Origins of the Second World War in Europe

PMH Bell is honorary senior fellow at Department of History, University of Liverpool.

• ChronologyPART ONE: INTRODUCTION: PROBLEMS OF INTERPRETATION1. On War and the Causes of War2. A Thirty Years War? The Disintegration of Europe3. The Case Against a Thirty Years War: The Restoration of Europe4. History and HistoriansPART TWO: THE UNDERLYING FORCES.The Role of Ideology 5. Italian Fascism6. German Nazism7. Parliamentary Democracy: France and Britain8. Soviet CommunismEconomic Issues and the Coming of War9. The Great Depression and International Relations10. Economic Problems and the Coming of War The Role of Strategy and Armed Force11. Armed Forces, Strategy and Foreign Policy (1): France and Britain12. Armed Forces, Strategy and Foreign Policy (2): Italy, Germany and the Soviet UnionPART THREE: THE COMING OF WAR 1932-194113. From Peace to the Eve of War, 1932-193714. War postponed, 193815. Decisions for War, 193916. The Expanding War, 1939-194017. Germany and the Soviet Union, 1940-1941ConclusionWhos WhoBibliography

"At last we have a good survey of Europe's route to World War II.  P.M.H. Bell's study is a worthy sequel to its distinguished predecessor, James Joll's The Origins of the First World War.  On the whole the accuracy, precision, and balance are outstanding.  Bell's words are carefully chosen, and he has produced a remarkable synthesis, complete with concrete detail and intelligent but not excessive use of statistics.  The resulting work is reliable and judicious, very erudite but never ponderous."                            Sally Marks, American Historical Review"Bell's new book transcends (A.J.P.) Taylor and can replace him.  Bell has delved more thoroughly into the intricate problems they both treat.  He… handles the evidence more fairly, and is less sure that he knows all the answers." M.R.D. Foot, Albion "This is a vast topic, and all one can do, by way of brief review, is to commend the masterly equity, lucidity and inclusiveness of Philip Bell's survey of its bewildering complexities."Martin Fagg, Times Educational Supplement "lucid, balanced and sane"Eric Summers, History Teaching Review