Origins of the Second World War in Europe

To uncover the origins of the Second World War is a difficult task and to summarize it, even more so, but this is exactly what historian P.M.H. Bell does in his astounding book The Origins of the Second World War in Europe. Although Bell does a great job of providing accounts on both sides of the debate on the origins of the Second World War, he does have his own mindset about it. In his eyes, Bell sees the Second World War as being a thirty year war, driven by the ideology and economics of Germany, which was not preplanned by blueprint. He outlines this very clearly in the conclusion of his book, basing it on knowledge that he interlaid throughout.

Bell begins this read by illustrating the theory of the thirty years war. This, according to Bell, is the belief that the Second World War was a continuation of the First. Proof for which, is that after the First World War Europe was caught in a quicksand of tensions between states1. This was a result of the great cataclysm that the First