Baldwin, Stanley (1867–1947) Conservative statesman. Prime Minister, 1923–4, 1924–9. Lord President of the Council in MacDonald's National Government, 1931–5. Prime Minister of National Government, 1935–7. Widely trusted political figure in the 1920s and most of the 1930s; later blamed for failing to start British rearmament early enough or on a sufficient scale.
Benes, Eduard (1884–1948) Worked with Tomas Masaryk to set up an independent Czechoslovakia, 1918. Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia, 1918–35, and a prominent figure at the League of Nations. President of Czechoslovakia, 1935–8; resigned after Munich Agreement.
Blum, Léon (1872–1950) First Socialist Prime Minister of France, as head of the Popular Front government, 1936–7; again Prime Minister for a month, March-April 1938. Idealist and near-pacifist; advocate of disarmament, but gave strong impetus to French rearmament, 1936. Deeply unpopular on the French Right, partly because he was Jewish; target of the propaganda slogan ‘Rather Hitler than Blum’.
Bonnet, Georges (1889–1973) Radical politician. Infantry officer during First World War. Minister of Finance, 1937–8; Foreign Minister, April 1938-September 1939; Minister of Justice, September 1939-March 1940. Principal French advocate of appeasement, 1938–9, and especially during the Czechoslovakian crisis of 1938.
Chamberlain, Neville (1869–1940) Conservative statesman and member of an important political family (son of Joseph Chamberlain, half-brother of Austen Chamberlain, Foreign Secretary 1924–9). Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1931–7; Prime Minister, 1937-May 1940; Lord President of the Council, May-October 1940. A man of strong political will and great determination; the leading British advocate of appeasement.
Churchill, Winston (1874–1965) Statesman and war leader. In opposition in the 1930s, and an opponent of appeasement; but widely distrusted after an erratic political career. First Lord of the Admiralty in Chamberlain's government, September 1939-May 1940; Prime Minister, May 1940–1945. Resolute opponent of Hitler in 1940.
Ciano, Galleazzo (1903–44) Leading Italian Fascist, and son-in-law of Mussolini. Minister of Propaganda, 1935; Foreign Minister, 1936–43. A strong advocate of the Axis with Germany, but later changed his mind, and opposed entry into war in 1940.
Daladier, Edouard (1884–1970) French statesman; Radical Socialist. Infantry officer, First World War. Prime Minister, 1933, 1934, 1938–40. Minister for War in Popular Front government, 1936–7, and along with Premiership 1938–40. Signed Munich Agreement on behalf of France, 1938; reluctantly but firmly committed to war in 1939.
D'Annunzio, Gabriele (1863–1938) Italian writer (futurist poet and playwright), airman, adventurer and eccentric. Served in air force during First World War; lost an eye in action. Seized control of Fiume, 1919, and ruled the city until 1920. Precursor of fascism, and later an ardent supporter of Mussolini.
Dollfuss, Engelbert (1892–1934) Chancellor of Austria, 1932–4. Suspended parliamentary government and attacked the Socialists in Vienna, February 1934. Assassinated during the failed Nazi putsch of July 1934.
Eden, Anthony (1897–1977) Conservative statesman. Infantry officer during First World War. Minister for League of Nations Affairs, 1935. Foreign Secretary, December 1935-February 1938 — resigned. Dominions Secretary, September 1939-May 1940. Minister for War in Churchill's government, before returning as Foreign Secretary in December 1940. As Foreign Secretary in late 1930s practised a policy of appeasement, but later acquired a high reputation as an opponent of that policy.
Franco, Francisco (1892–1975) Spanish soldier and dictator. Youngest general in Spanish Army, 1926. Commander of rebel forces and head of Nationalist government during Spanish Civil War, 1936–9. Caudillo (leader) of Spain, 1939–75. Wished to take Spain into Second World War on Axis side in 1940, but in fact played a waiting game and avoided a decision.
