Inhalt
| Kommentar |
The Twentieth Century marked the advent of total war, adding significantly to the notion of an Age of Extremes (Hobsbawm). If Europeans had conceived of the Great War 1914-18 as an unprecedented and unique disaster, World War II demonstrated that things could get even worse. The all-out effort to mobilize every available resource or to destroy what could not be employed for one’s own side was a key part of warfare in the Second World War. That the economic dimension lay at the heart of total war, therefore, is common sense. However, historians differ significantly in the conclusions they draw from this fact and the implications it bears for research. Was the Allied victory over the Axis powers unavoidable (and why)? Or did other factors such as political leadership, popular determination et al influence the outcome of the war? When did the war actually start, and which turning-points may be identified? We will not only look at the most important powers involved and at their economic potentials but also at the practice of ‘economic war’. What does it mean for people both in the war-making and in the occupied countries? And how do economic considerations relate to the politics of extermination pursued by Nazi Germany? |
| Literatur |
Mark Harrison, The Economics of World War II. Six Great Powers in International Comparison, Cambridge et al: Cambridge UP, 1998. Richard J. Overy, Why the Allies Won, New York: Norton, 1997. Adam Tooze, The Wages of Destruction. The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy, London: Allen Lane, 2006. |
