Books like The origins of the Second World War by Richard Overy

A gripping and intimate account of the Second World War, from its start to its conclusion and beyond, capturing the complex and tragic events of one of the most pivotal eras in world history.

**The Wages of Destruction** is a non-fiction book detailing the economic history of Nazi Germany. Written by Adam Tooze, it was first published by Allen Lane in 2006. The Wages of Destruction won the Wolfson History Prize and the 2007 Longman/History Today Book of the Year Prize. It was published to critical praise from such authors as Michael Burleigh, Richard Overy and Niall Ferguson. In the book, Tooze writes that after the Germans had failed to defeat Britain in 1940, the economic logic of the war drove them to an invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler was constrained do so in 1941 to obtain the natural resources necessary to challenge two economic superpowers: the United States and the British Empire. That sealed the fate of the Third Reich because it was resource constraints that made victory against the Soviet Union impossible, especially when it received supplies from the Americans and the British to supplement the resources that remained under Soviet control. The book makes the case for the economic impact of the British and then Anglo-American strategic bombing campaign, but it argues that the wrong targets were often selected. The book also challenges the idea of an economic miracle under Albert Speer, and rejects the idea that the Nazi economy could have mobilised significantly more women for the war economy. (from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wages_of_Destruction))

Robert Gerwarth examines how the violence that erupted after World War I—pogroms, mass expulsions, and paramilitary clashes—shaped 20th‑century Europe and set the stage for fascism.

A concise, illustrated survey of the political, economic, and social forces that set the stage for World War II.

"While it is recognised that the foreign policy of Nazi Germany caused the outbreak of the Second World War, it is far harder to determine how this actually came about. Nazi Foreign Policy, 1933-1941 provides an original treatment of this complex question. Focusing on Nazi Germany's relations with a number of regions such as Italy, France and Britain, and the Americas, Christian Leitz explores the diplomatic and political developments that led to the outbreak of war in 1939 and its transformation into a global conflict in 1941.". "The author considers, for instance, how Hitler's foreign policy ultimately meant the invasion of the Soviet Union was inevitable, and how Germany's relations with China deteriorated in favour of improved relations with Japan. Integrating the recent historical controversy over the nature of Hitler's regime with wider trends in the historiography of German foreign policy, Christian Leitz details the history of Nazi Germany's foreign policy from Hitler's inauguration as Reich Chancellor to the declaration of war by America in 1941."--BOOK JACKET.