World War II in global perspective, 1931-1953 : a short history / Andrew N. Buchanan.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. The crisis of the Old World Order. World War I and the Postwar Settlement -- The Rise of American Power -- Europe in the 1920s -- Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Russia -- Japan, China and the Deepening Conflict in Asia -- 2. The Great Depression and the Opening Guns of World War II. The New Deal -- Depression and Military Expansionism in Japan -- The Rise of Nazi Germany -- Towards the Axis Alliance -- Moscow and the Search for 'Collective Security' -- Popular Front in France and Civil War in Spain -- Anschluss, Appeasement, and Rearmament -- Towards an Asian War -- Towards a European War -- 3. 1940: Axis Victories and New Strategic Choices. 'Winter War' in Finland -- German Lebensraum in Poland -- The German Domination of Scandinavia -- Anglo-French Plans and Imperial Mobilizations -- Summer 1940: The Fall of France -- The Battle of Britain -- New Strategic Choices -- The Tripartite Pact -- Berlin Turns East -- Tokyo Turns South -- Rome's 'Parallel War' -- 4. 1941-1942: Axis Flood Tide. Italy Pulls Germany into the Mediterranean -- War and Nationalism in the Middle East -- Operation Barbarossa -- The Shoah -- Barbarossa and the Emerging World War -- Pearl Harbor and World War -- Japan's Centrifugal Offensive -- The Arcadia Conference -- 5. 1942-1943: Turning Points. Seas Lanes, Air Ways, and Networks of Connectivity -- Aerial Highways -- Military Turning Points: The Pacific -- Deadlock in China -- Military Turning Points: The German-Soviet War -- Military Turning Points: The Mediterranean --

6. War Economics. The Soviet Union: Wartime Planning in a Socialized Economy -- War and Business in America and Britain -- Axis War Planning -- China: War Production and Capitalist Modernity -- A War of Production -- Mobilizing Labor -- A War of Technology -- 7. 1943: Total War and the Emerging Contours of the Postwar World. The Combined Bomber Offensive -- The Crisis on Germany's Ostfront -- Strategic Choices in the Pacific and Wars for National Liberation in Southeast Asia -- The Transformation of British-Ruled India -- China and the Cairo Conference -- War, Popular Revolt, and Allied Politics in Italy -- Chetniks and Partisans in Yugoslavia -- The Tehran Conference -- 8. 1944: The Allies March Towards Victory. World War and Latin America -- The Neutral Countries -- Allied Advances: The Red Army Rolls On -- Allied Advances: Italy and France -- General Charles de Gaulle and the Revival of France -- War and Politics in Italy and Greece -- American Advances in the Pacific and Japan's Ichigo Offensive in China -- 9. 1945: The War Ends, Fighting Continues. A New World Economic Order -- The Yalta Conference -- The end in Europe -- The Trieste Crisis and the Potsdam Conference -- Strategic Bombing and the War in the Pacific -- Geopolitics in Asia and the Atomic Bombing of Japan -- The Ragged End of the War in Asia -- 10. War and Postwar, 1945-1953. The Human Cost -- Why Did the Allies Win? -- America's Qualified Victory -- Washington Organizes Its Hegemony -- The End of Empire in Southeast Asia -- Indian Independence and Anti-Colonialism in Africa -- Nationalism, Oil, and Imperialism in the Middle East -- The Partition of Europe -- Military Occupation, War, and Revolution in Asia -- A Short and Qualified American Century.