or German Radicals. "Will Nasty Mr. Hyde Eat Poor Dr. Jekyll?" 180

9. On the Eve. German Raw Material Shortages. "No Butter, No Eggs, but a New Reich Chancellery." British and French Intimations of German Collapse 204

Part 3 Germany's 1930s Trade Offensive and the Small Countries of Southeastern Europe

10. Germany as Trading Partner in Southeastern Europe: Exploiter or Godsend? 225

11. Germany Seeks New Markets and Some Old Ones. The Czech-German Trade Struggle in Southeastern Europe 248

12. The Second Phase of Nazi Attempts to Dominate Eastern Europe 269

13. The Great Power Struggle for Hegemony in Southeastern Europe, 1935-1940. Erosion of the Little Entente and Balkan Entente 288

Part 4 The Struggle for Hegemony in Eastern Europe, 1939-1941. The Shift from Political Conflict to Military Force

14. German Encirclement Fears. The British Guarantee to Poland, Romania and Greece, March-April 1939. U.S. Trade Relations with Germany and Britain 307

15. "Keeping the Pot Boiling" in Eastern Europe. Anglo-Romanian Relations and the Leith-Ross Trade Mission to Romania in April 1939. Erosion of the Munich Settlement and German-British Economic Conflict in the Balkans 325

16. The Period of Retarded German Hegemony in Southeastern Europe, October 1939-October 1940. The Polish Campaign to Italy's Attack on Greece 341

17. Prince Paul, the Man in the Cage with the Tiger. The March 27, 1941 Belgrade Coup, Prince Paul, the British and the Germans 368.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 465-485) and index.

ISBN:

0826414494

OCLC:

49859975