Goebbels, Joseph (1897–1945) Nazi propagandist, orator and organiser. Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany, 1933–45, and a leading figure in wartime government. Committed suicide in Hitler's Berlin bunker, 1945.
Goering, Hermann (1893–1946) Nazi leader and multiple office-holder. Air ace during First World War. President of Reichstag, 1932. Under Hitler, held several posts, including Air Minister, Director of Four-Year Plan (1936), and War Minister (1938). Committed suicide in prison, 1946.
Guderian, General Heinz (1888–1954) German soldier. Leading exponent of mechanisation and armoured warfare in 1930s; commander of armoured forces in Poland, 1939, and France, 1940.
Halifax, Lord (Edward Wood) (1881–1959) Conservative statesman. Infantry officer during First World War. Viceroy of India, 1926–31. Lord President of the Council, 1937–8; Foreign Secretary, February 1938-December 1940; Ambassador in Washington, 1940–6. An advocate of appeasement, but changed his mind in September 1938.
Himmler, Heinrich (1900–45) Nazi leader. Head of SS, 1929–45, and head of all German police services, 1936–45. One of the most ruthless Nazi leaders, and principal organiser of the extermination of the Jews. Committed suicide, 1945.
Hindenburg, Field Marshal Paul von (1847–1934) German soldier and statesman. Chief of the General Staff, 1916–18. President of the Weimar Republic, 1925–34; appointed Hitler as Chancellor, January 1933.
Hitler, Adolf (1889–1945) Leader and inspirer of German Nazi Party. Served in First World War, with the rank of corporal; Iron Cross. Attempted putsch in Munich, 1923; imprisoned, and while in prison dictated Mein Kampf, published 1925. Led Nazi Party to electoral successes, and appointed Chancellor, 30 January 1933. Head of state, with title of Fuehrer, 1934. Dictator and war leader of Germany until 1945. Committed suicide in Berlin bunker, 30 April 1945.
Hoare, Samuel (1880–1959) Conservative statesman. Secretary of State for India, 1931–5. Foreign Secretary, 1935; resigned over Hoare-Laval Pact relating to Ethiopia. First Lord of the Admiralty, 1936–9. Ambassador to Spain, 1940–5. Closely associated with Neville Chamberlain in the policy of appeasement.
Laval, Pierre (1883–1945) French politician, and one of the most controversial French political figures of the 1930s and the Second World War. Started his career as a Socialist, and moved well to the Right. Prime Minister, 1931–2, 1935–6. Foreign Minister 1932, 1934–6, and again in the Vichy government under Pétain. In 1935, made relations with Italy a priority; 1940–44, a strong advocate of collaboration with Germany. Executed for treason in 1945, after failing to commit sucide.
MacDonald, James Ramsay (1886–1937) Labour statesman, and first Prime Minister of a Labour government in Britain, 1923. Prime Minister of Labour government 1929–31, at the time of the onset of economic depression; then head of National government, 1931–5. Much concerned with the Disarmament Conference, 1932–4, and influenced the early stages of the policy of appeasement.
Mussolini, Benito (1883–1945) Fascist leader and dictator of Italy. Socialist militant before First World War, then became ardent nationalist and advocate of Italian entry into war. Served in the Army during the war. Prime Minister and Duce, 1922–43, ruling with a mixture of dynamism, propaganda and pretence. Concluded Lateran agreements with the Vatican, 1929. Took Italy into the Axis alliance with Nazi Germany, and into the Second World War in June 1940, with disastrous results. Summarily executed by Italian partisans, 28 April 1945.
Pétain, Marshal Philippe (1856–1951) Marshal of France and hero of First World War. Exercised strong influence on French military policy, 1920s and early 1930s. Appointed as minister in Reynaud's government, May 1940; Prime Minister, 16 June. Concluded armistices with Germany and Italy. Head of Vichy government, 1940–44. Met Hitler at Montoire, October 1940, and adopted policy of ‘collaboration’, but left it largely undefined.
