Second World War in Europe,
2nd edition


By S.P. MacKenzie
December 2009
Pearson / Longman
Distributed by Trans-Atlantic Publications
ISBN: 9781405846998
137 pages, Illustrated
$39.50 Paper Original

---

Unlike most other books on the subject this is a very welcome short book on the Second World War in Europe. Dr MacKenzie covers concisely all the major military campaigns, the important economic and social aspects of the war, and wartime diplomacy. After an opening chapter on the origins of the war, there are two main chronological chapters - providing a clear narrative and analysis of events- and two thematic ones looking at issues such as bararism and 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.

Contents

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  

Features

• Succinct and readable treatment of a huge and often complex topic
• Larger format allows for new research and historical debate
• Invaluable primary source material

Author

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 .

 

Return to main page of Trans-Atlantic Publications