The age of catastrophe : a history of the West, 1914-1945 / Heinrich A. Winkler ; translated by Stewart Spencer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Winkler, Heinrich August, author.

Contributor:

Winkler, Heinrich August.

Spencer, Stewart, translator.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World politics--1900-1945.

World politics.

World War, 1914-1918--Influence.

World War, 1914-1918.

Social change--Europe--History--20th century.

Social change.

Relations.

History.

Europe--History--1918-1945.

Europe.

Europe--History--1871-1918.

Germany--History--1918-1933.

Germany.

Germany--History--1933-1945.

Germany--Relations--Western countries.

Western countries--Relations--Germany.

Western countries.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1,013 pages)

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2015.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

"Characterized by global war, political revolution and national crises, the period between 1914 and 1945 was one of the most horrifying eras in the history of the West. A noted scholar of modern German history, Heinrich August Winkler examines how and why Germany so radically broke with the normative project of the West and unleashed devastation across the world. In this total history of the thirty years between the start of World War One and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Winkler blends historical narrative with political analysis and encompasses military strategy, national identity, class conflict, economic development and cultural change. The book includes astutely observed chapters on the United States, Japan, Russia, Britain, and the other European powers, and Winkler's distinctly European perspective offers insights beyond the accounts written by his British and American counterparts. As Germany takes its place at the helm of a unified Europe, Winkler's fascinating account will be widely read and debated for years to come"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 The Twentieth Century's Seminal Catastrophe: The First World War

Battles and War Crimes: Military Action 1914-16 1

War Aims, Ideological Warfare, Opposition to the War 7

A Year to Remember: The Russian Revolution; the United States Enters the War 19

Freedom for Civilized Nations: Woodrow Wilsons New World Order 52

Two Countries Lie in Ruins; One is Reborn: Germany, Austria-Hungary and Poland at the End of the First World War 60

Trust Gambled Away and Violence Unleashed: The Legacy of the First World War 86

2 From the Armistice to the World Economic Crisis: 1918-33

The Pace of Revolution Slows: Germany on the Way to the Weimar Republic 92

A Blighted New Beginning: Austria and Hungary in 1918/19 105

The Struggle for Independence: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland 110

The East Remains Red: The Russian Civil War and the Foundation of the Third International 112

The Victors Move to the Right: The Western Powers on the Eve of the Paris Peace Talks 118

A Fragile Peace: From Versailles to the League of Nations 122

Protest, Prohibition, Prosperity: The United States in the 1920s 151

The International Revolution is Delayed: The Rise of the Soviet Union and the Divisions within Left-wing Parties in Europe 160

Three Elections and a Secession: Post-war Britain 180

Confrontations and Compromises: France 1919-22 188

A Democracy Self-destructs: Italy's Road to Fascism 193

A Republic Put to the Test: Germany 1919-22 201

A Year of Decisions: 1923. From the Occupation of the Ruhr to the Dawes Plan 223

Right Against Left: Culture and Society in the Weimar Republic 237

Authoritarian Transformation (I): The New States of Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Baltic Region 245

Authoritarian Transformation (II): From the Balkans to the Iberian Peninsula 277

Democracy Evolves: From Sweden to Switzerland 301

Fascism in Power: Italy under Mussolini 320

From Poincare to Poincare: France between 1923 and 1929 338

From Empire to Commonwealth: Britain under Baldwin 351

From Dawes to Young: Germany under Stresemann 360

Socialism in One Country: The Soviet Union under Stalin 1924-33 383

Boom, Crisis and Depression: The United States 1928-33 400

The Logic of the Lesser Evil: Germany under Bruning 412

Stagnation and Criticism of the System: Frances Third Republic 1929-33 433

The Power of Continuity: Britain in the Early 1930s 442

Weimar's Downfall: Hitler's Road to Power 452

Storm Clouds in the Far East: Japan Invades Manchuria 477

3 Democracies and Dictatorships: 1933-9

A New Deal for America: Roosevelt's Presidency 1933-6 484

The Process of Seizing Power: The Establishment of the National Socialist Dictatorship 1933-4 502

Rome's Second Empire: Fascist Italy and the War in Abyssinia 531

The Great Terror: Stalin Builds Up his Dominion over the Soviet Union 540

Setting the Course for War: National Socialist Germany 1934-8 553

Early Signs of Appeasement: Britain 1933-8 571

Mobilization of the Right, Popular Front on the Left: France 1933-8 581

Battlefield of Extremes: The Spanish Civil War 1936-9 602

A Model for Germany: The Anti-Semitic Policies of Fascist Italy 621

Neighbours at Risk: Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Third Reich 1935-8 624

Roosevelt's Realpolitik: The United States from 1936 to 1938 632

Reaching Out Across Borders: From the Austrian Anschluss to the Munich Agreement 639

The ninth of November 1938: The History and Consequences of the Jewish Pogroms in Germany 651

An Alliance of Opposites: The Second World War is Unleashed 655

4 Fault Lines in Western Civilization: The Second World War and the Holocaust

War as Annihilation: The Fifth Partition of Poland 673

From 'Drôle de guerre' to the Battle for Norway 679

France's Collapse: The Campaign in the West 685

Tokyo, Washington, Berlin: A Change in International Politics 1940-41 696

From 'Barbarossa to Pearl Harbor: The Globalization of the War 711

Genesis of Genocide: The 'Final Solution' (I) 723

A Change of Direction: The Axis Powers go on the Defensive 736

Home Fronts: Nations at War 742

Occupation, Collaboration, Resistance (I): Eastern Central Europe, South-east and North-west Europe 755

Occupation, Collaboration, Resistance (II): France 772

'To cause this nation to vanish from the face of the earth': The Final Solution (II) 783

Collapse of a Dictatorship: Italy 1943-4 797

The Allies Advance: Eastern Asia and Europe 1943-4 806

The twentieth of July 1944: German Resistance to Hitler 815

The Partition of Europe (I): The Allies' Post-war Plans 822

Completion of a Mission: The 'Final Solution (III) 832

The End of the War (I): The Fall of the Third Reich 837

The Partition of Europe (II): Radical Changes and Deportations 847

New Beginnings and Traditions: Germany after Capitulation 856

Potsdam: The Decision of the Three Great Powers 861

The End of the War (II): The Atom Bomb and Japan's Capitulation 870

Guilt and Atonement: The Caesura of 1945 (I) 878

West, East, Third World: The Caesura of 1945 (II) 894

From World War to World War: Retrospective of an Exceptional Period 903.

Notes:

Continues: Geschichte des Westens. München : Beck, 2009.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Local Notes:

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest, 2015. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest affiliated libraries.

Related Work:

Winkler, Heinrich August. Geschichte des Westens.

Other Format:

Print version: Winkler, Heinrich August. Age of catastrophe : a history of the West, 1914-1945.

ISBN:

9780300213096

OCLC:

919432224

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.