The Age of Catastrophe : A History of the West 1914-1945 / Heinrich August Winkler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Winkler, Heinrich August, Author.

Contributor:

Spencer, Stewart.

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.

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.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1013 p.)

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

One of Germany's leading historians presents an ambitious and masterful account of the years encompassing the two world wars 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.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Introduction

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

Battles and War Crimes: Military Action: 1914-16

War Aims, Ideological Warfare, Opposition to the War

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

Freedom for Civilized Nations: Woodrow Wilson's New World Order

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Fragile Peace: From Versailles to the League of Nations

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

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

Three Elections and a Secession: Post- war Britain

Confrontations and Compromises: France 1919-22

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

A Republic Put to the Test: Germany 1919-22

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

Right Against Left: Culture and Society in the Weimar Republic

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

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

Democracy Evolves: From Sweden to Switzerland

Fascism in Power: Italy under Mussolini

From Poincaré to Poincaré: France between 1923 and 1929

From Empire to Commonwealth: Britain under Baldwin

From Dawes to Young: Germany under Stresemann

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

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

The Logic of the Lesser Evil: Germany under Brüning

Stagnation and Criticism of the System: France's Third Republic 1929-33

The Power of Continuity: Britain in the Early 1930s

Weimar's Downfall: Hitler's Road to Power

Storm Clouds in the Far East: Japan Invades Manchuria

3. Democracies and Dictatorships: 1933-9

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

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

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

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

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

Early Signs of Appeasement: Britain 1933-8

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

Battlefield of Extremes: The Spanish Civil War 1936-9

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

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

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

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

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

An Alliance of Opposites: The Second World War is Unleashed

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

War as Annihilation: The Fifth Partition of Poland

From 'Drôle de guerre' to the Battle for Norway

France's Collapse: The Campaign in the West

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

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

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

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

Home Fronts: Nations at War

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

Occupation, Collaboration, Resistance (II): France

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

Collapse of a Dictatorship: Italy 1943-4

The Allies Advance: Eastern Asia and Europe 1943-4

The twentieth of July 1944: German Resistance to Hitler

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

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

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

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

New Beginnings and Traditions: Germany after Capitulation

Potsdam: The Decision of the Three Great Powers

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

Guilt and Atonement: The Caesura of 1945 (I)

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

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

List of abbreviations

Notes

Index

Notes:

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

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Feb 2020)

ISBN:

0-300-21309-3

OCLC:

919432224