Assorted References

• major reference
  • In 20th-century international relations: World War II, 1939–45
• atomic bomb delivery
  • In USS Indianapolis: World War II: delivery of atomic bomb parts and sinking
• “back door to war” theory
  • In Pearl Harbor and the “Back Door to War” Theory
• casualties of World War II
  • In casualties of World War II
• civil defense
  • In civil defense
• diplomatic history
  • In historiography: Diplomatic history
• influence on science fiction
  • In science fiction: Science fiction after World War II
• radio broadcasting history
  • In radio: American radio goes to war
• reparations
  • In Germany: War reparations
  • In reparations: Reparations and World War II
• Russo-Finnish War
  • In Russo-Finnish War
• use of ranger battalions
  • In ranger
• war crimes
  • In Oradour-sur-Glane
  • In war crime: The Nürnberg and Tokyo trials

SIDEBARS

• Anglo-American Chain of Command in Western Europe, June 1944
  • In Anglo-American Chain of Command in Western Europe, June 1944
• German Chain of Command in Western Europe, June 1944
  • In German Chain of Command in Western Europe, June 1944
• Truman’s decision to use the bomb
  • In The decision to use the atomic bomb

diplomacy

• Atlantic Charter
  • In Atlantic Charter
• Casablanca Conference
  • In Casablanca Conference
• Potsdam Conference
  • In Potsdam Conference
• Quebec conference
  • In Quebec Conference
• Tehrān Conference
  • In Tehrān Conference
• Tripartite Pact
  • In Tripartite Pact
• Yalta Conference
  • In Yalta Conference

effects on

• decolonization
  • In diplomacy: Decolonization and the beginnings of the Cold War
• French Foreign Legion
  • In French Foreign Legion: History
• international relations studies
  • In international relations: Between the two world wars
• medicine
  • In history of medicine: World War II and after
• philosophy
  • In existentialism: Immediate background and founders
• public administration
  • In public administration: Public policy approach
• publishing
  • In history of publishing: World War II and the postwar period
• women
  • In feminism: The post-suffrage era

history of

• Canada
  • In Canada: World War II
• influence of Bushidō
  • In Bushidō

resistance movements

• In resistance

• Chetnik
  • In Chetnik
• Free French
  • In Free French

results

• Cold War
  • In Cold War
• comparison to WWI
  • In Nazism: Totalitarianism and expansionism
• Helsinki Accords
  • In Helsinki Accords
• Marshall Plan
  • In Marshall Plan
• practice of seppuku
  • In seppuku

role of

• Almond
  • In Edward M. Almond

warfare

• air tactics
  • In air warfare: Through World War II
• aircraft carriers
  • In aircraft carrier
• amphibious warfare
  • In amphibious warfare
• attack aircrafts
  • In attack aircraft
• B-25
  • In B-25
• B-26
  • In B-26
• balloons
  • In balloon
• biological weapons
  • In biological weapon: Biological weapons in the World Wars
• body armour
  • In armour: The return of body armour
• bomb use
  • In atomic bomb: Development and proliferation of atomic bombs
  • In bomb: Guidance and arming
• bombers
  • In bomber
• bulletproof vests
  • In bulletproof vest
• C-47
  • In C-47
• CG-4
  • In CG-4
• chemical warfare
  • In chemical weapon: Nerve agents
• code-breaking
  • In computer: Developments during World War II
• code talkers
  • In code talker
• convoys
  • In convoy
• cruisers
  • In cruiser
• depth charge
  • In depth charge
• direction finder applications
  • In direction finder
• DUKW
  • In DUKW
• false flag operations
  • In false flag
• fortifications
  • In fortification: Linear fortifications of World War II
• half-track
  • In half-track
• Halifax bomber
  • In Halifax
• Horsa glider
  • In Horsa
• Hurricane fighter aircraft
  • In Hurricane
• industrial design
  • In industrial design: Modern design in the United States
• intelligence operations
  • In Ultra
  • In intelligence: Intelligence in the modern era
• Lancaster bomber
  • In Lancaster
• lance
  • In lance
• landing craft
  • In landing craft
• landing ship, tank
  • In landing ship, tank
• logistics
  • In logistics: Special features of naval logistics
  • In logistics: Staged resupply
• mapping
  • In map: World War II and after
• meteorology
  • In weather forecasting: Practical applications
• military aircraft
  • In aviation
  • In aerospace industry: World War II
  • In military aircraft: World War II
• military communication
  • In cryptology: Developments during World Wars I and II
• military engineering
  • In military engineering: The 20th century.
• mines
  • In mine: Submarine mine
• naval tactics
  • In naval warfare: The age of the aircraft carrier
• nuclear weapons
  • In nuclear reactor: The first atomic piles
  • In nuclear weapon: Founding the Manhattan Project
• P-38 Lightning fighter
  • In P-38
• P-51 Mustang fighter
  • In P-51
• panzer divisions
  • In panzer division
• Panzerfaust
  • In Panzerfaust
• Panzerschreck
  • In Panzerschreck
• parachute use
  • In parachute: Development and military applications
• prisoners of war
  • In prisoner of war
• proximity fuzes
  • In proximity fuze
• radar
  • In Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• rape
  • In rape: Rape as a weapon of war
• rockets
  • In rocket and missile system: World War II
• strategic bombing
  • In strategic bombing
• strategy and tactics
  • In strategy: Strategy in the age of total war
• Stuka
  • In Stuka
• submarines
  • In naval warfare: Guerrilla war at sea: the submarine
• tank destroyers
  • In tank destroyer
• theories
  • In war: Evolution of theories of war
• torpedo planes
  • In torpedo plane
• trench warfare
  • In trench warfare: Trench warfare in the modern era
• two-way radios
  • In Motorola, Inc.: Founding as Galvin Manufacturing
• Typhoon aircraft
  • In Typhoon
• U-boat submarine
  • In U-boat: World War II
• U.S. Air Force
  • In United States Air Force
• use of Benzedrine by soldiers
  • In Adderall: History and development
• V-2 missile
  • In rocket and missile system: The V-2
• weapons of mass destruction
  • In weapon of mass destruction
• Zero
  • In Zero

