Why did the second world war begin?

Why did a second world war begin in Europe on 1 September 1939, little more than 20 years after peace had been concluded at the end of the first world war? The question has been posed repeatedly for seven decades now and answered in myriad ways. But it is the wrong question – one that is not merely too Eurocentric but too Anglocentric to make sense of the events that led to the bloodiest war in human history. Far more than the first world war, which was a genuinely European war, fought mainly in Europe by Europeans, the second world war was a truly global affair. Only by taking a world-historical view of events can we hope to grasp its true character.

Read More