world war ii - assets · world war ii a new history this is a magisterial new global history of...
TRANSCRIPT
World War IIA New History
This is a magisterial new global history of World War II.
Beginning in 1937 with the outbreak of the Sino–Japanese War,
Evan Mawdsley shows how the origins of World War II lay in a
conflict between the old international order and the new, and
then traces the globalisation of the conflict as it swept through
Asia, Europe and the Middle East. His primary focus is on the
war’s military and strategic history, though he also examines the
political, economic, ideological and cultural factors which
influenced the course of events. The war’s consequences are
examined too, in terms not only of the defeat of the Axis but also
of the break-up of colonial empires and the beginning of the
Cold War. Accessibly written and well-illustrated with maps and
photographs, this compelling new account also includes short
studies of the key figures, events and battles that shaped the war.
Evan Mawdsley is Professor of International History in the
Department of History, University of Glasgow. His previous
publications include The Russian Civil War (1983/2008), The
Soviet Elite from Lenin to Gorbachev: The Central Committee and
its Members, 1917–1991 (with Stephen White, 2000), The Stalin
Years: The Soviet Union, 1929–1953 (2003) and Thunder in the
East: The Nazi–Soviet War, 1941–1945 (2005).
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
World
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
War IIA New History
EVAN MAWDSLEY
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521608435
c© Evan Mawdsley 2009
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 20092014
Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Mawdsley, Evan, 1945–
World War II : a new history / Evan Mawdsley
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-521-84592-2 (hbk.) – ISBN 978-0-521-60843-5 (pbk.)
1. World War, 1939–1945. I. Title.
D743.M366 2009
940.53 – dc22 2009015410
ISBN 978-0-521-84592-2 Hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-60843-5 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to
in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such
websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom
Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.
It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
4th printing
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
Contents
Acknowledgements page xiii
Introduction 1
1 The world in 1937 10
2 Japan and China, 1937–1940 52
3 Hitler’s border wars, 1938–1939 74
4 Germany re-fights World War I, 1939–1940 104
5 Wars of ideology, 1941–1942 134
6 The Red Army versus the Wehrmacht, 1941–1944 164
7 Japan’s lunge for empire, 1941–1942 188
8 Defending the perimeter: Japan, 1942–1944 214
9 The ‘world ocean’ and Allied victory, 1939–1945 248
10 The European periphery, 1940–1944 284
11 Wearing down Germany, 1942–1944 320
12 Victory in Europe, 1944–1945 364
13 End and beginning in Asia, 1945 406
14 Conclusion 438
Further reading 452
Notes 470
Index 476
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
Illustrations
1 Joseph Stalin. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library
and Museum. page 34
2 Benito Mussolini. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,
courtesy of NARA, College Park. 36
3 Adolf Hitler. Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1990-048-29A. 40
4 Jiang Jieshi. Getty Images. 58
5 Prince Konoe. Bernard Hoffman / Time & Life Pictures / Getty
Images. 62
6 Heinkel 111 bomber. Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-C0214-0007-013. 81
7 Winston Churchill. c© Bildarchiv Preußicher
Kulturbestiz (bpk). 116
8 General Erich von Manstein. Bundesarchiv/Koch, Bild
