The Origins of the First and Second World Wars

by Frank McDonough

• ISBN13: 9780521568616
• ISBN10: 0521568617
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-08-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The two world wars of the twentieth century never cease to arouse emotion, capture the public imagination and provoke lively historical debate. This new theme text, which is part of the Cambridge Perspectives in History series for advanced level students and first-year undergraduates, analyses the origins of the First and Second World Wars in a single volume.In concise, readable chapters, Frank McDonough surveys the key issues surrounding the causes of both wars. He offers an original and critical survey of the conflict of opinion between historians and provides a lively selection of primary documents, including original sources, to support coverage of the major issues. The result is a unique perspective on the origins of the two most devastating military conflicts in world history.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(2)
1 The origins of the First World War, 1871-1914	3	(21)
The rise of Germany	3	(3)
The impact of imperialism	6	(2)
Kaiser Wilhelm, German world policy and German aims	8	(2)
The drift towards alliances	10	(3)
The Balkan Crisis, 1912-14	13	(2)
1914: the July Crisis and decisions for war	15	(4)
Document case study	19	(5)
2 The historians and the origins of the First World War	24	(19)
War guilt: the changing debate	24	(1)
Germany and the origins of war: Fritz Fischer and his critics	25	(8)
The nature of the international system: alliances and diplomacy	33	(1)
War by timetable? Militarism, armaments and war plans	33	(2)
Nationalism	35	(1)
An imperialist war? Marxist and economic explanations	36	(7)
3 The origins of the Second World War: 1 War and the fragile peace, 1914-33	43	(26)
The ordeal of war, 1914-18	43	(3)
The Paris Peace Settlement and its consequences	46	(8)
The League of Nations and the limits of international co-operation, 1919-33	54	(1)
The 'German problem' during the 1920s	55	(6)
The Great Depression and its consequences	61	(4)
Document case study	65	(4)
4 The origins of the Second World War: 2 From peace to global war, 1933-41	69	(21)
The impact of Hitler	69	(2)
The collapse of the League of Nations, 1935-37	71	(2)
Neville Chamberlain, appeasement and the road to Munich, 1937-38	73	(5)
The road to global war, 1938-41	78	(5)
Document case study	83	(7)
5 The historians and the origins of the Second World War	90	(26)
The changing debate	90	(1)
The Hitler factor	91	(3)
The role of Neville Chamberlain and appeasement	94	(2)
French foreign policy and the coming of war	96	(1)
Mussolini's role in the origins of the Second World War	97	(2)
The Soviet Union and the origins of the Second World War	99	(3)
The Paris Peace Settlement and its consequences	102	(1)
Economic interpretations	103	(2)
The role of ideology	105	(2)
The debate over the origins of the Asian-Pacific conflict	107	(9)
Select bibliography	116	(2)
Chronology	118	(4)
Index	122