France and the Origins of the Second World War

Robert J. YoungHistory
France and the Origins of the Second World War

Author: Robert J. Young

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 9781349248902

Category: History

Page: 200

View: 355

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France's drift into war and subsequent collapse have often been attributed to her level of confidence. Either she had too much, or too little. This work contends that these two moods were not mutually exclusive, that they coexisted throughout the interwar years, sustained by competing visions of the Republic and of the best way to ensure national security. Early chapters describe the tensions within French interwar foreign policy, as well as the ensuing historiographical tensions among scholars intent on interpreting the French experience. Subsequent chapters explore tensions in defence and economic policies, domestic politics and ideological allegiance, public attitudes and opinion.

The Second World War

Nick SmartSocial Science
The Second World War

Author: Nick Smart

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781351125864

Category: Social Science

Page: 538

View: 419

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The significant and sustained popular interest in the Second World War is matched by the scale and scope of scholarly engagement in the subject. The articles selected for this volume cover a wide range of topics reflecting the fact that the largest recorded war in history and the most intense period of global instability in the twentieth century, was fought by many different states, large and small, over differing periods of time and for many different reasons. In an area where there is no shortage of material to choose from, the articles presented here are distinguished for their depth of scholarship, stylistic elegance and inter-disciplinary confidence.

Anglo-French Defence Relations Between the Wars

M. AlexanderHistory
Anglo-French Defence Relations Between the Wars

Author: M. Alexander

Publisher: Springer

ISBN: 9780230554481

Category: History

Page: 231

View: 942

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This collection of essays reviews the politico-military relationship between Britain and France between the two World Wars. As well as examining the relationship between the two nations' armed services, the book's contributors also analyse key themes in Anglo-French inter-war defence politics - disarmament, intelligence and imperial defence - and joint military, political and economic preparations for a second world war.

Vital Crossroads

Reynolds Mathewson SalernoEurope
Vital Crossroads

Author: Reynolds Mathewson Salerno

Publisher: Cornell University Press

ISBN: 0801437725

Category: Europe

Page: 324

View: 516

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Most international historians present the outbreak of World War II as the result of an irreconcilable conflict between Great Britain and Germany. This ubiquitous Anglo-German perspective fails to recognize complex causes and repercussions of international events, misappropriates historical responsibilities, and overlooks many global and imperial factors of the war's origins. Reynolds M. Salerno shows that the situation in the Mediterranean played a decisive role in the European drama of the late 1930s and profoundly influenced the manner in which the Second World War unfolded. Vital Crossroads is the result of the author's remarkable access to and extensive research in twenty-eight archives in five different countries. Concentrating on the period from the Mediterranean crisis of 1935 to Italy's declaration of war in June 1940, Salerno demonstrates that the international politics of pre-World War II Europe?particularly in the Mediterranean?can only be understood as the multilateral interaction of British, French, German, and Italian foreign and defense policies. Control of the Mediterranean, he asserts, was a central concern for the European powers in 1935?40, and a fundamental reason why Europe went to war and why the conflict unfolded as it did. As a result, France and Italy influenced and often determined the nature and direction of Allied and Axis policy to an extent disproportionate to their nations' military and economic strength. Salerno contends that the Allies' reluctance to take decisive action against Fascist Italy in 1939?40 contributed to the fall of France in 1940, Britain's desperate situation in 1940?41, and the post-war collapse of Britain as a world power. At a time when the Allied powers dreaded the ability of the German military to march across the European continent, they also feared that the Italian armed forces would strive to fulfill Mussolini's grand imperial ambitions in the Mediterranean.

Mussolini's Propaganda Abroad

Manuela WilliamsHistory
Mussolini's Propaganda Abroad

Author: Manuela Williams

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781134244416

Category: History

Page: 256

View: 285

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This is the first major study in English of Fascist Italy’s overseas propaganda. Using rare Italian and French captured documents, this is also the first investigation into the relationship between Mussolini’s regime and Arab nationalist movements This new account covers propaganda and subversive activities engineered by the Italian government in the Mediterranean and the Middle East from 1935 until 1940, when Italy entered the war. It assesses the nature of the challenge brought by the Fascist regime to British security and colonial interests in the region. Fascist propaganda, in particular in the Arab Middle East, must be regarded as an expression of Mussolini’s foreign policy and his attempts to build an Italian empire that would stretch beyond the Mediterranean, gaining control over the exits, Gibraltar and Suez, which were in the hands of the British and the French. The activities of individual agents and organizations are carefully reconstructed and analyzed to highlight the seemingly contradictory objectives of the Italian government: on the one hand, Rome was courting the Arab nationalist movements in Egypt and Palestine, which were seeking the support of external forces capable of providing political, financial and military backing needed to overthrow foreign rulers; on the other, the regime was promoting further territorial expansion in Africa. These aspects build into an excellent picture of this fascinating period of modern history. This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars of politics, media, Italian history and propaganda.

Anglo-French Relations since the Late Eighteenth Century

Glyn StonePolitical Science
Anglo-French Relations since the Late Eighteenth Century

Author: Glyn Stone

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781317997825

Category: Political Science

Page: 301

View: 318

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This work, intended to commemorate the centenary of the Entente Cordiale in 2004, examines aspects of Anglo-French relations since the late eighteenth century when both Britain and France were pre-eminent great powers at war with one another through to the post-Second World War period when both had become rival second class powers in the face of American and Soviet dominance. The chapters in this book examine and illuminate the nature of the Anglo-French relationship at certain periods during the last two hundred years, both in peacetime and in war and include political, economic, diplomatic, military and strategic considerations and influences. While the impact of Anglo-French relations is centred essentially on the European context, other areas are also considered including the Middle East, Africa and the North Atlantic. The elements of conflict, rivalry and cooperation in Anglo-French relations are also highlighted whether in peace or war. This book was previously published as a special issue of Diplomacy and Statecraft.

Anglo-French Relations in the Twentieth Century

Alan SharpHistory
Anglo-French Relations in the Twentieth Century

Author: Alan Sharp

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781134690732

Category: History

Page: 368

View: 889

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Anglo-French Relations in the Twentieth Century is a collection of studies on the key episodes of the difficult and often discordant Anglo-French exchange over the past century. The authors critically re-evaluate: * the role of Spain in Anglo-French relations up to 1918 * the missed opportunity of the 1920s with the failure of France and Britain to find sufficient common ground and co-operation * the short-lived Anglo-French alliance and the Second World War * the degree of Anglo-French Imperial co-operation * the Suez Crisis * British and French policies on European Integration.