101I-209-0086-12. 121
9 Supermarine Spitfire. c© Bildarchiv Preußischer
Kulturbestiz (bpk). 128
10 Marshal Georgii Zhukov. With the permission of The Trustees of the
Imperial War Museum, London. RUS 1191. 149
11 The rasputitsa. Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1977-143-15. 155
12 Auschwitz. May 1944. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy
of Yad Vashem. Bernhardt Walter / Ernst Hofmann. 162
13 T-34 tank. Bundesarchiv/Hodea, 1943, Bild 101I-240-2130-04. 168
14 The German retreat across the Ukraine. Bundesarchiv/Scheerer, Bild
101I-708-0299-06. 183
15 President Franklin D. Roosevelt. US Naval Historical Center, US
National Archives. 200
16 General Tojo Hideki. From the National Diet Library website,
with permission. 204
17 The Casablanca Conference. c© Bildarchiv Preußischer
Kulturbestiz (bpk). 218
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii
18 ‘Essex’ class aircraft carriers. US Naval Historical Center,
US National Archives. 222
19 Type IX U-boat. With permission of Captain Gerald Mason,
U-boat Archive. 257
20 Liberty ship. US Naval Historical Center. 275
21 Landing Ship Tank. Source: US Naval Historical Center, US
Coast Guard Collection in the US National Archives. 300
22 General George C. Marshall. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential
Library and Museum. 302
23 Fordism. The Air Force Historical Research Agency. 334
24 North American P-51 Mustang. National Museum
of the USAF. 344
25 Soviet Partisans. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of
Museum of the Great Patriotic War / Faye Schulman (Faigel
Lazebnik). 354
26 General Dwight D. Eisenhower. November 16, 1944. US
Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of NARA, College Park. 368
27 MULBERRY Harbour. US Naval Historical Center. 370
28 Sherman tank. US Naval Historical Center. 378
29 Kamikaze. US Naval Historical Center. 414
30 President Harry S. Truman c© Bildarchiv Preußischer
Kulturbesitz (bpk) / Bayerische Staatsbibliothek / Archiv
Heinrich Hoffmann. 417
31 The Emperor inspects fire damage. Time & Life Pictures / Getty
Images / Carl Mydans. 423
Chapter frontispiece illustrations
Introduction The heavy cruiser Augusta. US Naval Historical Center,
courtesy of Capt. P. Henry, Jr, USN (ret.). xiv
Chapter 1 The ‘Tower of Empire’ at the 1938 British Empire
Exhibition. c© Newsquest (H & T) Glasgow Herald & Times. 10
Chapter 2 A devastated street in Chongqing. Popperfoto / Getty
Images / Haynes Archive. 52
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Chapter 3 German artillery moves into Poland. Bundesarchiv/Falk,
Bild 101I-012-0012-05. 74
Chapter 4 German artillerymen parade in Paris.
Bundesarchiv / Heinz Fremke, Bild 101I-126-0350-26A. 104
Chapter 5 German troops search a captured Red Army soldier.
Source: Bundesarchiv / Bruno Plenik, Bild 101I-136-0877-08. 134
Chapter 6 A Soviet soldier waves the red flag in Stalingrad.
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-W0506-316. 164
Chapter 7 The fall of Singapore. With the permission of The
Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London. HU 2781. 188
Chapter 8 The aircraft carrier Zuikaku manoeuvres under American
air attack. US Naval Historical Center, US National Archives. 214
Chapter 9 An American convoy. US Naval Historical Center,
US National Archives. 248
Chapter 10 Italian soldiers in Libya. Bundesarchiv/Moosmuller,
Bild 101I-783-0104-09. 284
Chapter 11 B-24 Liberators over Ploesti. National Museum of the
US Air Force. 320
Chapter 12 ‘Stalin’ tanks at the Reichstag. Getty Images / Victor
Temin. 364
Chapter 13 The atomic cloud over Hiroshima. UN Photo / Mitsuo
Matsushige. 406
Chapter 14 First Session of the United Nations Security Council.
