Origins of the Second World War: An International Perspective

Frank McDonough is a recognised authority on Anglo-German relations and is Professor of International History at Liverpool John Moores University. A prolific writer, his books include Neville Chamberlain, Appeasement and the British Road to War (1998); The Holocaust (2008); and Sophie Scholl: Heroine of the German Resistance (2009)

• 1. The origins of the Second World War: the historical debate; 2. Italy and the origins of the Second World War; 3. Neville Chamberlain: guilty or innocent - a critical assessment; 4. A war mentality? Public opinion and foreign policy in the Third Reich; 5. The role of the USA in the international relations of the inter-war period; 6. The failure of detente? German foreign policy from Locarno to German rearmament; 7. The role of the Middle East in the global crisis of the inter-war years; 8. The Czech crisis of 1938; 9. German foreign policy, military strategy and the coming of war; 10. The League of Nations: why did it fail? 11. Japanese foreign policy and the road to the Asia-Pacific war; 12. Politics, strategy and economics: a comparative analysis of British and French 'appeasement'; 13. The role of US isolationism; 14. The role of the neutral European powers; 15. Could the Second World War have been prevented? A counterfactual analysis; 16. The role of the 'Jewish Question' in international affairs in the inter-war years; 17. The international implications of the Spanish Civil War; 18. The role of economic factors in the origins of the Second World War; 19. Poland, the 'Danzig Question' and the outbreak of war; 20. Appeasement reconsidered: reflections on the road to war; 21. The Soviet Union and the road to war; 22. Japanese military strategy and the coming of the Asia-Pacific War; 23. The Versailles settlement: a critical assessment; 24. Gender and the international crisis of the inter-war period; 25. Hitler's foreign policy and the origins of the second world war; 26. The missing dimension? The role of British intelligence; 27. Poland and the road to war; 28. Neutral Europe and the road to war; 29. French foreign policy and the road to war.

Here is modern history-writing at its very best. Frank McDonough has brought together no fewer than 30 other leading scholars to examine that most vital of historical moments - the outbreak of the Second World War - from every conceivable international aspect. Ground-breaking, fascinating, occasionally deeply revisionist and always highly readable; this sets the mark for all collaborative history from now on