The Road to War: The Origins of World War II Paperback – International Edition, October 4, 2009

This book was written as a companion to series of television documentaries on the origins of WWII. Given this background, you might expect a relatively conventional overview or 'coffee table' type of book. The principal author, however, is Richard Overy, perhaps the preeminent scholar of WWII and man who has made a career of looking at well known historical episodes from fresh points of view. Overy is also that unusual scholar who tries to, and succeeds at, writing books for both the community of scholars and the broad reading public.The goal of this book is to provide a sophisticated understanding of why the WWII occurred and to dispell myths about the actions and motivations of the major actors. The authors chose to organize this book on a country by country basis. There are excellent introductory and concluding chapters providing some overview but most of the book is dedicated to careful analysis of the politics and diplomacy of the major combatant countries.Why did WWII occur? A major cause was the unsatisfactory nature of the attempted settlement following WWI. Several of the major combatants in WWI felt aggrieved by the results of the Paris peace conferences and treaties. The desire for revision was driving force in diplomacy and internal politics for the two decades following WWI. The aggrieved parties naturally included Germany but also included the Soviet Union, Italy, and Japan. WWI inflicted terrible wounds on the powers who wished to maintain the post-WWI settlement. France's losses were grievous, and since the French economy lacked the dynamism of Germany's and her birth rate was lower, she remained in a vulnerable position. Britain withdrew from continental politics for much of the 20s. When the British did return to active participation in continental affairs, it was with a weakened economy and a depleted defense establishment. Perhaps only the active participation of the USA could have maintained the post-WWI settlement, but the USA pursued isolationist policies until the very eve of WWII.Overy and Wheatcroft provide excellent analyses of internal politics and diplomacy in each nation. Several themes emerge. The Great Depression did not cause the problems and tensions that led to WWII but horribly exacerbated them. Particularly in the democratic states, the freedom of action of leaders was sharply limited by domestic political considerations and a good deal of what is seen now commonly as the cowardice of the leadership of Britain and France was due to the demands of internal politics. The leaders of the dictatorships were less constrained and their actions tended to reflect their own preoccupations and irrational goals. Deterring or stopping the Germans would have required alliance with the Soviet Union, but this proved to particularly difficult for a variety of reasons.An unstable international system, weakness on the part of the parties interested in upholding the system, and international economic catastrophe were the ingredients for WWII. Add to this mixture the malign figure of Hitler, a man bent on at least continental domination, and whose motives were clearly not understood by the leaders of Britain and France. The rest is the tragic history of the 30s and 40s.

This book, written by one of today's most reputed historians of WW2, focuses on the years immediately preceding the war. Each chapter is devoted to one of the future belligerants and describes how they perceived the approaching crisis, what their objectives were, and what choices they faced. This approach is very successful in showing how each nation saw the situation at that time, as opposed as we see it today.Although all sections are stimulating, a few are especially worth mentioning. The section on Germany makes it clear that a "readjustment" of Germany's post-WW1 eastern frontiers was inevitable and that indeed western powers themselves recognized it as inevitable. The section on Poland is very interesting and iconoclastic, balancing today's popular image of Poland as a helpless victim (which indeed she became AFTER its defeat in 1939) with a well-documented picture of an arrogant, racist state that western European states in the 30s generally despised. The chapter on England highlights the key importance that the English attributed to the Empire, and shows how Great Britain tried to defend this anachronistic creation against the revisionist powers, even in the face of its own economic decline.The book is valuable both for its convincing general arguments and for its analysis of specific issues. At the general level, the picture of the 30s that emerges is that of a world constrained by a geopolitical straitjacked that was growing increasingly inadequate. The author argues that Britain and France, who were (and clearly perceived themselved to be) the biggest beneficiaries of the status quo, tried as long as possible to defend it against appeasing the revisionist powers while preparing for the worst with rearmament. The appeasement phase bought them time mostly at the expense of countries outside their direct sphere of influence, which they abandoned to Germany and Russia. However, Britain and France finally became convinced that the Axis powers were after a more radical reshaping of the international order. This, almost by definition, implied sacrificing parts of the English and French empires themselves; this Britain and France were not willing to do, so when they got ready they declared war. The rest is known.This book makes its case very convincingly, and clearly states (the Introduction is fantastic) that the "fairy tale" version of WW2, where Britain and France are the white knights that go to war to save Europe's freedom, is ludicrous. They declared war, as every power in the history of the world has always done, in order to defend their own interests. They cared about Poland as much as they had cared about SChekoslovakia - something that the events both in september 1939 and in 1945 made abundantly clear.The book is also full of delightful smaller issues, like: antisemitism in pre-war Poland (I did not know that it was the Poles, not the Germans, who first wanted to deport Jews to Madagascar, and this well before the war); the way racism affected the international relations between the US/England and Japan; and the almost universal belief, in Germany as in France as in England as in Italy as in Japan, that no great power could survive without some sort of Lebensraun (very interesting in light of how all these countries prospered after the war even after the colonial empires collapsed).This is a wonderful book. It is dense with concepts and provocative thoughts. After you read it, you will want to get back to it time after time.