Germany and the origins of the Second World War / Jonathan Wright.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wright, Jonathan, 1941-

Series:

Making of the 20th century

The making of the twentieth century

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945.

Hitler, Adolf.

World War, 1939-1945--Causes.

World War, 1939-1945.

Germany--Politics and government--1933-1945.

Germany.

Politics and government.

Germany--Foreign relations--1933-1945.

International relations.

Physical Description:

xii, 223 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

Summary:

The origins of the Second World War lay in and with Germany. But this simple statement raises difficult and fascinating questions. Why were the German people prepared to follow Hitler not simply into a war to re-establish Germany as a great power but also one to secure racial domination of the continent? Hitler took most of the key decisions but if he had not received the support of elites and a wider public there would have been no war. Jonathan Wright explores the events, discusses rival interpretations and places the policies of Hitler in the context of Germany as a whole.

Clear and concise, Germany and the Origins of the Second World War: helps students to understand and navigate their way around this enormous and important subject, examines the origins not only of the European war of 1939 but also the racial empire which followed and the escalation to World War in 1941, uses primary source material, including quotations from Goebbels' diaries, offers a Glossary of key terms and a Select Bibliography to aid further study. This accessible guide to one of the most important periods of twentieth-century history is essential for students wishing to understand, the German context of the origins of the Second World War.

Contents:

1 Debates and Themes 9

2 Hitler's World 17

3 From the Margin to the Mainstream 27

4 Dismantling Versailles, 1933-36 36

The new course and the professional elites 36

Hitler's role 41

Rearmament and the League of Nations 43

The Non-Aggression Pact with Poland 48

Failed putsch in Vienna 51

Successful brinkmanship 54

Conscription 54

Ribbentrop and the Anglo-German naval agreement 62

Reoccupation of the Rhineland 65

5 Preparing for War: From Rhineland Occupation to Anschluss 73

Hitler's intentions 75

Intervention in the Spanish Civil War 79

The Four Year Plan 82

Elite and Public attitudes 88

Decision making, November 1937-March 1938 98

6 To War in Europe: From Anschluss to the Invasion of Poland 111

The Crisis over Czechoslovakia and opposition to war 112

From Munich to the occupation of Prague 130

From the occupation of Prague to the invasion of Poland 137

7 To World War: September 1939-December 1941 146

Poland: from war to racial empire 149

Victory in the west 156

The British enigma 167

From Barbarossa to world war 174.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780333495551

0333495551

033349556X

9780333495568

OCLC:

141384211