Introduction to part II

TY - CHAP

T1 - Introduction to part II

AU - Bosworth, Richard J B

AU - Maiolo, Joseph A.

PY - 2015/1/1

Y1 - 2015/1/1

N2 - When did the Second World War begin? What seems to be a straightforward question raises fundamental issues about the war’s origins. In Europe, the textbook answer to the question of the war’s start date is 1 September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany, in fulfilment of their guarantees to uphold the sovereignty of Poland. Was the European war the work of Adolf Hitler, who mesmerized the Germans into following him down the path of autarchy and aggression? Or does the culpability for the war lie in London and Paris? Did the British and French bid to appease the dictators with diplomatic concessions encourage Hitler to make war? If so, would a show of resolve have prevented the war? By failing to use force to stop Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, or to block Germany’s occupation of the Rhineland in 1936, so runs the old argument, Britain and France only encouraged Hitler to demand more and to gamble in 1939. If the war was preventable by an early display of resolve or force, then perhaps Washington and Moscow share the blame? Did Washington fail to encourage Paris and London to confront Berlin and Rome, or did supine British and French leaders, intent on appeasement, rebuff genuine American offers of support? Did France and Britain spurn Moscow’s effort to rally Europe against aggression with a secret hope that German dynamism would find its outlet in a war against the USSR? Was Russia’s call for collective security merely cover for the clandestine pursuit of an aggressive alliance with Germany? If Hitler was bent on a great war, whatever the odds stacked against Germany, or if, in 1939, he was desperate to launch a great war before the odds against him became too great, then neither firmness nor conciliation, nor a greater effort to pile up arms and form alliances against Berlin would have ultimately averted war.

AB - When did the Second World War begin? What seems to be a straightforward question raises fundamental issues about the war’s origins. In Europe, the textbook answer to the question of the war’s start date is 1 September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany, in fulfilment of their guarantees to uphold the sovereignty of Poland. Was the European war the work of Adolf Hitler, who mesmerized the Germans into following him down the path of autarchy and aggression? Or does the culpability for the war lie in London and Paris? Did the British and French bid to appease the dictators with diplomatic concessions encourage Hitler to make war? If so, would a show of resolve have prevented the war? By failing to use force to stop Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, or to block Germany’s occupation of the Rhineland in 1936, so runs the old argument, Britain and France only encouraged Hitler to demand more and to gamble in 1939. If the war was preventable by an early display of resolve or force, then perhaps Washington and Moscow share the blame? Did Washington fail to encourage Paris and London to confront Berlin and Rome, or did supine British and French leaders, intent on appeasement, rebuff genuine American offers of support? Did France and Britain spurn Moscow’s effort to rally Europe against aggression with a secret hope that German dynamism would find its outlet in a war against the USSR? Was Russia’s call for collective security merely cover for the clandestine pursuit of an aggressive alliance with Germany? If Hitler was bent on a great war, whatever the odds stacked against Germany, or if, in 1939, he was desperate to launch a great war before the odds against him became too great, then neither firmness nor conciliation, nor a greater effort to pile up arms and form alliances against Berlin would have ultimately averted war.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84953872132&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/CHO9781139524377.011

DO - 10.1017/CHO9781139524377.011

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:84953872132

SN - 9781139524377

SN - 9781107034075

SP - 209

EP - 216

BT - The Cambridge History of the Second World War Volume II: Politics and Ideology

PB - Cambridge University Press

ER -