Ribbentrop, Joachim von (1893–1946) Nazi politician and diplomat. Wine merchant; joined Nazi Party in 1932, and became Hitler's adviser on foreign policy. Negotiated Anglo-German Naval Agreement, 1935. German Ambassador in London, 1935–8. Foreign Minister, 1938–45. Took leading role on the German side in negotiating the Nazi-Soviet Pact, August 1939. Tried at Nuremberg, condemned to death and executed, 1946.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1882–1945) American statesman; President (Democrat) of United States, 1933–45. Launched New Deal to bring USA out of the depression. In foreign policy, followed a policy of neutrality and non-involvement in European affairs for most of the 1930s. Sent telegram to Chamberlain after Munich: ‘Good man’. Later moved cautiously towards opposition to Nazi Germany.
Stalin, Joseph (1879–1953) Communist leader; Soviet dictator and statesman. Head of Soviet government, 1924–53, and for most of that time the unquestioned leader and idol of European communists. Adopted policy of Socialism in one country in late 1920s, in opposition to Trotsky. Transformed Soviet economy by collectivisation of agriculture and rapid development of heavy industry; carried out great purges and repression, 1930s. Concluded Non-Aggression Pact with Germany, August 1939, securing Soviet control over much of eastern Europe. Taken by surprise by German assault, 22 June 1941.
Further Reading
The following is a selection from the mass of material on the origins of the Second World War in Europe. It is related to the topics dealt with in this book, and is restricted to books available in English. The arrangement is inevitably somewhat arbitrary, so that, for example, a book dealing with Nazi Germany may be placed under either ‘Ideology’ or ‘Germany’.
1. General
· Anthony P. Adamthwaite, The Making of the Second World War (2nd edn). London 1979.
· M. F. Boemeke, G. D. Feldman and E. Glaser (eds), The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment after 75 Years. Cambridge 1998.
· Robert Boyce and Joseph Maiolo (eds), The Origins of World War Two: The Debate Continues. Basingstoke 2003.
· Robert Boyce and Esmonde M. Robertson (eds), Paths to War: New essays on the origins of the Second World War. London 1989.
· Peter Calvocoressi and Guy Wint, Total War. Causes and courses of the Second World War. London 1972.
· Patrick Finney (ed.), The Origins of the Second World War. London 1997.
· Ruth Henig (ed.), The League of Nations. Edinburgh 1973.
· W. Roger Louis (ed.), The Origins of the Second World War. A. J. P. Taylor and his critics. New York 1972.
· Margaret MacMillan, The Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and its Attempt to End War. London 2001.
· Sally Marks, The Ebbing of European Ascendancy: An International History of the World, 1914–1945. London 2002.
· Sally Marks, The Illusion of Peace. International relations in Europe, 1918–1933. 2nd edn, Basingstoke 2003.
· Gordon Martel (ed.), ‘The Origins of the Second World War’ Reconsidered. The A. J. P. Taylor debate after twenty-five years. London 1986.
· Reynolds M. Salerno, Vital Crossroads: Mediterranean Origins of the Second World War. London 2002.
· Alan Sharp, The Versailles Settlement: Peacemaking in Paris, 1919. London 1991.
· Zara Steiner, The Lights that Failed: European International History, 1919–1933. Oxford 2005.
· A. J. P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War. London 1961; reprinted with new preface, 1963.
2. Ideology
· Pierre Ayçoberry, The Nazi Question. An essay on the interpretations of National Socialism, 1922–1975 (Eng. tr.). London 1981.
· David Caute, Communism and the French Intellectuals, 1914–1960. London 1964.
· David Caute, The Fellow Travellers. London 1973.
· Federico Chabod, A History of Italian Fascism (Eng. tr.). London 1963.
· Richard J. Evans, In Hitler's Shadow. German historians and the attempt to escape from the Nazi past. London 1989.
· Richard Griffiths, Fellow Travellers of the Right. British enthusiasts for Nazi Germany, 1933–39. London 1980.
· Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (Eng. tr., with introd. by D. C. Watt). London 1974.
· Adolf Hitler, Hitler's Secret Book (Eng. tr., with introd. by Telford Taylor). New York 1961.
· Michael Howard, War and the Liberal Conscience. Oxford 1981.
· Eberhard Jäckel, Hitler's Weltanschauung. A blueprint for power (Eng. tr.). Middletown, Conn. 1972.
· Ian Kershaw, The Nazi Dictatorship. Problems of perspective and interpretation (2nd edn). London 1989.
· MacGregor Knox, Common Destiny: Dictatorship, Foreign Policy and War in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Cambridge 2000.
· Walter Laqueur (ed.), Fascism: a reader's guide. Harmondsworth 1979.
· Michael A. Ledeen, Universal Fascism. The theory and practice of the Fascist International, 1928–1936. New York 1972.
· Adrian Lyttelton (ed.), Italian Fascisms from Pareto to Gentile. London 1973.
· Werner Maser, Hitler's Mein Kampf. An analysis. (Eng. tr.). London 1970.
· Roy Medvedev, Let History Judge. The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism (rev. edn). Oxford 1989.
· Ernst Nolte, Three Faces of Fascism (Eng. tr.). New York 1969.
· Richard Overy, The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia. London 2004.
· Stanley Payne, A History of Fascism, 1914–1945. London 1996.
· Woodruff D. Smith, The Ideological Origins of Nazi Imperalism. Oxford 1986.
· Geoffrey Stoakes, Hitler and the Quest for World Dominion. Leamington Spa 1986.
3. Economic affairs
· D. H. Aldcroft, From Versailles to Wall Street, 1919–1929. London 1977.
· Carlo M. Cipolla (ed.), The Fontana Economic History of Europe: The twentieth century. 2 vols, London 1976. Contemporary Economies. 2 vols, London 1976.
· Patricia Clavin, The Great Depression in Europe. Basingstoke 2000.
· Shephard B. Clough, The Economic History of Modern Italy. New York 1964.
· Martin Fritz, German Steel and Swedish Iron Ore, 1939–1945 (Eng. tr.). Göteborg 1974.
· David E. Kaiser, Economic Diplomacy and the Origins of the Second World War. Princeton 1980.
· Charles P. Kindleberger, The World in Depression, 1929–1939. London 1973.
· A. S. Milward, The German Economy at War. London 1965.
· A. S. Milward, War, Economy and Society, 1939–1945. London 1977.
· Richard Overy, The Nazi Economic Recovery, 1932–1938. London 2nd ed. 1996.
· Richard Overy, War and Economy in the Third Reich. Oxford 1994.
· G. C. Peden, British Rearmament and the Treasury, 1932–1939. Edinburgh 1979.
· Robert Paul Shay, British Rearmament in the Thirties: politics and profits. London 1977.
4. Strategy and armed forces
· Uri Bialer, The Shadow of the Bomber. London 1980.
· Brian Bond, British Military Policy Between the Two World Wars. Oxford 1980.
· Roger Chickering and Stig Förster (eds), The Shadows of Total War: Europe, East Asia and the United States, 1919–1939. Cambridge 2003.
· Matthew Cooper, The German Army, 1933–1945. London 1978.
· Matthew Cooper, The German Air Force, 1933–1945. London 1981.
· Wilhelm Deist, The Wehrmacht and German Rearmament. London 1981.
· P. J. Dennis, Decision by Default. Peacetime conscription and British defence, 1919–1939. London 1972.
· Harold C. Deutsch, Hitler and his Generals: the hidden crisis, January–June 1938. Minneapolis 1974.
· John Erickson, The Soviet High Command. A military-political history, 1918–1941. London 1962.
· Karl-Heinz Frieser, The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West. Annapolis, Md. 2005.
· N. H. Gibbs, Rearmament Policy. London 1976. Vol. I in J. R. M. Butler (ed.), Grand Strategy, in the military series of the British official history of the Second World War.
