List of maps

Note on referencing system

Preface

Acknowledgements

Chronology

Who's Who

Glossary

PART ONE: BACKGROUND

1. THE ROAD TO WAR

The Origins of the Second World War

Preparing for War

PART TWO: THE SECOND WORLD WAR

2. THE FLOW OF BLITZKRIEG, 1939-42

Campaigns East and West, 1939-40

Strategies for Survival and Expansion, 1940-41

The Limits of Blitzkrieg, 1941-42

3. PEOPLES AT WAR

Economies and Societies at War

Barbarism and the Holocaust

Collaboration and Resistance

4. CONDUCTING WAR

Technology and Intelligence

Alliances and Strategy

Strategic Bombing and the U-Boat War

5. THE EBB OF BLITZKRIEG, 1942-45

The Changing Balance of Fortune, 1942-43

Success and Failure South and East, 1943-44

Closing the Ring, 1944-45

PART THREE: ASSESSMENT

6. THE END OF THE WAR AND AFTER

Costs and the Division of Europe

Historical Debates

Winning and Losing

PART FOUR: DOCUMENTS

Guide to Further Reading

References

Index

A very welcome compact guide to the Second World War in Europe. Dr MacKenzie's concise account covers all the major military campaigns, the important economic and social aspects of the war, and wartime diplomacy. Providing a clear narrative and analysis of events, he considers such key issues including barbarism, the Holocaust and strategic bombing and the U-Boat War. This is the ideal text for anyone studying the Second World War for the first time: succinct, up-to-date, and always highly readable.

S.P. Mackenzie is Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. He teaches military history and modern European history, with special emphasis on the linkages between war and society. Professor MacKenzie teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses on the evolution of warfare as well as Britain and Continental Europe in the modern period. His publications include: The Colditz Myth: British and Commonwealth Prisoners of War in Nazi Germany; British War Films, 1939-1945: The Cinema and the Services; Revolutionary Armies in the Modern Era: A Revisionist Approach; The Home Guard: A Military and Political History; Politics and Military Morale: Current-Affairs and Citizenship Education in the British Army, 1914-1950 .