ABSTRACT

The Routledge History of the Second World War sums up the latest trends in the scholarship of that conflict, covering a range of major themes and issues.

The book delivers a thematic analysis of the many ways in which study of the Second World War can take place, considering international, transnational, and global approaches, and serves as a major jumping off point for further research into the specific fields covered by each of the expert authors. It demonstrates the global and total nature of the Second World War, giving due coverage to the conflict in all major theatres and through the lens of the key combatants and neutrals, examines issues of race, gender, ideology, and society during the war, and functions as a textbook to educate students as to the trends that have taken place in how the conflict has been (and can be) interpreted in the modern world. Divided into twelve parts that cover central themes of the conflict, including theatres of war, leadership, societies, occupation, secrecy and legacies, it enables those with no memory of war to approach it with a view to comprehending what it was all about and places the history of this conflict into a context that is international, transnational, and institutional.

This is a comprehensive and accessible reference volume for anyone interested in the most up to date scholarship on this major conflict.

Chapter 18 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com

part 1|49 pages

Outbreaks

chapter 2|15 pages

Planning Armageddon

Operation Barbarossa

chapter 3|16 pages

The Origins of the War in the Pacific

1937–1941

part 3|97 pages

Theatres

chapter 6|18 pages

The European war

An overview

chapter 7|16 pages

War of great distances

Allied strategy in the Pacific War, 1941–1945

chapter 8|15 pages

The crucial phase of the China theatre

The War of Resistance against Japan, 1937–1938

chapter 9|16 pages

The battle for North Africa

chapter 10|15 pages

The war at sea, 1939–1945

chapter 11|15 pages

War in the third dimension

The exercise of air power in the Second World War

part 4|60 pages

Leadership

part 5|125 pages

Societies

chapter 16|16 pages

Conservatism, radicalism, and global conflict

Britain's War, 1939–1945

chapter 17|14 pages

Germany at war

chapter 18|16 pages

Japanese society at war

History and memory

chapter 19|16 pages

Italian society during World War II

chapter 21|14 pages

France at war

A country divided or a society united?

part 6|111 pages

Societies

chapter 24|14 pages

America at war

chapter 25|15 pages

Canada

Limited liability and total war

chapter 27|15 pages

A conscripted society

Sustaining New Zealand's war effort

chapter 28|17 pages

South Asia in World War II

chapter 29|16 pages

Brazil at war

An unexpected, but necessary, ally

chapter 30|15 pages

Mexico

In the shadow of World War II

part 7|49 pages

Occupation

chapter 31|16 pages

Western Europe under occupation

chapter 32|16 pages

Collaboration and resistance in the East

Explaining a contested past

part 8|64 pages

Surviving

chapter 35|16 pages

Sweden

An ambiguous participant 1

chapter 36|14 pages

Not neutral

Spain and the Second World War 1

part 9|32 pages

Secrecy

chapter 38|15 pages

Uncovering secrets

Spies, double agents, and codebreakers

part 10|46 pages

Inhumanity

part 11|66 pages

Endings

chapter 43|16 pages

East-Central Europe

From Nazi rule to communism, 1943–1948

chapter 44|15 pages

War and destruction in Western Europe

Picking up the pieces

part 12|33 pages

Legacies