A World at Total War: Global Conflict and the Politics of Destruction, 1937–1945

Name: A World at Total War: Global Conflict and the Politics of Destruction, 1937–1945
Rating: 4.84
ISBN: 9780521155137

ISBN: 9780521155137 出版年：2004 页码：406 Roger Chickering Stig Forster Bernd Greiner Cambridge University Press

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内容简介

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.

Amazon评论

Thomas W. Baughman

Definitions of "total war" and "genocide" are under-developed and inadequate. And then the authors leave out any comments about crimes against humanity and war crimes. References to "total war" and "genocide" are filled out within the ample framework of WWII: bombing policies and practices, targeting civilians, fire-bombing in Dresden and Tokyo, and then atomic bomb attacks in Japan. When extruded through the sieve of Cold War bias, the general discussion becomes lost, appearing to me to be a 21st Century white wash of events that already have significant consensus. What was the point of preparing such a work if the subject matter is to be hobbled in this way? As a result of their format, the authors provide a clean bill of health to the US decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan, this in the face of substantial and even definitive analysis and proof to the contrary. Given that the collection was published in 2005, I wonder why their research and analysis did not include wars in Korea, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Lebanon, Palestine, and iraq. The collection of essays fails on two counts: 1) inadequate development of "total war", "genocide", and related concepts; and, 2) Cold War bias which thoroughly interrupts reasonable consideration of WWII events and their implications for "total war" and "genocide."

Kindle Customer

The 19 essays and the introductory and concluding pieces in this volume make for very interesting reading. As the results of the fifth and final conference (sponsored by the German Historical Institute) on the history of "total war" and the fifth in a series of volumes containing essays on and about the definition, concept, and execution "total war", these examine the Second World War from a different perspective. Included are looks at the battlefields, economies, and societies and whether each was engaged in "total war" and if so, when and how. Some pieces are thought-provoking while others ask questions that may never be answered. From the global dimensions of the conflict to the utilization of women in industry and the military, the essays take a different look at the war. Well worth a read for anyone wanting to understand those parts of the war not addressed elsewhere.

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