The Second World War

Abstract

Compared to the First World War the outbreak and progress of the Second World War seem to require little in the way of analysis or explanation. The Second World War seems clearly ‘Hitler’s War’, one orchestrated by him at a time of his choosing, which lasted of necessity until the Nazi system had been destroyed. However, the straightforward battle against Nazism overlapped with the struggle between competing nationalisms, between socialist and capitalist powers to expand their spheres, among imperialist powers to extend their possessions, and between the imperialist powers and movements of national liberation.