The Road to Total War
Examines the various factors that impelled leaders on both sides of the conflict in World War II to respond to immediate problems with actions resulting in effects that were often neither planned nor foreseen. Both Great Britain and Germany drifted into an escalation that ended in the wholesale bombardment of cities and civilian populations, when neither had originally planned any such action, and serves as the author’s lesson to show us how decisionmakers can respond once more to provocations and counterreactions. Emotional pressures, the fog of war, and judgments blurred by wishful thinking can produce decisions, even self-destructive decisions, and lead down an inexorable path to all-out, total war. More than thirty years after its initial publication, and to celebrate RAND’s 60th Anniversary, RAND is proud to bring this classic work back into print in paperback and digital formats.
- Format:
- Paperback, 212 Pages
- Year:
- 2007
- List Price:
- $24.50
- Price:
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Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Available
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 212
- List Price: $24.50
- Price: $19.60
- ISBN/EAN: 978-0-8330-4228-6
- Document Number: CB-408
- Year: 2007
- Series: Commercial Books
Contents
Chapter One
Introduction: The Problem
Part The Evidence
Chapter Two
Prewar Developments — Britain
Chapter Three
Prewar Developments — Germany
Chapter Four
Blitzkrieg and Sitzkrieg
Chapter Five
The Transition to Total War
Chapter Six
Sowing the Wind
Chapter Seven
Ends and Means
Chapter Eight
The Whirlwind
Chapter Nine
Epilogue
Part Reflections
Chapter Ten
The Asymmetrical Attitudes of the Two Sides
Chapter Eleven
Pressures for Escalation
Chapter Twelve
Speculations on the Future
Appendix A
A Note on German Explanations for the Assault on London
Appendix B
Selective Chronology
Appendix C
Sources
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