· David M. Glantz, The Military Strategy of the Soviet Union. A history. London 1992.
· David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War. Lawrence, Kansas 1998.
· John Gooch, Armies in Europe. London 1980.
· Jeffery A. Gunsburg, Divided and Conquered. The French High Command and the defeat of the west, 1940. London 1980.
· F. H. Hinsley et al., British Intelligence in the Second World War, vol. I. London 1979.
· Edward L. Homze, Arming the Luftwaffe. The Reich Air Ministry and the German aircraft industry, 1919–39. Lincoln, Nebraska 1976.
· Michael Howard, The Continental Commitment. The dilemma of British defence policy in the era of two world wars. London 1972.
· H. Montgomery Hyde, British Air Policy between the Wars, 1918–1939. London 1976.
· Talbot C. Imlay, Facing the Second World War: Strategy, Politics and Economics in Britain and France, 1938–1940. Oxford 2003.
· Peter Jackson, France and the Nazi Menace: Intelligence and Policy Making, 1933–39. Oxford 2000.
· B. J. C. McKercher and R. Legault (eds), Military Planning and the Origins of the Second World War in Europe. London 2000.
· Joseph Maiolo, The Royal Navy and Nazi Germany, 1933–39. Basingstoke 1998.
· Ernest R. May (ed.), Knowing One's Enemies. Intelligence assessment before the Two World Wars. Princeton 1984.
· Ernest R. May, Strange Victory: Hitler's Conquest of France. New York 2000.
· Williamson Murray, The Change in the European Balance of Power, 1938–1939, Princeton 1984.
· Williamson Murray, MacGregor Knox and Alvin Bernstein (eds), The Making of Strategy. Rulers, states and war. Cambridge 1994.
· Stephen Roskill, Naval Policy between the Wars. 2 vols. London 1968, 1976.
· Charles S. Thomas, The German Navy in the Nazi Era. London 1990.
· Wesley K. Wark, The Ultimate Enemy. British intelligence and Nazi Germany, 1933–1939. Oxford 1986.
· Donald Cameron Watt, Too Serious a Business. European armed forces and the approach to the Second World War. London 1975.
5. The coming of war, 1935–41
· Christopher Andrew and David Dilks (eds), The Missing Dimension. Governments and intelligence communities in the twentieth century. London 1984.
· Sidney Aster, 1939. The making of the Second World War. London 1973.
· G. W. Baer, Test Case. Italy, Ethiopia and the League of Nations. Stanford 1977.
· J. W. Breugel, Czechoslovakia before Munich. The German minority problem and British appeasement policy. Cambridge 1973.
· Gordon Brook-Shepherd, Anschluss. The rape of Austria. London 1963.
· P. Broué and E. Témime, Revolution and Civil War in Spain (Eng. tr.). London 1972.
· Thomas Buchanan, Britain and the Spanish Civil War. Cambridge 1997.
· William Carr, Poland to Pearl Harbor. The making of the Second World War. London 1985.
· Robert Cecil, Hitler's Decision to Invade Russia, 1941. London 1975.
· John F. Coverdale, Italian Intervention in the Spanish Civil War. Princeton 1975.
· Martin van Creveld, Hitler's Strategy, 1940–1941: the Balkan clue. Cambridge 1973.
· Andrew J. Crozier, Appeasement and Germany's Last Bid for Colonies. London 1988.
· David Dilks and John Erickson (eds), Barbarossa. The Axis and the Allies. Edinburgh 1994.
· J. T. Emmerson, The Rhineland Crisis, 7 March 1936. London 1977.
· Frank Hardie, The Ethiopian Crisis. London 1974.
· Walther Hofer, War Premeditated, 1939 (Eng. tr.). London 1955.
· Gottfried-Karl Kindermann, Hitler's Defeat in Austria, 1933–1934. Europe's first containment of Nazi expansionism (Eng. tr.). London 1988.
