Post, Walter Weltenbrand. Der Zweite Weltkrieg 1939-1945. Schuldfrage, Hintergründe, Verlauf

Whoever wants to write a history of the Second World War must not begin in 1939. As early as 1919, clear-sighted observers predicted that the Treaty of Versailles, which concluded the First World War, already contained the seeds of the next war in Europe. Committed to a holistic approach, the author's account begins logically in 1918/19.

He describes the effect of the war defeat on Europe, the strengthening of the Nazi movement, the consolidation of the Bolshevik system under Josef Stalin, Roosevelt's "New Deal" and Japan's expansionist policy. Post describes the pre-war political crisis in detail: the Austrian annexation, the return of the Sudetenland, the occupation of Prague, the struggle for a German-Polish settlement, the non-aggression pact with Russia. He analyses in detail the political reasons for the individual campaigns, explains the tactics and strategies of the respective war opponents and does not forget the "big politics". All major theatres of war are covered, and important battles in Europe, Africa and Asia are traced. The reader is provided with a work that not only describes the origins and course of battles, but also the decision-making process at the political level.