The world at the beginning of the 20th century seemed for most of its inhabitants stable and relatively benign. Globalizing, booming economies married to technological breakthroughs seemed to promise a better world for most people. Instead, the 20th century proved to be overwhelmingly the most violent, frightening and brutalized in history with fanatical, often genocidal warfare engulfing most societies between the outbreak of the First World War and the end of the Cold War. What went wrong? How did we do this to ourselves? The War of the World comes up with compelling, fascinating answers. It is Niall Ferguson’s masterpiece.
Author(s): Niall Ferguson
Publisher: Penguin Books
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 816
Tags: History;Europe;WW1;WW2;WWI;WWII;
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Introduction
PART I
The Great Train Crash
1 Empires and Races
2 Orient Express
3 Fault Lines
4 The Contagion of War
5 Graves of Nations
PART II
Empire-States
6 The Plan
7 Strange Folk
8 An Incidental Empire
9 Defending the Indefensible
10 The Pity of Peace
PART III
Killing Space
11 Blitzkrieg
12 Through the Looking Glass
13 Killers and Collaborators
14 The Gates of Hell
PART IV
A Tainted Triumph
15 The Osmosis of War
16 Kaputt
Epilogue: The Descent of the West
Appendix: The War of the World in Historical Perspective
Illustrations 1900–1928
Illustrations 1929–1942
Illustrations 1943–1953
Sources and Bibliography
Acknowledgements