· Richard Lamb, Mussolini and the British. London 1997.
· John Lukacs, The Last European War, September 1939–December 1941. London 1977.
· J. W. Morley (ed.), Deterrent Diplomacy. Japan, Germany and the USSR, 1935–1940. New York 1976.
· L. B. Namier, Diplomatic Prelude, 1938–1939. London 1950.
· Anita Prazmowska, Britain, Poland and the Eastern Front, 1939. Cambridge 1987.
· Anita Prazmowska, Eastern Europe and the Origins of the Second World War. Basingstoke 2000.
· Paul Preston, Franco. A biography. London 1993.
· Geoffrey Roberts, The Unholy Alliance. Stalin's pact with Hitler. Bloomington, Indiana 1989.
· William R. Rock, Chamberlain and Roosevelt. British foreign policy and the United States, 1937–1940. Columbus, Ohio, 1988.
· Telford Taylor, Munich. The price of peace. London 1979.
· Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War (3rd edn). Harmondsworth 1977.
· Christopher Thorne, The Approach of War, 1938–1939. London 1967.
· Mario Toscano, The Origins of the Pact of Steel (Eng. tr.). Baltimore 1967.
· Piotr S. Wandycz, The Twilight of French Eastern Alliances, 1926–1936. Princeton 1988.
· Donald Cameron Watt, How War Came. The immediate origins of the Second World War, 1938–1939. London 1989.
· Gerhard L. Weinberg, The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany. Diplomatic revolution in Europe, 1933–1936. Chicago 1970.
· Gerhard L. Weinberg, The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany. Starting World War II. Chicago 1980.
· Elizabeth Wiskemann, The Rome-Berlin Axis (rev. edn). London 1960.
6. Particular countries
Britain
· David Carlton, Anthony Eden. London 1981.
· Martin Ceadel, Pacifism in Britain, 1914–1945. Oxford 1980.
· John Charmley, Chamberlain and the Lost Peace. London 1989.
· Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War, vol. I, The Gathering Storm. London 1948.
· Richard Cockett, Twilight of Truth. Chamberlain, appeasement and the manipulation of the press. London 1989.
· David Dilks (ed.), Retreat from Power. Studies in Britain's foreign policy in the twentieth century (2 vols). London 1981.
· David Dutton, Austen Chamberlain. Gentleman in politics. Bolton 1985.
· David Dutton, Simon. A political biography of Sir John Simon. London 1992.
· David Dutton, Anthony Eden: A life and reputation. London 1997.
· David Dutton, Neville Chamberlain. London 2000.
· Franklin Reid Gannon, The British Press and Germany, 1936–1939. Oxford 1971.
· Christopher Hill, Cabinet Decisions on Foreign Policy. The British experience, October 1938–June 1941. Cambridge 1991.
· C. A. MacDonald, The United States, Britain and Appeasement, 1936–1939. London 1981.
· B. J. C. McKercher, Transition of Power: Britain's Loss of Global Pre-eminence to the United States, 1930–45. Cambridge 1999.
· Patricia Meehan, The Unnecessary War. Whitehall and the German resistance to Hitler. London 1992.
· Keith Middlemas, Diplomacy of Illusion. The British government and Germany, 1937–39. London 1972.
· John F. Naylor, Labour's International Policy. The Labour Party in the 1930s. London 1969.
· Simon Newman, March 1939. The British guarantee to Poland. Oxford 1976.
· R. A. C. Parker, Chamberlain and Appeasement. British policy and the coming of the Second World War. London 1993.
· David Reynolds, The Creation of the Anglo-American Alliance, 1937–41. London 1981.
· Andrew Roberts, The Holy Fox. A biography of Lord Halifax. London 1991.
· William R. Rock, British Appeasement in the 1930s. London 1977.
Britain
· Anthony P. Adamthwaite, France and the Coming of the Second World War, 1936–1939. London 1977.
