'A gripping analysis of the final days of peace ... indispensable' M. R. D. Foot, The Times
Richard Overy's 1939: Countdown to War re-creates hour-by-hour the last desperate attempts to salvage peace before the outbreak of World War Two.
24 August 1939: The fate of the world is hanging in the balance. Hitler has ambitions to invade Poland and hopes Stalin will now help him. The West must try to stop him. Nothing was predictable or inevitable. The West hoped that Hitler would see sense if they stood firm. Hitler was convinced the West would back down. And both sides acted knowing that they risked being plunged into a war that might spell the end the end of European civilization.
- ISBN10 0141041307
- ISBN13 9780141041308
- Publish Date 29 April 2010 (first published 27 August 2009)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 13 May 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 176
- Language English