The drift to war, 1922-1939 - Hardcover

Lamb, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1852271167 ISBN 13: 9781852271169

Publisher: W.H. Allen, 1989

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

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

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.

From Publishers Weekly

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: W.H. Allen
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1852271167
• ISBN 13: 9781852271169
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 372