The Drift to War 1922-1939 - Hardcover

Lamb, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312058586 ISBN 13: 9780312058586

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1991

Synopsis

Examines the rise of fascism in Europe in the years before World War II and why it was not stopped, arguing that a weak League of Nations and secret negotiations between Neville Chamberlain and Hitler were to blame

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Reviews

In details amassed from memoirs, correspondence, interviews and official archives, British historian Lamb ( Montgomery in Europe ) retraces political events from the 1919 Versailles peace treaty to the outbreak of WW II in 1939. In an interesting if dismal chronicle, Lamb reveals Anthony Eden's bickering with Neville Chamberlain and Mussolini's on-and-off friendly overtures to England, occurring as Hitler pronounced reparations demanded of Germany "unpayable," defied the League of Nations and marshaled the Reich to expansion and revenge. England's and France's defensive alliances with Russia and Italy were thwarted by anticommunist sentiment and by Italy's conquest of Ethiopia and military role in Spain. Most important, by Lamb's account, were the pervasive pacifist outlook in the West and resultant political timidity among British leaders, who with French cooperation might have blocked Hitler's bloodless conquests of Austria and Czechoslovakia and driven him from power early on. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Here, Lamb, a historian (Montgomery in Europe, 1984--not reviewed) and BBC radio commentator, narrates the salient events of that time of ``peace'' following the Great War that nurtured and finally unleashed the dreaded dogs of war in September 1939. Lamb covers ground familiar to many historians, presenting a richly detailed if rather fact-heavy chronology of the time. He implies that among the main causes of WW II were: French intransigence that demanded ultrastrict enforcement of the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles, placing impossible reparation liabilities on a depleted Germany facing starvation and runaway inflation; America's isolationism and abandonment of the League of Nations; and misguided British diplomacy that bullied early German liberals experimenting with a fragile democratic republic, while later appeasing the revenge-seeking Nazi barbarians. Lamb argues that the Depression brought despair to many Germans, who flocked to the savior Hitler and his promise to restore German pride and prosperity. The lack of vision of the self-seeking governments of Britain and France, Lamb implies, as well as the absence of America's democratic influences, allowed colonial competition to linger in a world made more anarchic by a weak League of Nations. Meticulously researched survey of the period that could have been tied together better by including more interpretive essays. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In popular discourse, appeasement is synonymous with cowardice--particularly British pusillanimity. Not surprisingly, English authors repeatedly search for an answer as to why nothing was done to stop the rise of fascism. Conventional wisdom has recourse to the policies of Neville Chamberlain and the effects of the Great Depression. Lamb, however, finds his villains in an earlier period. He indicts the various Anglo-French governments who conspired to destroy the Weimar government and force Italy into an alliance with Germany. It is impossible to say if Italy would have proven an effective counterweight to German expansion, or if the Weimar Republic was a viable alternative to the Third Reich. Lamb raises some interesting questions in this articulate work, but he might do well to consider the international petroleum cartel as a factor in the diplomatic maneuvering of the period. Primarily for academic libraries.
- J.K. Sweeney, South Dakota State Univ., Brookings
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312058586
• ISBN 13: 9780312058586
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 372