The Road to War

Hailed on publication as a thought-provoking, authoritative analysis of the true beginnings of the Second World War, this revised edition of The Road to War is essential reading for anyone interested in this momentous period of history. Taking each major nation in turn, the book tells the story of their road to war, recapturing the concerns, anxieties and prejudices of the statesmen of the thirties.

In the years between the two great wars, the nations of the world, ravaged by war and depression, struggled to maintain a delicate peace.Torn between pressing social needs- record-setting unemployment and the threat of revolutions, Western Europe played for time in which to repair its economies and to strengthen its governments.No one wanted war: Britain was still healing the wounds of World War I; the Americans had retreated into isolation; the French were divided politically and the Soviet Union, an international outcast, was facing its own enormous problems.Yet, determined to win the 'living space' he was convinced Germany needed, Adolf Hitler made war unavoidable, despite the pronounced reluctance of the rest of the world.

Almost seventy years after the start of World War II, historians Richard Overy and Andrew Wheatcroft return to the question of why the nations of the world found themselves embroiled in conflict once more.Step by step, Overy and Wheatcroft reconstruct the perspective of each country as it marched down the road to war: Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, the Society Union, Japan, and the United States, each with its own domestic problems and international ambitions.

Hailed in England for its accessibility as well its scholarship, The Road to War is a handbook for anyone interested in how war came.

Préface
A revised and updated edition of a classic history book exploring the beginnings of World War II in concise, accessible and enjoyable prose.

Auteur

Richard Overy is Professor in History at the University of Exeter. He is the author of books on the Second World War, the European dictatorships and the history of air power. His latest titles include Why the Allies Won (2nd edn 2006), The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia (2004) and The Morbid Age: Britain Between the Wars (2009). He is a fellow of the British Academy and winner of the Wolfson History Prize in 2005.

Andrew Wheatcroft is the author of many pioneerign books on early modern adn modern history, including The Ottomans (1993) and The Enemy at the Gate (2008). he is based in Dumfriesshire adn is Professor and Director of the Centre for Publishing Studies at the University of Stirling.