UN Photo/Marcel Bolomey. 438
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
Maps
1 The old world order, 1937 page 16
2 Japanese advances by diplomacy and conquest, 1937–1941 63
3 German advances by diplomacy and conquest, 1936–1940 77
4 Germany defeats France, 1940 108
5 The German invasion of Russia, 1941–1942 148
6 The Soviet–German front, 1943–1944 172
7 Japan’s war of conquest, 1941–1942 194
8 Japan’s defensive war, 1942–1945 224
9 Oceanic supply routes 254
10 The Mediterranean and North Africa, 1941–1944 288
11 The strategic air campaign in Europe 338
12 The campaign in the West, 1944 367
13 The defeat of Germany, 1944–1945 382
14 The defeat of Japan, 1944–1945 409
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
Boxes
1 The major powers: relative strength page 14
2 The Treaty of Washington 29
3 The ‘united front’ 32
4 General Ludendorff and total war 46
5 The Tokyo War Crimes Trial 55
6 Manchuria 56
7 The Nanjing massacre 64
8 The Japanese ‘new order’ 68
9 Reflections of Admiral Raeder, 3 September 1939 82
10 The American Neutrality Acts 88
11 The Nuremberg Judgment, 30 September 1946 90
12 Prime Minister Chamberlain announces war 97
13 The panzer division 98
14 The Stuka attack on Sedan 123
15 Dunkirk 125
16 Their finest hour 127
17 Air combat 132
18 Rudolph Hess flies to Britain 138
19 The purge of the Red Army 141
20 The Suvorov controversy 144
21 The Einsatzgruppen 160
22 Not one step backwards! 170
23 Alexander Werth at Stalingrad 176
24 The Waffen-SS 181
25 The Katyn massacre 184
26 The Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere 192
27 The Burma Road 197
28 Pearl Harbor: conspiracy theories 208
29 Tokyo goes to war 210
30 Germany first? 220
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
LIST OF BOXES xi
31 The Indian Army 235
32 Tarawa 242
33 The loss of SS Avoceta 259
34 The Battle of the Atlantic 261
35 ULTRA and Bletchley Park 263
36 Technology and the Allied victory at sea 264
37 Japanese merchant shipping 272
38 The Battle of Cape Matapan 290
39 Crete 292
40 Allied conferences 307
41 Salerno 310
42 Production statistics 324
43 Armament in breadth 328
44 Lend-Lease 336
45 The strategic air battle over Europe 340
46 The bombing of Hamburg 342
47 The Resistance 348
48 The Warsaw Uprising 359
49 The 20 July 1944 bomb plot 362
50 General de Gaulle’s walk down the Champs Elysees 374
51 Deep battle 384
52 The Volkssturm 390
53 Yalta 392
54 The kokutai 418
55 The Potsdam Declaration 425
56 Hiroshima 427
57 The Historikerstreit 443
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank friends and colleagues who, despite being busy with
their own research and teaching, took the time to read drafts of this book:
Simon Ball, William Buckingham, Alex Marshall, Rana Mitter, Phillips
O’Brien, Geoffrey Roberts, Ben Shepherd, and Alan Smith. Their expert
advice usually came with the polite proviso that I was free to ignore it, but
in almost all cases there was no further doubt in my mind. The anonymous
reader for Cambridge University Press also provided encouragement and
sensible counsel. Michael Watson, my editor, took special care to look at the
book as it progressed and made many helpful suggestions on how to make
the concept both digestible and attractive. Any errors, misjudgements, and
infelicities remain my own responsibility.
Finally, this book is dedicated to my family – Gillian, Michael, and Robyn.
Having put up with a decade of the Eastern Front, they endured yet another
World War II book. Despite all this their interest in History has survived.
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information
The heavy cruiser Augusta, flagship of the US Asiatic Fleet, anchored inthe Huangpu River in August 1937. Shanghai burns in the background atthe start of fighting there between the Chinese and the Japanese. After1941 Augusta fought an action-filled war in European waters, escortingconvoys to Russia and supporting with her heavy guns the Allied landingsin North Africa and France. Augusta transported President Harry Trumanto and from Europe for the Potsdam Conference in July and August 1945.While sailing home in Augusta, eight years after the Shanghai fighting, thePresident released the news about the atomic attack on Hiroshima.
www.cambridge.org© in this web service Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84592-2 - World War II: A New HistoryEvan MawdsleyFrontmatterMore information