· Anthony P. Adamthwaite, Grandeur and Misery. France's bid for power in Europe, 1914–1940. London 1995.
· Martin Alexander, The Republic in Danger. General Maurice Gamelin and the politics of French defence, 1933–1940. Cambridge 1992.
· Robert Boyce (ed.), French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918–1940: The Decline and Fall of a Great Power. London 1998.
· Joel G. Colton, Léon Blum. Humanist in politics. New York 1966.
· Nicole Jordan, The Popular Front and Central Europe. The dilemmas of French impotence 1918–1940. Cambridge 1992.
· J. Néré, The Foreign Policy of France from 1914 to 1945 (Eng. tr.). London 1975.
· Alan Sharp and Glyn Stone (eds), Anglo-French Relations in the Twentieth Century: Rivalry and Co-operation. London 2000.
Germany
· K. D. Bracher, The German Dictatorship (Eng. tr.). Harmondsworth 1973.
· Alan Bullock, Hitler. A study in tyranny (rev. edn). Harmondsworth 1962.
· M. Burleigh, The Third Reich: A New History. London 2000.
· William Carr, Arms, Autarky and Aggression. A study in German foreign policy, 1933–1939. London 1972.
· William Carr, Hitler. A study in personality and politics. London 1978.
· Gordon A. Craig, Germany 1866–1945. Oxford 1978.
· Joachim Fest, Hitler (Eng. tr.). Harmondsworth 1977.
· Milan Hauner, Hitler. A chronology of his life and times. London 1983.
· Klaus Hildebrand, The Foreign Policy of the Third Reich (Eng. tr.). London 1973.
· Klaus Hildebrand, German Foreign Policy from Bismarck to Adenauer (Eng. tr.). London 1989.
· David Irving, Goebbels. Mastermind of the Third Reich. London 1996.
· Ian Kershaw, Hitler, Vol. I, 1889–1936: Hubris; vol. II, 1936–1945: Nemesis. London 1998, 2000.
· Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, Germany and the Second World War (Eng. tr.). Vol. I, The Build-up of German Aggression. Oxford 1990. Vol. II, Germany's Initial Conquests in Europe. Oxford 1991. Vol. III, The Mediterranean, South-east Europe and North Africa, 1939–1941. Oxford 1995. Vol. IV, The Attack on the Soviet Union. Oxford 1998.
· Hans Mommsen, From Weimar to Auschwitz. Essays in German history (Eng. tr.). Cambridge 1991.
· Richard Overy, Goering. The ‘Iron Man’. London 1984.
· Norman Rich, Hitler's War Aims (2 vols). London 1973–1974.
· Paul Seabury, The Wilhelmstrasse. A study of German diplomats under the Nazi regime. Berkeley 1954.
· Gerhard L. Weinberg, Germany, Hitler and World War II. Essays in modern German and world history. Cambridge 1995.
Italy
· R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini. London 2000.
· R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini's Italy: Life under the Dictatorship, 1915–1945. London 2005.
· A. Cassels, Mussolini's Early Diplomacy. Princeton 1971.
· Galleazzo Ciano, Ciano's Diary, 1939–1943 (Eng. tr., ed. with an introd. by Malcolm Muggeridge). London 1947.
· MacGregor Knox, Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941. Politics and strategy in Fascist Italy's last war. Cambridge 1982.
· Robert Mallett, Mussolini and the Origins of the Second World War. Basingstoke 2003.
· Esmonde M. Robertson, Mussolini as Empire-Builder. Europe and Africa, 1932–36. London 1977.
· Denis Mack Smith, Mussolini. London 1981.
· Denis Mack Smith, Mussolini's Roman Empire. Harmondsworth 1979.
Poland
· Anna Cienciala and Titus Komarnicki, From Versailles to Locarno. Keys to Polish foreign policy, 1919–1925. Lawrence, Kansas 1984.
· Anna M. Cienciala, Poland and the Western Powers, 1938–39. London 1968.
