World War II A New History

This is a revised and updated edition of Evan Mawdsley's acclaimed global history of World War II. Beginning with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Evan Mawdsley shows how the war's origins lay in a conflict between the old international order and the new and traces its globalisation as it swept through Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The primary focus is on the war's military and strategic history, though also examines the political, economic, ideological and cultural factors which influenced the course of events. The war's consequences are examined too, not only in terms of the defeat of the Axis but also of the break-up of colonial empires and the beginning of the Cold War. Accessibly written and well-illustrated with maps and photographs, the book also includes insightful short studies of the figures, events and battles that shaped the war, as well as fully updated guides to further reading.

Preface to Second Edition; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The World in 1937; 2. Japan and China, 1937–1940; 3. Hitler's border wars, 1938–1939; 4. Germany re-fights World War I, 1939–1940; 5. Wars of ideology, 1941–1942; 6. The Red Army versus the Wehrmacht, 1942–1944; 7. Japan's lunge for empire, 1941–1942; 8. Defending the perimeter: Japan, 1942–1944; 9. The 'World Ocean' and allied victory, 1939–1945; 10. The European periphery, 1940–1944; 11. Wearing down Germany, 1942–1944; 12. Victory in Europe, 1944–1945; 13. End and beginning in Asia, 1945; 14. Conclusion; Further reading; Notes; Index.

Evan Mawdsley is an Honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow. His extensive teaching experience at Glasgow included a specialist course on the grand strategy of World War II. He is the author of a number of recent important books and articles on World War II, including Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War (2006/2015), December 1941: Twelve Days that Began a New World War (2009), and The War for the Seas: A Maritime History of World War II (2019). He was also general editor of the three-volume Cambridge History of the Second World War (2016).