Surveys

Good histories of the war include Andrew Roberts, The Storm of War (2009); Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett, A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War (2000); Gerhard L. Weinberg, A World At Arms: A Global History of World War II (1994); John Keegan, The Second World War (1990, reissued 1997); Mark Calvocoressi, Guy Wint, and John Pritchard, Total War, rev. 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1995); and B.H. Liddell Hart, History of the Second World War (1970, reissued 1999).

Documentaries

The classic documentary, organized around original film footage and interviews with key individuals still living at the time, is the massive 32-hour series The World at War (1974), produced by Jeremy Isaacs and narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier for Thames Television, in cooperation with the Imperial War Museum. American perspectives are given in World War II with Walter Cronkite, a multipart series first broadcast by CBS-TV in 1982; and America Goes to War (1998), a series on the “home front” produced by Questar Inc. and narrated by another CBS journalist, Eric Sevareid. In addition, the Arts and Entertainment Television Network has produced outstanding biographical documentaries of World War II personalities, including every major political figure and numerous military leaders such as Douglas MacArthur, Bernard Montgomery, Chester Nimitz, George Patton, and Georgy Zhukov.

Scholarly views

The origins of the war are explored in Joachim Remak, The Origins of the Second World War (1976); Donald Cameron Watt, How War Came: The Immediate Origins of the Second World War, 1938–1939 (1989); and Akira Iriye, The Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific (1987).

Specific campaigns of the European theatre are the focus of Richard Hough and Denis Richards, The Battle of Britain: The Greatest Air Battle of World War II (1989); Richard Overy, Russia’s War (1997, reissued 1999); Carlo D’Este, Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, July–August 1943 (1988, reprinted 1991); John Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, new ed. (1994); Trevor N. Dupuy, David L. Bongard, and Richard C. Anderson, Hitler’s Last Gamble: The Battle of the Bulge, December 1944–January 1945 (1994); and John Toland, The Last 100 Days: The Tumultuous and Controversial Story of the Final Days of WW II in Europe (1965, reissued 2003).

Outstanding treatments of the war in the Pacific from the Japanese point of view include Saburo Ienaga, The Pacific War, 1931–1945 (1978); and Akira Iriye, Power and Culture: The Japanese-American War, 1941–1945 (1981). The American perspective is found in John Costello, The Pacific War, rev. ed. (1985); and Ronald H. Spector, Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan, new ed. (2000).

Naval history is treated in Paul S. Dull, A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941–1945 (1978); and John Prados, Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II (1995, reissued 2001). The war under the waves is detailed in the following books on submarines by Clay Blair: Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan (1975, reissued 2001); Hitler’s U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939–1942 (1996, reissued 2000); and Hitler’s U-Boat War: The Hunted, 1942–1944 (1998, reissued 2000). The air war has likewise received special attention, including Richard J. Overy, The Air War, 1939–1945 (1980, reissued 1991); Michael S. Sherry, The Rise of American Air Power: The Creation of Armageddon (1987); and Geoffrey Perret, Winged Victory: The Army Air Forces in World War II (1993, reissued 1997).

