A World at Total War: Global Conflict and the Politics of Destruction, 1937-1945 (Publications of the German Historical Institute)
Cambridge University Press, 3/10/2005
EAN 9780521834322, ISBN10: 0521834325
Hardcover, 408 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm
Language: English
This volume presents the results of a fifth and final conference on the history of total war. It is devoted to the Second World War, which many scholars regard as the paradigmatic instance of total war. In considering the validity of this proposition, the authors address a broad range of analytical problems that this vast conflict posed in the arenas of Europe and Asia. They analyze modes of combat, war aims, the mobilization of economies and societies, occupation regimes, the vulnerability of noncombatants, and the legal and moral issues raised by the industrialized warfare of the mid-twentieth century. The volume will be of interest to all students of war and society in the modern era.
Introduction
are we there yet? World War II and a theory of total war Roger Chickering and Stig Förster
Part I. The Dimension of War
1. Total war
the global dimensions of conflict Gerhard L. Weinberg
2. Total war
the conduct of war, 1939–1945 Hew Strachan
3. The ultimate horror
total war and genocide Stig Förster and Myriam Gressler
Part II. Combat
4. Germany and the Battle of the Atlantic Holger Herwig
5. From 'Blitzkrieg' to 'total war'
Germany's war in Europe Jürgen Förster
6. Global yet not total
the US war effort and its consequences Dennis Showalter
Part III. Mobilizing Economies
7. The USSR and total war
why didn't the Soviet economy collapse? Mark Harrison
8. Blood, sweat, and tears
British mobilization for World War II Stephen Broadberry and Peter Howlett
9. The impact of compulsory labor on German society at war Hans Mommsen
Part IV. Mobilizing Societies
10. Fantasy, reality, and modes of perception in Ludendorff's and Goebbels' concepts of 'total war' Martin Kutz
11. The Home Front in 'total war'
women in Germany and Britain in the Second World War Jill Stephenson
12. Women in the Soviet war effort John Barber
13. The spirit of St Louis
mobilizing American politics and society 1937–1945 Bernd Greiner
Part V. The War against non-Combatants
14. Partisan war in the Belorussia, 1941–1944 Hans-Heinrich Nolte
15. Allied bombing and the destruction of German cities Richard Overy
16. 'Accidental judgments, casual slaughters'
Hiroshima, Nagasaki and total war Robert Messer
Part VI. Criminal War
17. Sexual violence and its prosecution
courts martial of the Wehrmacht Birgit Beck
18. Ideologies of difference and the turn to atrocity
Japan's war on China Louise Young
19. On the road to total retribution? The international debate on the punishment of war crimes, 1872–1945 Daniel Segesser
Conclusion
20. Some concluding reflections Michael Howard.