· Roman Debicki, The Foreign Policy of Poland, 1919–1939. London 1963.
· W. Jedrzewicz (ed.), Diplomat in Berlin, 1933–1939. Papers and memoirs of Jozef Lipski. New York 1968.
· W. Jedrzewicz (ed.), Diplomat in Paris, 1936–1939. Papers and memoirs of Juliuz Lukasiewicz. New York 1970.
· R. F. Leslie (ed.), The History of Poland since 1863. Cambridge 1980.
Soviet Union
· Gabriel Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia. London 1999.
· Jonathan Haslam, The Soviet Union and the Struggle for Collective Security in Europe, 1933–39. London 1984.
· Jonathan Haslam, The Soviet Union and the Threat from the East, 1933–41. London 1992.
· Ronald Hingley, Joseph Stalin: man and legend. London 1974.
· George F. Kennan, Russia and the West under Lenin and Stalin. London 1961.
· Silvio Pons, Stalin and the Inevitable War, 1936–1941. London 2002.
· Adam B. Ulam, Expansion and Co-existence. The history of Soviet foreign policy, 1918–67. London 1968.
· Adam B. Ulam, Stalin. London 1974.
· Dmitri Volkogonov, Stalin, Triumph and tragedy (Eng. tr.). London 1991.
USA
· Robert A. Dallek, Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945. Oxford 1979.
· R. A. Divine, The Illusion of Neutrality. Chicago 1962.
· W. L. Langer and S. E. Gleason, The Challenge to Isolation. New York 1952.
· W. L. Langer and S. E. Gleason, The Undeclared War, 1940–1941. New York 1953.
· A. A. Offner, American Appeasement. United States foreign policy and Germany, 1933–1938. Cambridge, Mass. 1969.
· David F. Schmitz and Richard D. Challener (eds), Appeasement in Europe. A reassessment of US policies. Westport, Conn. 1990.
Other countries
· Elisabeth Barker, Austria 1918–1972. London 1973.
· R. J. Crampton, Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century. London 1994.
· Josef Korbel, Twentieth-century Czechoslovakia. New York 1977.
· Dov B. Lungu, Romania and the Great Powers, 1933–1940. Durham, NC 1989.
· C. A. Macartney and A. W. Palmer, Independent Eastern Europe, 1919–1941. London 1962.
· Robin Okey, Eastern Europe 1740–1985 (2nd edn). London 1986.
· Antony Polonsky, The Little Dictators. The history of eastern Europe since 1918. London 1975.
· Joseph Rothschild, East Central Europe Between the Two World Wars. Seattle 1974.
· Patrick Salmon, Scandinavia and the Great Powers, 1890–1940. Cambridge 1997.
· W. V. Wallace, Czechoslovakia. London 1977.
Maps
MAP 1 Europe in 1919, showing changes from 1914
Source: ‘Europe Between the Wars’ by Martin Kitchen (Longman, 2006)
MAP 2 Germany and the Treaty of Versailles
Source: Sally Marks, The Illusion of Peace (Palgrave, 2003), p. viii.
MAP 3 Eastern Europe, 1921–38
Source: Sally Marks, The Illusion of Peace (Palgrave, 2003), p. ix.
MAP 4 The Mediterranean in the 1930s
Source: Michael Simpson, ed., The Cunningham Papers. vol. I (Navy Records Society, 1999), p. 12.
MAP 5 Ethiopia (Abyssinia), showing the Hoare-Laval proposals of December 1935
Source: A. J. Barker, The Civilising Mission: The Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935–6 (Cassel, 1968), p. 195.
MAP 6 The Spanish Civil War: the division of Spain, August 1936
Source: Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War, 3rd edition (Pelican Books, 1977), p. 402.
MAP 7 Czechoslovakia in 1938, showing the territories ceded to Germany at Munich, and to Hungary and Poland later
MAP 8 The partition of Poland, 1939
MAP 9 The expansion of Germany, 1937–41