There is a vast literature on the war’s cultural and social aspects. The racial dimensions of World War II are the subject of John Dower, War Without Mercy (1986, reprinted with corrections, 1993). Stories of the home front are well told in Angus Calder, The People’s War: Britain, 1939–1945 (1969, reissued 1992); Susan M. Hartmann, The Home Front and Beyond: American Women in the 1940s (1982, reissued 1995); John Barber and Mark Harrison, The Soviet Home Front, 1941–1945 (1991); and Ben-Ami Shillony, Politics and Culture in Wartime Japan (1981, reissued 2001).

Decisions concerning the atomic bomb and the end of war in the Pacific are outlined in scores of books, many published in 1994 and 1995 as the world marked the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In some ways, Herbert Feis, The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II, rev. ed. (1966, reissued 1970), remains the standard. Competing views of this important aspect of the war are given in Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth (1995); and Richard Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire (1999, reissued 2001).

Official histories

In the half-century following the war, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (now known as The Stationery Office) published scores of books under the general title “History of the Second World War.” These include F.H. Hinsley et al., British Intelligence in the Second World War, 5 vol. (1981–90); S.W. Roskill, War at Sea 1939–1945, 3 vol. in 4 (1954–61); and L.F. Ellis et al., Victory in the West, 2 vol. (1960–68). The standard for U.S. official histories, published by the Office of the Chief of Military History, is The United States Army in World War II, 75 vol. (1944–86), also known as the “Green Books.” Other U.S. histories include Samuel Eliot Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, 15 vol. (1947–62, reissued 2001); and Wesley Craven and James Cate (eds.), The Army Air Forces in World War II, 7 vol. (1948–58, reissued 1983). Militärgeschictliches Forschungsamt (Armed Forces Historical Research Office), Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, 10 vol. (1979– ), is the official German history; the volumes are being published in English under the title Germany and the Second World War (1990– ).

The following is a special collection of historically illustrative articles and excerpts focusing on London, England. These colourfully written, provocative, and often amusing pieces have been compiled from the 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 8th editions of Encyclopædia Britannica and from the Britannica Book of the Year printings of World War II.

• London in the 18th century, a contemporary description from the 3rd edition (1788–97), volume 10, pages 270–272.
• Bank of England, from “London,” in the 3rd edition (1788–97), volume 10, page 251.
• Billingsgate, from “London,” in the 3rd edition (1788–97), volume 10, page 251.
• Blackfriars Bridge, from “London,” in the 3rd edition (1788–97), volume 10, page 258.
• Bridge-without, from “London,” in the 2nd edition (1777–84), volume 6, page 4282.
• British Museum, from “Museum,” in the 2nd edition (1777–84), volume 7, page 5263; and “London,” in the 7th edition (1830–42), volume 13, page 538.
• Crystal Palace, and its housing of the Great Exhibition of 1851, from the 8th edition (1852–60) articles “Exhibition,” volume 9, pages 453–454, and “Sydenham,” volume 20, pages 891–892.
• Guildhall, from “London,” in the 2nd edition (1777–84), volume 6, pages 4287–88.
• Lambeth, from “London,” in the 3rd edition (1788–97), volume 10, pages 262–263.
• Leadenhall, from “London,” in the 3rd edition (1788–97), volume 10, page 251.
• London Bridge, from “London,” in the 3rd edition (1788–97), volume 10, pages 246–247.
• The Monument, from “London,” in the 2nd edition (1777–84), volume 6, page 4289.
• Houses of Parliament, from “London,” in the 3rd edition (1788–97), volume 10, pages 265–266.
• Royal Exchange, from “London,” in the 2nd edition (1777–84), volume 6, pages 4282–84.
• St. Giles’s Church, from “London,” in the 3rd edition (1788–97), volume 10, pages 251–252.
• St. Paul’s Cathedral, from both the 2nd edition (1777–84), volume 6, pages 4284–86, and the 3rd edition (1788–97), volume 10, pages 255–257.
• Tower of London, from “London,” in the 3rd edition (1788–97), volume 10, pages 247–250.
• Vauxhall Gardens, from “London,” in the 2nd edition (1777–84), volume 6, pages 4288–89.
• Westminster Abbey, from “London,” in the 2nd edition (1777–84), volume 6, pages 4286–87.

London in World War II:

• London in 1940, from the 1941 Britannica Book of the Year.
• London in 1941, from the 1942 Britannica Book of the Year.
• London in 1942, from the 1943 Britannica Book of the Year.
• London in 1943, from the 1944 Britannica Book of the Year.
• London in 1944, from the 1945 Britannica Book of the Year.
• London in 1945, from the 1946 Britannica Book of the Year.